020 7898 0500A regional survey from Halifax showed that house prices in London are falling at the fastest rate in nine years. Prices fell by 3.2% in the first quarter of 2018 which is the steepest decline since the global financial crisis. However, prices elsewhere in the UK increased strongly.
It was a good day for sterling against the euro following some disappointing data from the eurozone, and against the dollar it made some healthy gains too by climbing above the $1.42 mark. It has recently met some resistance around this figure, so it will be interesting to see if it can strengthen further or whether it will weaken once more.
The Bank of England also said that the amount of unsecured credit available to UK households dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2018. In its credit conditions survey, the BoE found that lenders have tightened their credit scoring criteria for giving credit cards and loans. Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent spoke at the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney, but made no comments on monetary policy.
There are no data releases from the UK today, so any sterling movements are likely to be caused by economic or political events elsewhere.
