By Bill Mah
Edmonton Journal

More Albertans believe now is the time to buy a home than in anytime since PricewaterhouseCoopers began tracking the indicator in early 2007, said the firm’s business and consumer confidence survey released Monday.

Buying a house reached an index rating of 164 in July--the highest index since tracking started in February 2007. It was 157 in May and 146 in March.

"Consumers continue to see advantage in purchasing a house in the current economy," said David Bryan an advisory partner in PricewaterhouseCooper’s Edmonton office.

Nine hundred Albertans and 246 business leaders were surveyed by telephone in late July by Leger Marketing. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 per cent, 19 times of 20.

Businesses are growing more optimistic about the economy, results suggest. The business confidence index inched to 103 in July, up from 101 in May--when it crossed the 100 mark for the first time since May 2008.

An index score above 100 represents an optimistic sentiment, while a score below 100 represents a pessimistic feeling.

"These figures are promising and appear to indicate that many Alberta business and consumers are expecting improvements in Alberta’s economic conditions in the coming year," Bryan said.

Business leaders also expect interest rates may rise in the next few months as the economy recovers and their confidence in the job market reached 107, breaking 100 for the first time since May 2008.

"While business leaders are pessimistic about the current business environment, they are optimistic that things will change in the near future. This optimism is scaled back a bit from May ’09 which may indicate that they feel it will take somewhat longer for the the current economic climate to improve."

Consumers, meanwhile, are growing more confident about jobs. While still below the 100 mark, the survey’s future consumer unemployment index increased to 93 in July, up from 81 in May.

"Consumers are starting to feel more positive on multiple fronts ranging from finding a job to buying a house," Bryan said.

But the optimism runs counter to Alberta’s unemployment rate, which has steadily increased since last October to 7.2 per cent in July.

"Although unemployment has increased, we are still Canada’s third-lowest unemployment rate behind the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This survey likely indicates that both consumers and business leaders anticipate our unemployment rate will now start to decline," Bryan said.