U.K. Nationwide house price index rises in April, housing market activity likely to recover more in near-term

The U.K. Nationwide house price index was released today. Sequentially, the index rose 0.4 percent in April, a rise from 0.2 percent in the prior month. The consensus expectations were for a rise of 0.2 percent. On a year-on-year basis, the index rose to 0.9 percent from 0.7 percent in the prior month, as compared with consensus expectations of the index to come in at 0.7 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, house prices at the national level have narrowly avoided deflation in recent months, having decelerated to only 0.1 percent year-on-year in January. Since then growth has accelerated slightly.

“And with the Article 50 extension having reduced near-term Brexit risks, we might see a little more recovery in housing market activity over the key spring and summer months”, said Daiwa Capital Market Research in a report.

Nevertheless, against the backdrop of continued dysfunctional politics, the end-October Brexit cliff-edge shows a continued source of uncertainty, which is expected to deter several market participants.

“And while at the national level prices might on average continue to rise, prices in London seem likely to remain in reverse for a while yet”, added Daiwa Capital Markets.

At 08:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of British Pound was highly bearish at 117.667 while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bearish at -164.357more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex