Home Construction Consumer Confidence Remains Stable
In March, consumer confidence remained stable, as positive sentiments regarding current conditions balanced worries about the future economic prospects. The prevailing pessimism stemmed mainly from ongoing inflationary pressures, particularly heightened prices in food and gas.
According to the NAHB, consumers’ assessment of current business conditions fell slightly in March. The share of respondents rating business conditions as “good” decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 19.5%, but those claiming business conditions as “bad” also fell by 0.5 percentage points to 17.2%. Meanwhile, consumers’ assessments of the labor market were more positive. The share of respondents reporting that jobs were “plentiful” increased by 0.3 percentage points, while those who saw jobs as “hard to get” fell by 1.8 percentage points.
Consumers were more pessimistic about the short-term outlook. While the share of respondents expecting business conditions to improve rose from 14.0% to 14.3%, those expecting business conditions to deteriorate increased from 16.9% to 17.6%. Similarly, expectations of employment over the next six months were less favorable; The share of respondents expecting “more jobs” decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 13.9%, and those anticipating “fewer jobs” increased by 0.7 percentage points to 18.2%.
