British consumer confidence rose slightly in February, according to the latest instalment of the closely watched GfK NOP survey.
Its consumer confidence index now sits at -35, still 18 points lower than the same period last year but 2 points up from January. This seems to tally with a sense that the property market is beginning to bottom out.
The most striking trend was a sense that the state of the economy will improve over the next 12 months. This is perhaps spurred on by 350-year low interest rates, with many consumers failing to recognise that these rates, and therefore their mortgage payments, will rise again at some point in the future.
As previously reported on Simply Business, the Confederation of British Industry retail index is also up, with February sales figures actually higher than in the same period last year.
