The British Pound fell in today’s European trading session, following news that the annual rate of growth in UK house prices slowed to its lowest rate in three and a half years.
In a report released by HBOS on Tuesday morning, it was shown that said tha the UK.’s Halifax house price index increased at a less-than-expected rate last month. The U.K. Halifax HPI increased to a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, from the-1.1% recorded in January whose figure was revised down from -0.9%. The disappointing figures came after analysts had expected U.K. Halifax HPI to increase 0.3% last month.
The UK’s largest mortgage lender reported thar prices rose by 5.1% in the year to February. This is the lowest since July 2013 and means that means the rate of inflation for house prices has halved in just 11 months.
Wage Growth Hampering House Prices
House prices across the nation are suffering after wage growth is experiencing a big slowdown. The average price in the UK is now £219,949.
The weak data came hot on the heels of the release of poor BRC Retail Sales data. The British Retail Consortium reported that retail sales in the U.K. increased less-than-expected last month.
BRC Retail Sales increased to a seasonally adjusted -0.4%, from the -0.6% recorded in the preceding month. The disappointing figures came after analysts had expected BRC Retail Sales to increase to 0.2%in February.
At time of writing, the GBP/USD was down 0.40% with Cable trading at $1.2193
