The country’s consumer outlook weakened but remained optimistic for Q4 2019 as the overall confidence index (CI) decreased to 1.3 percent from 4.6 percent in Q3 2019. The lower but still positive CI was reflective of the combined decline in the percentage of optimists and increase in the percentage of pessimists compared to the previous quarter's survey results. According to respondents, their less favorable outlook for the current quarter was due to the following concerns: (a) higher prices of commodities, (b) low or no increase in salary/income, (c) increase in household expenses,and (d) high unemployment rate.
The percentage of households who plan to buy real property for the next 12 months, decreased to 9.6 percent from 10.9 percent in the previous quarter’s survey results. This lower percentage from Q4 2019 can be traced to the decline in the number of households who plan to acquire residential lots (at 24.5 percent from 30.8 percent), duplexes (at 1.3 percent from 3.8 percent), and townhouses (at 4.6 percent from 6.5 percent). These respondents were also asked about the price of real properties they intend to purchase in the next 12 months. Majority or 60 percent of these households were expected to acquire real property worth ₱450,000 and below. Meanwhile, 28.8 percent of the said households expected to buy house and/or lot valued between ₱450,001 to ₱1,700,000 and 11.1 percent may purchase properties at estimated cost of more than ₱1,700,000.9