U.K. house prices fell in February for a third month in four, as economic uncertainty weighed on demand for housing, Halifax said.
Prices (UKHB3MYR) dropped 0.5 percent from January to an average 160,118 pounds ($253,400), the mortgage unit of Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) said in a statement in London today. From a year earlier, values were down 1.6 percent.
While inflation is cooling, a recovery in consumer confidence is being kept in check by rising unemployment and concern about the impact of Europe’s debt crisis on Britain’s economy. Still, surveys this month indicate that the U.K. economy (UKGRABIQ) returned to growth in the first quarter after a 0.2 percent contraction in the last three months of 2011.
Recent economic statistics
have been “encouraging, suggesting that the U.K. may avoid slipping back into recession,” Halifax economist Martin Ellis said in the statement. “These developments are positive for the housing market outlook. Significant uncertainties, however, persist and the prospects for house prices during 2012 will, to a large extent, depend on events in the euro zone.”
In the three months through February, values were 1.1 percent lower compared with the previous quarter, Halifax said. From a year earlier, prices in the three-month period were down 1.9 percent.
Read more at : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-06/u-k-february-house-prices-fall-0-5-on-month-halifax-says.html
Prices (UKHB3MYR) dropped 0.5 percent from January to an average 160,118 pounds ($253,400), the mortgage unit of Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) said in a statement in London today. From a year earlier, values were down 1.6 percent.
While inflation is cooling, a recovery in consumer confidence is being kept in check by rising unemployment and concern about the impact of Europe’s debt crisis on Britain’s economy. Still, surveys this month indicate that the U.K. economy (UKGRABIQ) returned to growth in the first quarter after a 0.2 percent contraction in the last three months of 2011.
Recent economic statistics
have been “encouraging, suggesting that the U.K. may avoid slipping back into recession,” Halifax economist Martin Ellis said in the statement. “These developments are positive for the housing market outlook. Significant uncertainties, however, persist and the prospects for house prices during 2012 will, to a large extent, depend on events in the euro zone.”
In the three months through February, values were 1.1 percent lower compared with the previous quarter, Halifax said. From a year earlier, prices in the three-month period were down 1.9 percent.
Read more at : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-06/u-k-february-house-prices-fall-0-5-on-month-halifax-says.html
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