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Index records rise in consumer and business sentiment

Consumer index says four in 10 consumers think now is good time to buy ‘big ticket’ items

Bank of Ireland’s consumer index has risen sharply when compared to last month

Mon Apr 24 2017 - 05:00

Consumers and businesses have taken the industrial unrest in Ireland and triggering of UK's Brexit talks "in their stride", according to April's Economic Pulse index from Bank of Ireland.

Pulse, a survey of 1,000 households and 2,000 companies, measures sentiment among consumers, businesses and also, separately, in relation to the housing market.

The consumer sentiment Pulse index rose sharply when compared to last month, the bank said, although it is still down on this time last year.

The consumer index, up for the second month in succession, suggested that almost four in 10 consumers think now is a good time to buy “big ticket” items, while half of respondents were confident that unemployment would continue to fall over the next 12 months.

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However, Loretta O’Sullivan, the bank’s chief economist, warned that further volatility in the index was likely.

The housing Pulse index shows that 39 per cent of respondents expect house prices to rise by more than 5 per cent over the next year. The latest official data shows that house prices are currently rising at twice that rate.

Medium and larger business led a rise in the business Pulse index, with the services sector showing strongest growth.

Overall sentiment is up in Dublin, Connacht and Ulster, but down in the rest of Leinster and Munster.

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