A Double Dip In Consumer Comfort

Monday February 21st 2011

A Double Dip In Consumer Comfort

UMR Research’s Consumer Comfort Index (CCI) provides fresh evidence of a double-dip recession hitting New Zealand. While consumer comfort levels rose in the first half of 2010, they are now beneath what they were a year ago.

The February 2011 CCI is -29, compared with -18 in February 2010 and -1 in June 2010.

The CCI calculates consumer comfort based on how people feel about the economy now, their personal finances and how they rate their ability to buy the things they want and need (the buying climate).

All three indicators which make up the CCI are worse than what they were in December 2010 and down considerably since last June:

- 78% of New Zealanders rate the current economic situation as either ‘not so good’ (64%) or ‘poor’ (14%), up 7% since December and 26% since June.

- 46% rate their personal finances as either ‘not so good’ (37%) or ‘poor’ (9%), up 2% since December.

- 69% think that the buying climate is either ‘not so good’ (50%) or ‘poor’ (19%), 3% above the December result.

The New Zealand data is from UMR Research’s latest online survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over.

UMR’s Consumer Comfort Index is based on the ABC News Consumer Comfort Index, which has been running in the US since 1985.

ENDS

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