Consumers expressed a guarded optimism but expect the value of their home to increase by 0.1% over the next six months. This compares to a fall of 0.1% predicted in August.
Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “August figures suggested that confidence may have turned the corner following a succession of falls in the run up to and after the recent General Election. However, these gains have now been reversed following a notable drop in confidence across all main indices in September.
“It would seem that the pessimistic sentiments of a few months ago have been renewed and this has perhaps been driven by a realisation of the true impact of the cuts announced in the emergency Budget.”
He added: “The Government’s impending Spending Review is likely to have a strong influence on consumer confidence in the coming weeks and we can expect the index to remain volatile until the full impact of this has been assessed.”
The index now stands at its lowest level for over a year and significantly below the long-run average of 83.
