UK Housing Market Data Response Halifax House Prices (Jan.) We suspect that the pause in house price falls in January reported by Halifax will prove temporary. Despite the slight decline in mortgage rates, affordability still looks far too stretched for house... 7th February 2023 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Focus CEE’s energy crisis: looking beyond this winter The energy crisis in Central and Eastern Europe has lost some of its bite as natural gas prices have slumped and countries have made good progress in replacing Russian energy supplies. This has... 6th February 2023 · 25 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Cash buyers unlikely to prop up housing market Most, but not all measures of house prices show that they are falling. That has led some to contend that cash buyers may be supporting prices. But we think it is just a matter of time before the ONS... 6th February 2023 · 2 mins read
UK Commercial Property Data Response S&P Global/CIPS Construction PMI (Jan.) The headline CIPS construction index showed a contraction in activity in January, with the housing index seeing a substantial decline. But the forward-looking indicators improved, with future business... 6th February 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Retail Sales (Dec.) December’s retail sales data show that the sector ended 2022 on a weak note. We think total household consumption will fall in the first half of this year, pulling the economy into recession. 6th February 2023 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Some more thoughts on the ECB meeting While yesterday’s ECB meeting triggered some big moves in financial markets, we think it does not fundamentally alter the outlook for monetary policy. We are still expecting persistently high core... 3rd February 2023 · 7 mins read
UK Commercial Property Update Explaining the surge in yields The rise in yields in the final quarter of last year was larger than that seen at the start of the GFC. While the magnitude of the rise can be explained by the jump in risk-free interest rates, the... 3rd February 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Final PMIs (Jan.) Today’s final PMIs confirmed that economic activity in the euro-zone as a whole continued to roughly stagnate in January but picked up in Italy and Spain. They also show that inflationary pressures... 3rd February 2023 · 2 mins read
Capital Daily What the latest central bank meetings mean for markets Despite investors’ dovish interpretations of recent major central bank meetings, we don’t think monetary policy will give markets too much more of a boost. 2nd February 2023 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Update ECB deposit rate still set to reach 3.5% Whereas the Bank of England and (arguably) the Fed delivered dovish surprises over the past twenty four hours, we think the ECB decision did not amount to a clear change of policy stance. The ECB is... 2nd February 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Commercial Property Update Chinese tourist rebound no silver bullet for prime retail The reversal of China’s zero-COVID policy means Chinese tourists could return to European high streets sooner than expected. While this should help support occupier demand, it seems unlikely it will... 2nd February 2023 · 3 mins read
UK Economics Update Rates close to their peak, but cuts are far away While raising rates by 50 basis points (bps) today, from 3.50% to 4.00%, the Bank of England implied that rates are very close to their peak. We still think that rates may rise to 4.50%, but perhaps... 2nd February 2023 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response Bank of England Policy Announcement (2nd Feb.) 2nd February 2023 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update The economic risks of Israel’s new government Concerns over democratic backsliding and an escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict associated with Israel’s new far-right government won’t necessarily mean that foreign investment into Israel... 1st February 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash HICP (Jan.) January’s drop in headline inflation should be taken with a pinch of salt because a “data processing problem” meant that the data for Germany had to be estimated and might therefore be unreliable. In... 1st February 2023 · 3 mins read