When accountants start to get twitchy it is worth sitting up and taking notice. So, the latest business confidence survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) showing the impact of the credit crunch is spreading is worth taking seriously.

Figures of note are that property has overtaken banking and finance as the focus of most concern. The confidence index for property dropped to -47.0 against the whole economy average of -19.7.

Meanwhile confidence in the construction industry worsened from -17.3 in the first quarter of 2008 to -24.2 in the second quarter.