U.S. onvestor optimism fell to a new low for the year in August, according to the UBS/Gallup Index of Investor Optimism.

The index has been on a steadily declining trend since January, the survey noted. “One key issue of growing concern to investors is the residential real estate market,” it reported, as 56% of respondents rate conditions in the real estate market as “only fair” (44%) or “poor” (12%), a significant jump from the 46% who held these views in June and July. Additionally, 70% of investors believe that conditions in the real estate market are getting worse, up from 63% in June.

Investor sentiment toward investing in real estate assets nationwide has also fallen, the index found. In August, 50% of investors said that now is a good time to invest in real estate related assets nationwide, down from 55% in June.

The vast majority of investors polled, 94%, continue to view energy prices as harmful to the investment climate, it said. Respondents also believe that gasoline prices will continue to rise somewhat over the next three months.

Investors are also greatly concerned about the unsettled geopolitical environment, it noted, with 85% responding that they believe current international tensions are hurting the investment climate. Additionally, 75% are concerned about the Federal budget deficit and 72% worry about the danger of increased inflation.

“The drop in confidence in the real estate market reflects the economic data for that sector and suggests that investors are feeling the pinch in their local markets,” said Anne Briglia, senior fixed income strategist, UBS Wealth Management Research. “Although we have seen gasoline prices stabilize recently, investors are clearly worried about the implications of international tensions on future energy prices.”

Investors’ outlooks on their personal investments have also dipped, the survey noted, indicating that investors are less optimistic about their own portfolios than they were a month ago. However, as a whole, investors are essentially neutral about the economic outlook over the next 12 months.

With the “back-to-school” shopping season underway, investors were polled about their spending plans. Although only one-third of investors expect to shop for “back-to-school” items, 36% of those who do expect to spend more than they did last year while 11% expect to spend less.

These findings are part of the 99th Index of Investor Optimism, which was conducted August 1-17. The sampling included 802 U.S. investors randomly selected from across the country. For this study, the American investor is defined as any person who is head of a household or a spouse in any household with total savings and investments of $10,000 or more. The sampling error in the results is plus or minus four percentage points.