Closing summary
Time for a recap….
British house prices have fallen at the fastest annual pace since 2009, mortgage lender Halifax said this morning.
With increases in interest rates cooling the market, prices fell by £14,000 over the past 12 months to £279,569, a drop of 4.6% – the biggest annual decline since 2009.
The average house price fell 1.9% in August alone, the biggest monthly fall since November 2022.
Halifax predicted that prices would continue to fall, with prices down sharpest in the South East of England in the last year.
The pound has continued to weaken today, as investors anticipate the Bank of England is close to ending its interest rate increases. Sterling dropped to $1.245, the lowest since June.
Growth in the eurozone was weaker than thought in the last quarter. Eurozone GDP rose by just 0.1% in April-June, down from a previous estimate of 0.3%, prompting fears of a recession later this year.
In other news….
Woking council has laid out a drastic package of cuts to local services after it in effect declared itself bankrupt earlier this summer, revealing a £1.2bn deficit racked up from a risky investment spree overseen by its former Tory administration.
The competition regulator is taking aim at the UK’s £2bn veterinary industry, amid fears that a surge in chain-owned surgeries may be leaving pet owners with dwindling choice and “eye-watering” bills.
British American Tobacco has reached an agreement to sell its Russian and Belarusian businesses to a group led by its Moscow management team
Workers should come into the office at least three days a week – and not just Tuesday to Thursday – to ensure clients are properly served throughout the week, according to the head of the world’s biggest insurance market.
And the Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, got a rude welcome in Brussels when he received two cream pies to the face while standing next to a cardboard cutout of the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen.
Recession fears after eurozone growth downgrade
This morning’s downgrade to eurozone growth in the last quarter, from 0.3% to just 0.1%, has raised fears that Europe could slide into recession later this year.
Capital Economics say:
The downward revision to the euro-zone’s second-quarter GDP data means the economy is now thought to have essentially flat-lined since the fourth quarter of last year.
With business surveys having turned down sharply in July and August, construction and industry struggling and the labour market easing, we suspect that the euro-zone will slip into recession in the second half of the year.
