The homebuyer confidence index in 2022 improved for the second consecutive year as owners of all sizes of businesses were more confident about the current and future economy, according to property research and consultancy Terra Media and Consulting.
Sumitra Wongpakdee, managing director, said consumers in all careers, except students and the unemployed, were quite confident about the economy, with the most significant change among business owners.
"Business owners were no longer worried about the economy, unlike two years ago," she said.
"Some of them were unemployed during the pandemic, but they were able to adjust and got a second job. They could move forward."
Terra's survey on consumer confidence interviewed 1,000 prospective homebuyers in October and November.
The index was 79.3, up from 75.6 in 2021 and 68.6 in 2020.
Among 10 careers, business owners with no employees had the highest index at 90.7, followed by those with no physical shops (86.3), those with 10 employees or less (83.8) and those with 10 employees or more (83.5).
Owners of all sizes of businesses were followed by civil servants or those working in government agencies (81.6), company managers (80.8), employees in the private sector (79.4) and housewives or househusbands (77.8).
Students and the unemployed tallied scores of 53.4 and 48.6, respectively.
An index below 50 indicates lack of confidence in the economic situation.
Both students and the unemployed were not confident about their financial status compared with 2021. Their index for this question was 39.1 and 14.3, respectively.
However, students were confident about their financial status in the next 12 months, scoring 94.4, while the score for unemployed was 40.0.
Students and the unemployed were the only two groups with a lack of confidence in the economy in the next 12 months. Their scores was 28.6 and 37.5, respectively, while the scores of other categories were 58.3 and above.
Reporting an index of 100 were housewives and househusbands, who were strongly confident about the economy the next five years.
Regarding purchasing high-value items, business owners with no employees had the highest confidence with an index of 90.9, followed by those with 10 employees or less (89.5) and those with 10 employees or more as well as housewives and househusbands, tied with a score of 80.0.