Feelings about the banking and real estate industries are shifting in the U.S., moving toward the better for the first time in years, according to a recent Gallup survey.
Banking got its first positive rating since 2007 and real estate got its first positive rating since 2006 in Gallup’s annual review of how Americans feel about various industries.
Starting in 2001, Gallup has surveyed Americans on their feeling toward 24 business sectors. The “average net positive rating” this year has increased to 18 across all sectors.
But banking and real estate were stand outs on the list, as both industries have had negative scores in recent years. Real estate dropped into a negative score in 2006, hitting -40 at its lowest point in 2008.
The banking industry’s image hit a negative score in 2007. Its lowest score was -28, a score the industry dropped to on two separate occasions.
However, the real estate industry’s score jumped to 12 this year and the banking industry moved up to a score of 8.
Many businesses are starting to return to prerecession levels. The automobile industry, another sector that was hit hard by the recession, had a slightly lower score this year than last. In 2013 the auto industry had a 26, this year it dropped to 20.
Still, this is an improvement from the -35 score that the auto industry had back in 2009. The survey shows that the auto industry was one of the fastest to get consumers to bounce back to a positive feeling, climbing from -35 in 2009 to a positive score (3) in 2010.
The report states that though the banking and real estate sectors rate below the average of all of the other industries, their ability to recover and regain consumers’ trust is a positive sign for future improvement.
