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NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS were to thank for a major lift in consumer spending during July, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
Overall, sales volumes were 8.2% higher than last month, with a mammoth 36.1% rise on July’s volume of car sales, the biggest improvement across all categories covered.
On an annual basis, sales volumes are 8.6% higher than this time last year, with car sales 31.1% higher.
Investec Ireland chief economist Philip O’Sullivan said that more expensive items are starting to make a comeback as consumer spending catches up with positive sentiment around the economy.
“It is encouraging to see that so-called ‘big ticket items’ continue to lead the way as the retail sector recovers. The consumer sentiment index currently stands at its highest level since January 2007.”
Sustained growth
All in all, O’Sullivan said that this morning’s numbers are impressive if not surprising given the heavily-flagged upturn in car sales after the turn of the half-year.
“Looking ahead, we expect to see a continued recovery in consumer spending in Ireland as employment recovers, the government’s austerity drive comes to an end and the savings rate reduces from its current elevated levels.”
Davy economist David McNamara said that he expects consumers to spend 1.5% more this year than last, which will rise to 1.9% in 2015.
Despite the “exceptionally strong” figures, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Fiona Hayes said that the volume of sales actually fell last month by 0.7% on the month when car sales are excluded, and were up by a “less robust” 3.1% in the year.
She also warned that in previous quarters higher retail sales had not necessarily translated into bumper consumer spending in GDP releases.
“However, these latest numbers do augur well for the Q3 consumer spending component and it remains our view that the sequentially improving labour market and the fact that we are nearing an end to austerity will deliver a positive consumer spending outturn overall for 2014 and beyond.”
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Hmm, all this spending is a bit too positive. We better introduce more crushing taxes so everyone can be equally poor.
Great news ??? All this money for new cars going to Germany , Japan and the UK. How can this possible help the hard pressed Irish economy ? Put another 20% on cars and lets drive our old cars a little longer . This hype about new car being more kind to the environment is hard to equate with the cost of importing thousand of new car from the UK and Germany
Have a load of new people become drug dealers?? Seriously where is all this money coming from.
Car dealer told me yesterday he thinks it’s SSIA money that wasn’t spent!
3 year PCP contracts.
Didn’t SSIAs mature in 2006-2008? No one was saving a penny back then. It was spend, spend, spend. Even if it wasn’t, you’d have to be seriously disciplined to still have it 6-8 years later.
Yes, he was talking sh*te as most car salesmen do.
Just goes to show that a stupid new number plating system, designed to appeal to peoples vanity ( nothing else) has worked well. What idiots the general Irish consuming public are. It could only work here.
I don’t understand how you put it down to vanity – its simply more granularity for the second hand market.
Before If someone was thinking of buying a new car towards the end of the year it would make economic sense to hold off for the month or two, not for vanity but because in three years time the same two cars registered a month or two apart but in different years would have significantly different re-sale values.
Suspicious though that it came in in 2013 suggesting that it was also pandering to irrational superstition )which is much worse than vanity).
I know of a few people who now can’t afford a house and are now buying a car instead a majority are buying second hand cars but to say a few are buying new
Any way
We should drop 141 and 142 crap and replace it with A14 and B14
It just looks better
What would be your alternative ?
I’ll treat myself to a new car in 2015. Good German car. Life is good, but good life is even better.
What’s a good German car ?
Merkel taking Enda for a ride!
9000 signatures to overturn the Odious Regressive Annual Car Tax Law. €951 p.a. road tax for a 10 yr old car while new equivalent is just €280. Ireland a disgusting lobby ridden place to live. Struggling class subsidising the annual road tax of the wealthy who can afford new cars. http://cartaxpetition.net/
Details of that petition need to be updated. Moran and Hogan have been replaced.
If sales are down it is because this government has destroyed the economy. If sales are up it is due to vanity. It appears to be that simple.
Gotta be the celtic tiger cub now, yeh?
Celtic Phoenix actually
Is that you R’OCK? Hows it going kicker?
Vast majority are hire cars
A chunk certainly are but that in itself is an indicator of progress. If rental companies are buying more cars it means they believe there is a bigger demand then last year meaning more tourists and more jobs.
Great… loads of money leaving the country to keep German car producers in profit who will use that profit money to reinvest in a cheap property market in Ireland… colonisation by stealth.
PixieLand Economics … economy improving by big spending on “imported” new cars, artificially promoted by Political Parties passing Pro-Lobby car tax law where the hard pressed subsidise the annual car tax of the wealthy who can afford new cars. €951 p.a car tax for a 10 yr old car while new equivalent is €280. Disgusting. Irish will continue to be abused by Political Parties until they bring their brains into the Polling Booths.
Loan hunter, you’re right.
How many people are going to benefit from this? Answer: a few already wealthy car dealers. Is it going to be a big job creator : No.
It’s no good to the public in general at all. It’s as beneficial as hearing that BOI or AIB’s profits for the last quarter were up a couple of hundred million or more bu:* sh*t announcements that are somehow supposed to make us feel like spending money that we haven’t got.
Will Enda take the ice bucket challenge ? For christs sake will he take a reduction in pay with the rest of the gov. in line with his counterparts on the planet???? I could go on but I have a dinner to cook with expensive water, electricity and ingredients and then pay excessive rates to bin companies.
Car sales are up. Puh, te, huh I want to get sick.
Yet again no breakdown of the figures, how many high end cars compared to the ordinary run of the mill
Great this 151 crap is going to keep on now
You can still access your messages in the app using this trick https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J0wMl-Uw8O0
Very good. Now what’s that got to do with cars?
My bad, posted it on wrong article, wish there was a delete button here or edit button.
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