Director confidence in the real estate and construction sectors pushed back into optimistic territory in July.
The Institute of Directors (IoD) Property and Built Environment Directors’ Economic Confidence Index rose to +1.9 in July, following a drop to -3.4 in June, as seen in the chart below (click to enlarge).
Richard Nelson, Chair of the IoD Property and Built Environment Group and Founder & MD of Abyss, said: “It is encouraging to see the positive post-election bounce in this month’s figures. This may be a reflection of confidence in the new government’s policies on economic growth, planning reform, housing and long-term infrastructure investment.
“However, given other recent indicators, such as the stock market turbulence in recent days and wider fears of potential slowing growth, this rebound in confidence could be short-lived, so we should all proceed with caution. But any bit of good news is always welcome,” he continued.
The IoD’s overall Directors’ Economic Confidence Index results for July hit a three-year high, experiencing a rise to +7.0, after dropping to -14.0 in June. You can read the full IoD DECI results report here.
About the DECI
The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index (DECI) measures the net positive answers from members of the Institute of Directors to the question ‘How optimistic are you about the wider UK economy over the next 12 months?’ on a five-point scale from ‘very optimistic’ to ‘very pessimistic’. The IoD Property and Built Environment Directors’ Economic Confidence Index (PBE DECI) is a subset of the overall DECI data which measures the responses of directors who identified themselves as working in the ‘construction’ and ‘real estate’ sectors.