House prices in the UK have fallen yet again in October with analysts predicting a property-market recovery is still far off unless it is backed by sustained economic growth.
According to Hometrack Ltd, Prices declined by 0.1% from September and by 0.4% from 2011. The good news is that the year on year decrease is its smallest in two years. Overall sales increased by 9.2% as buyers cashed in on the cheaper prices. Overall demand for homes increased by 0.3%, boosted by a surge of 3.9% in London and the number of homes up for sale went up by 1.4%.
“The foundation of any national and sustainable recovery in the housing market rests on growth in the wider economy and household incomes,” Richard Donnell, Hometrack’s director of research, said in the statement. Demand for homes is “likely to slow down in the run-up to the year-end with agents looking to push through as many sales as possible.”
As a result of the House price data the Pound has fallen slightly against the US Dollar and retreated against the Euro. Uncertainties over Greece and Spain have caused the markets to seek safety in the US currency and were dragged down against the Euro after the deputy of the Bank of England told traders to not be too over optimistic over last week’s better-than-expected GDP figures.
“We are not expecting any huge movement in sterling today. The focus is going to be on Hurricane Sandy and how that effects movement in the dollar that would pass into cable (sterling/dollar).” said Lee McDarby, head of dealing for corporate and institutional treasury at Investec. Hurricane Sandy has forced hundreds of thousands of people on the U.S. East Coast to flee their homes and shut the U.S. stock market.
Thursday PMI data and reports on the UK’s construction are set to give an initial indication of whether the strong momentum from the third quarter continued into the fourth.
“If we do see a potentially strong PMI, that can really help to boost the pound, as we have seen happen before,” added McDarby.
As of 12:00pm
The Pound to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2450
The Pound to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.6057
The Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.5518
The Pound to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.9550
The Pound to Canadian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.6050
The Pound to Japanese Yen exchange rate is currently trading at 127.8200
The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2897
The Euro to Pound exchange rate is currently trading at 0.8031
The Euro to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2466
The Euro to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.5736
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