Money Minute Friday 27 September: UK house prices
In today's Money Minute, we get the latest UK house price data from the Nationwide, plus the latest European and US economic confidence indicators.
This morning, we get the latest reading on UK house prices from Nationwide.
In August, annual house price growth came in at 0.6%, well below the rate of inflation and wage growth.Interest rates remain low, and employment remains high, so a full-blown crash still seems unlikely.However, a prolonged period of flat or gently falling prices would help to improve affordability, without causing potentially damaging instability in the financial system.So let's hope it continues.
Over in the eurozone, we get the latest economic sentiment reading for the region.The eurozone has been gripped by pessimism for some time now, with the sentiment indicator falling in 16 of the past 20 months.That said, it picked up last month, and it will be interesting to see if that has continued through to September.
In the US this afternoon, we get durable goods orders for August.This covers major purchases of equipment and machinery by companies in the US. So it's an important indicator of corporate confidence and demand.