U.K. House Price Index rises year-on-year in December

The U.K. House Price Index, released today, continued to show a comparatively positive picture of the U.K. housing market. It implied that prices were up 5.2 percent year-on-year in December, which is slightly steeper than in November; however, it is within the range seen in the second half of last year.

In spite of current headwinds in the market such as high Stamp Duty tax, declining real wages, weak consumer sentiment, high economic uncertainty and the prospect of increased interest rates in the future, the rate stayed nearly twice as high as average wage growth, noted Daiwa Capital Markets Research.

This year, a gradual rebound in real income growth and the possibility that interest rates, even if they rise slightly, would stay at historically low levels should help guarantee ongoing modest rises in prices, with a continuation of the regional trends seen at the end of last year.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of British Pound was slightly bearish at -132.79, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 2.61809. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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