Was the housing market up or down in March?
Conflicting reports on the UK housing market have led to concerns about the quality of housing surveys across the country. Earlier this week we saw the Nationwide report show a 0.9% increase in house prices in March while Friday's Halifax report showed a 1.9% reduction. There is now severe confusion as to which report is correct and how they could be so very different when looking at the same market.
There are concerns that short-term volatility could be unduly affecting the figures from the Nationwide and Halifax and many experts are now suggesting the three-month figures are more informative. Looking at the three-month performance of the UK housing market both reports still show a significant reduction although there is a difference in their figures. The Nationwide data, at the time, suggested that short-term volatility could impact on one month by month figures although quite why they are so different to those released by the Halifax is a mystery.
All eyes will be on figures for April and May with investors looking for signs of a bottoming out of the UK housing market and possible "green shoots" of recovery. The ongoing reduction in UK base rates has yet to kick in but at some point we should see interest return.
Share this..
Related stories
Marks & Spencer set to announce 1000 job cuts
This week's announcement of the Marks & Spencer sales figures for the Christmas and New Year period is set to disappoint the market and will be accompanied by a rumoured 1000 job cuts. Those who regularly read this site will know that Marks & Spencer's changed its redundancy guidelines earlier this year and they now look like come into play much sooner than anyone had anticipated.
A...
What is your overdraft interest rate?
While the vast majority of people in the UK will have some form of overdraft facility how many are aware of the interest rate currently being charged on any outstanding balances? A report today confirms that the average rate charged by banks and building sites in the UK during the month of August was a phenomenal 19.1% which is the highest figure since records began in 1995. As more and more pe...
Read MoreWill the cost of finance rise in the UK?
There is much talk today of further problems in the European debt markets with liquidity in the money markets and interbank lending arena still very low. Slowly but surely we have seen a gradual increase in the cost of finance for governments around Europe which has also impacted on the cost of finance for businesses. So will we see the cost of finance in the UK rise in the latter part of 2010?...
Read MoreEnergy companies increase profit margins
It has been revealed that energy companies in the UK have increased their profit margins on each customer by £30. This increase in the cost of energy, and the profitability of energy companies, has occurred over the last three months during a time when the UK economy was struggling to pull away from the grip of the recession. These figures from Ofgem also confirm that wholesale energy costs in th...
Read MoreDo 0% interest rates actually work?
As the US stock market responded positively to the reduction of US interest rates many are now looking around the world to see if historic instances of 0% interest rates have actually worked. The only real similar situation was that in Japan in the 1980s were rates were slashed to 0% as the economy collapsed and the property market was brought to the ground. So did 0% interest rates work in Japan?...
Read More