UK Housing Market Update Stamp duty holiday will provide little help to first-time buyers Labour’s proposal for a three year stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers will distort the market and will not address any of the market’s deeper failings. That won’t help FTBs. Indeed, it could... 27th April 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Chart Pack Russia’s economy slumps, growth weakens in Turkey The region’s two largest economies – Russia and Turkey – have continued to struggle over the past month. Russia’s economy appears to have contracted sharply by around 3% y/y in Q1. Meanwhile, we... 27th April 2015 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Are Irish and Spanish housing bubbles reflating? Revivals in Spain’s and Ireland’s housing markets should help to support their wider economic recoveries. While Spain’s housing recovery is likely to be slow, Ireland’s is already going strong. This... 27th April 2015 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response New Home Sales (Mar.) The fall in new home sales in March is more likely to be a temporary payback after strong growth in previous months rather than a sign that housing activity is starting to cool again. In any case... 23rd April 2015 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Existing Home Sales (Mar.) The leap in existing home sales to an 18-month high in March shows that sales are finally gathering momentum after a slow start to 2015. Looser credit conditions and strong growth in jobs and incomes... 22nd April 2015 · 1 min read
Canada Chart Pack January rate cut won't be enough insurance The futures market indicates that most investors are now convinced by the Bank of Canada's view that the January interest rate cut will be enough to prevent the economy from being derailed by the... 21st April 2015 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Outlook A strong economic backdrop and low mortgage rates will lead to further house price gains A number of measures indicate that the strong economic backdrop has led to a boost in housing market sentiment. However, active housing demand remains very subdued. In part that reflects a lack of... 21st April 2015 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Focus Has the mortgage market turned a corner? The weight of evidence suggests that the mortgage market is making a bigger contribution to the housing recovery than some of the most widely watched indicators imply. Combined with the prospect of... 20th April 2015 · 1 min read
UK Economic Outlook Don’t underestimate the economy’s hidden slack Economists and policymakers are significantly overestimating the permanent damage inflicted to the economy from the financial crisis and recession. We still think that the economy has the potential to... 16th April 2015 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Teranet House Prices (Mar.) Although house price inflation rose to 4.7% in March, from 4.4%, the existing home sales-to-new listings ratio suggests that any further pick-up is likely to be short-lived. 14th April 2015 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Fed tightening pace dependent on market reaction New York Fed President William Dudley noted last week that the pace of rate hikes will depend a lot on the reaction to the initial lift-off in financial markets. The upshot is that, while there is an... 10th April 2015 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Chart Pack Strong fundamentals boost housing sentiment A favourable economic backdrop and record low mortgage rates have boosted consumer sentiment, and given households the confidence to think about buying a home. With banks now starting to raise... 9th April 2015 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response Halifax House Prices (Mar.) House prices according to the Halifax increased by 0.4% during March, pushing underlying growth to a six-month high. With employment at record highs at the same time as mortgage rates are at record... 9th April 2015 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Chart Pack Home sales will continue to strengthen Following the weather-related weakness at the start of the year, new home sales surged 7.8% m/m to a seven-year high in February. Existing sales rebounded by 1.2% m/m, despite another large drop in... 8th April 2015 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response Bank of England Credit Conditions Survey (Q1) The Credit Conditions Survey painted a weak picture of the residential mortgage market, but confirmed that the commercial lending market is improving. While the supply of residential mortgages is... 8th April 2015 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Construction weakness due to seasonal adjustment failure At first glance, the recent monthly construction spending figures look awful. The three-month-on-three-month growth rate of residential construction spending at least climbed back into positive... 3rd April 2015 · 1 min read
