Its consumer confidence index showed a dip to 43 in April from 45 in March, just four points above February’s record low of 39.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “The past 12 months have seen confidence progressively fall back towards the lows recorded during the recession. It now seems fairly safe to say that the up tick we saw in March was not the beginning of any sustained resurgence in confidence. It may be some time yet before we begin to see this emerge.”
The index showed that Britons continue to be cautious about the housing market and expect the value of their homes to fall by 1.1% over the next six months.
This compares to a decrease of 0.9% that they expected in March this year.
Gardner said: “There is still little evidence to suggest that price declines will accelerate in the months ahead, while a strong rebound in the market remains unlikely as the recovery is still expected to remain modest by historic standards.
“In our view, the most likely outcome is that house prices will continue to move sideways or drift modestly lower through the remainder of 2011.”
Nationwide’s sub-indices all recorded falls, as consumer sentiment about the economy and spending on major purchases continued to be shaky.
