Canadian Consumer Confidence Sinks Again Amid Continued Uncertainty over Housing, Jobs

TORONTO, April 18, 2013 /CNW/ - After a slight recovery in March, Canadian Consumer Confidence suffered another significant setback amid reports of lacklustre job creation, a continuously slumping housing market, and continued worries over high debt.

According to the latest consumer confidence survey conducted by TNS, the Canadian Consumer Confidence Index dropped more than two full points, sliding from 96.5 in March to 94.4 in April.

The Present Situation Index, which measures how people feel about the economy right now, which rebounded in March from a sharp drop in February, fell sharply again in April, dropping more than four points from 97.3 to 92.7.

"Canadians' confidence in the economy is slipping quickly back to lows that we haven't seen since during the Great Recession.  The continued environment of public sector austerity, combined with high consumer debt, a deliberately slowing housing market and poor job prospects are all combining to create a perfect storm of pessimism among Canadians who increasingly are believing that the situation right now is not good." explained Norman Baillie-David, Senior Vice President of TNS in Canada and Director of the Marketing and Social Research firm's monthly tracking study.

The Expectations Index, which measures people's outlook for the economy six months from now, also dropped more than a point, slipping from 101.1 in March to 99.0 this month. This shows that even though Canadians feel very pessimistic about their situation right now, this pessimism isn't translating yet into a bleak outlook for the future.

The Buy Index, which measures the extent to which Canadians feel that now is a good time to purchase a "big ticket item" such as a car or a major household appliance, actually bucked the trend in April, rising 1.2 points from 91.0 to 92.2.

"This probably reflects some pent up demand as well as the beginning of spring and some normal spending on seasonal renovations and upgrades."  added Mr. Baillie-David. 

Full report with charts available at:
http://www.tnscanada.ca/news/2013.04.18-CCI-Tracking-2013-04.pdf

Consumer Confidence Index tracks Canadians' attitudes about the economy each month and is part of a global study conducted by TNS in 18 countries. Three indices are produced each month to show how confidence in the economy is changing: Present Situation Index; an Expectations Index; and a Buy Index.

The Canadian fieldwork is conducted using the firm's national bi-weekly telephone omnibus service, TNS Express Telephone.  A total of 1,015 nationally representative Canadian adults were interviewed between April 8 and April 11, 2013. For a survey sample of this size, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

About TNS and Kantar

TNS (www.tnscanada.ca) is the Canadian arm of TNS Global. TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and stakeholder management, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world's consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world. TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy groups.

SOURCE: TNS

If you want more information on these results please contact:

Norman Baillie-David, MBA, CMRP 
Vice President
[phone] x101
[email protected]
@NBaillieDavid
www.tnscanada.ca
@TNSCanada