The much vaunted Royal Wedding is 24 hours away and not surprisingly is dominating the news agenda. With the Easter break having come and gone and another long weekend looming, activity on the high street for estate agents and mortgage brokers appears to have been placed on hold.
Activity in the first two weeks of April was continuing to reflect the more recent month on month increase in activity that the first quarter had produced. April overall for the housing market is likely to have taken something of a hit so it will be interesting to see if momentum can be re-invigorated once we get through this protracted holiday period.
Although no-one wants to be a kill-joy, the bunching of the four public holidays within an eleven day period and the very odd way that some parts of the country have scheduled the Easter school holidays will I am sure mean that the economy may have seen another drop in output. Although the tourism and hospitality industries may be feeling some benefit the effect on other parts of the wider economy may prove quite damaging.
The GDP figures in recent days demonstrate that the economy has once again returned to growth albeit a some what anaemic 0.5%, thereby just bringing us back to parity following the contraction in quarter four. Certain sectors of the economy are performing better but the housing market is largely driven by consumer confidence and this remains close to at all time lows according to the most recent Nationwide B.S confidence index.
With the MPC voting earlier this month to once again hold the base rate due to a slight fall in CPI combined with the at best “modest” growth figures the pressure for a rate increase appears to have diminished for the time being. A recent vote of leading economists had the majority now forecasting August as the most likely point where the first increase will take place but with one set of economic data often seeming to contradict another I would not be betting the farm on it!
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