A new report shows that fears about jobs and higher interest rates dragged consumer sentiment to its lowest level in more than three years in March.
The consumer sentiment index compiled by IIB Bank and the ESRI recorded 78.5, compared with 84.9 in February. The March figure was the lowest since December 2003.
David Duffy of the ESRI said that although most parts of the survey weakened in March, the main decline was in consumers' perception of the outlook for the labour market following recent announcements of job losses and plant closures.
IIB economist Austin Hughes said a 'feelgood' factor in the wake of the Budget had faded, mainly due to the latest rise in euro zone interest rates and a rebound in oil prices.
Meanwhile, AIB said today that there is more evidence of a slowing housing market.
The bank said forward looking indicators continue to weaken indicating that activity levels will decline over the course of this year.
Notably house registrations fell by 28% year on year in the first quarter this year following the 14% fall in the last quarter of 2006, it said.
Commencements declined by 2.9% in total in 2006.
