Most British Columbians think their finances are holding steady during the pandemic: poll

Although one in five respondents said COVID-19 has left them worse off, consumer confidence has picked up since the spring

The results are in, and it doesn’t look like most British Columbians will be rushing out to buy a new home or car anytime soon, even if they’re feeling pretty good about their finances.

In October on behalf of BCBusiness, Mustel Group asked 500 B.C. residents how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their confidence as consumers. The survey showed that people are cautious when it comes to spending and job security: less than 10 percent of those polled thought it was the right time to splurge on a big-ticket item, while only about half sounded confident that their job was secure.

However, two-thirds of the survey group said that their personal or family financial situation remained about the same as six months earlier. Respondents were also relatively bullish on the economy, with just 30 percent predicting that it would weaken over the next six months.

The takeaway: “While roughly one in five B.C. residents is worse off now compared with six months ago, the majority of residents have not experienced a significant change in their household finances, which may be due in part to the government supports in place during this period as well as the general relaxing of restrictions over the last few months,” says Mustel Group general manager Josh O’Neill.

“The overall economic outlook among residents appears to be much less grim than what we saw in April, when consumer confidence in Canada was at an all-time low,” O’Neill adds. “Since this pandemic hit, we’ve learned to live with the virus and have managed to adapt our businesses and lifestyles to allow for our economy to carry on, albeit at a slower pace.”