UK house price inflation remained steady in January, with prices reaching a record high, survey data from Halifax showed last Monday. However, the lender warned that growth is likely to slow “considerably” this year as household finances come under increasing pressure.
The house price index rose by 9.7 per cent year-on-year last month, the same as in December. Compared to the previous month, house prices rose by 0.3 per cent, which was the smallest monthly increase since June, indicating that the pandemic-fuelled boom could be coming to an end.
Meanwhile, the price of the average UK home reached a record high of £276,759 (€327,312) in January, up by £24,500 over the year and £37,500 higher than two years ago.
In Germany industrial production dropped in December, data by the Federal Statistics Office showed on Monday, as supply chain bottlenecks and a drop in construction hampered Europe’s largest economy at the end of last year.
Industrial output slipped 0.3 per cent on the month after an upwardly revised increase of 0.3 per cent in November. Economists had forecast production to rise by 0.4 per cent in December.
On a yearly basis, industrial production decreased by 4.1 per cent in December, following by a 2.2 per cent drop in the previous month. Excluding energy and construction, industrial production rose by an adjusted 1.2 per cent in December. Production in 2021 was three per cent higher than in 2020 and 5.5 per cent lower than in the pre-crisis year 2019, the office said.
China’s privately compiled Caixin Services Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI), which measures China’s services sector activity, came in at 51.4 in January, lower than December’s 53.1 and also the lowest level in the past five months, data released by Caixin showed on Monday.
Companies often mentioned that activity rose due to higher amounts of new business. However, others commented that the pandemic and efforts to contain the virus had weighed on overall growth.
The Caixin China Manufacturing PMI, which was released late last month, fell by 1.8 percentage points to 49.1 in January 2022, the lowest since March 2020.
The simultaneous decline of the two major industries dragged down the Caixin China Composite PMI by 2.9 percentage points to 50.1 in January, marginally above the 50 level that separates expansion from contraction.
This report was compiled by Bank of Valletta for general information purposes only.