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Low-Income Households Boost Florida's Consumer Confidence |
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From Ascribe Newsfeed: Florida's consumer confidence rose three points to 80 in October largely due to optimism among low-income residents, a new University of Florida study finds. One possible explanation is that these consumers, having already experienced the worst of the housing crisis, now look forward to property tax reform, or it could be the result of some unknown factor, said Chris McCarty, director of the Survey Research Center at UF's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. "The source of the rise in Florida appears to be low-income households, those living off of less than $30,000 annually." "For these people, consumer confidence was already as low as it has been for a long time, so it's almost to the point where the only way it could go was up, whereas there was still room for confidence among middle- and upper-income households to decline, which turned out to be flat this month," he said. Last month's overall consumer confidence was revised downward two points to 77 after all completed surveys were included in the index. Perceptions of U.S. economic conditions over the next year rose six points to 75, perceptions of whether it is a good time to buy big-ticket items rose four points to 85 and expectations of personal finances a year from now rose four points to 90. On the positive side, gas prices declined briefly in October, but they are likely to go up as oil prices on the international market rise, he said.
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