WASHINGTON: US consumer confidence surged unexpectedly to an 18-month high in June, fuelled by an uptick in the outlook for family finances, according to survey data released on Tuesday (June 27).
The surprise jump in confidence indicates consumers are feeling buoyant about their finances despite the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) aggressive campaign of interest rate increases to tackle high inflation.
The consumer confidence index rose to an 18-month high of 109.7 in June, up from a revised 102.5 in May, according to the Conference Board, a non-profit group.
“While income expectations ticked down slightly in June, new questions included in this month’s release found a notably brighter outlook for consumers’ family finances,” Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement.
“Around 30% expect their family’s financial situation to be ‘better’ in the next six months, compared to less than 14% expecting it to be ‘worse’,” she said.
“Greater confidence was most evident among consumers under age 35, and consumers earning incomes over US$35,000 (RM163,275),” she added.
Despite the rosy picture for June, the expectations gauge “continued to signal consumers anticipating a recession at some point over the next six to 12 months,” Peterson said.
Separately, new home sales in the US surged unexpectedly in May, the Commerce Department said, reaching the highest rate in over a year despite efforts to cool the economy.
Sales of new properties have been rising in recent months, with a lack of inventory elsewhere pushing buyers into the market.
May sales of new single-family houses jumped 12.2% over the previous month – to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 763,000 – the Commerce Department said in a statement.
That defied expectations of a decline, and is markedly higher than April’s revised rate of 680,000.
Compared with the same period a year ago, new home sales in May were 20% higher.
The median price of new homes sold also picked up to US$416,300 in May, the Commerce Department added.
While monthly data can be volatile, sales of new homes have been higher on average in the second quarter than in the first, said Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.
Although higher mortgage rates have been a “headwind for buyers”, borrowing costs have come down from peaks, she added. With inventory of existing homes still tight, demand seems to be moving towards the sales of new properties.
“The existing home market is effectively frozen until mortgage rates drop considerably,” said Ian Shepherdson and Kieran Clancy of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a recent report.
A fall in rates would enable potential sellers to take action without incurring a massive increase in mortgage payments, the report added.
“Once that happens, existing home inventory will spike from its currently depressed level, sales volumes will rise, and prices will fall,” the Pantheon economists said.
But the timing of this development remains uncertain.
The market for existing homes makes up the vast majority of the US market. – AFP
