Americans are showing an increasingly positive outlook as consumer confidence and home prices strengthen
Americans are showing an increasingly positive outlook as consumer confidence and home prices strengthen.
The Conference Board, a New York-based private research group, said its consumer confidence index rose in May to 76.2, up from a reading of 69.0 in April and the highest since in more than five years.
The jump in confidence followed a separate report showing the housing recovery is strengthening.
Home prices jumped 10.9% in March compared with a year ago, the largest gain in seven years, according to the S&P/Case Shiller index. All 20 cities examined by the index showed year over year gains.
From February, prices were up 1.4% for the 20-city composite, as measured by the monthly Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index. Phoenix and San Francisco are the hottest markets with prices up more than 22% year over year, but all 20 cities in the index posted year over year growth for the third month in a row.
Twelve of the 20 cities saw prices rise at double-digit annual growth rates.
