LONDON: British house prices rose at their slowest annual rate in five years this month and look set to remain subdued due to modest economic growth and squeezed household budgets, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Wednesday.
House prices across the United Kingdom were on average 2.0 percent higher this month than a year ago, slowing from 2.4 percent growth in May. This was the weakest in five years, though less of a slowdown than the drop to 1.7 percent forecast in a Reuters poll.
In June alone, prices rose 0.5 percent compared with a forecast rise of 0.3 percent.
“There are few signs of an imminent change. Surveyors continue to report subdued levels of new buyer enquiries, while the supply of properties on the market remains more of a trickle than a torrent,” Nationwide economist Robert Gardner said.
Nationwide expects house price growth for 2018 as a whole to slow to around 1 percent — a view broadly shared by Pantheon Macroeconomics economist Samuel Tombs.
“Tight supply, a healthy labor market and a continued lengthening of mortgage terms ... will help to prevent prices from falling outright. But it is inevitable that house prices will grow at a slower rate than households’ incomes during a period of rising mortgage rates,” he said.
Most economists polled by Reuters expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.75 percent in August, only the second increase since the global financial crisis.
The pace of increase after that is expected to be gradual, as the BoE assesses the effect of Britain’s departure from the European Union in March 2019.
London’s housing market was hardest hit by the June 2016 Brexit vote, due to reduced demand from foreign investors and fears for the city’s financial services industry.
Tuesday’s data showed London was the only region of the United Kingdom to record an annual price fall in the second quarter, with average prices 1.9 percent lower than a year earlier, compared with increases of 4 percent or more in Wales and central England.
But London property prices still remained 50 percent above their level before the financial crisis, while in much of northern England there had been no overall increase over the past decade, Nationwide said.
UK house price growth falls to 5-year low
UK house price growth falls to 5-year low
The Family Office to host global investment summit in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH: The Family Office, one of the Gulf’s leading wealth management firms, will host its exclusive investment summit, “Investing Is a Sea,” from Jan. 29 to 31 on Shura Island along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
The event comes as part of the Kingdom’s broader Vision 2030 initiative, reflecting efforts to position Saudi Arabia as a global hub for investment dialogue and strategic economic development.
The summit is designed to offer participants an immersive environment for exploring global investment trends and assessing emerging opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing financial landscape.
Discussions will cover key themes including shifts in the global economy, the role of private markets in portfolio management, long-term investment strategies, and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies on investment decision-making and risk management, according to a press release issued on Sunday.
Abdulmohsin Al-Omran, founder and CEO of The Family Office, will deliver the opening remarks, with keynote addresses from Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Prince Turki Al-Faisal, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
The press release said the event reflects the firm’s commitment to institutional discipline, selective investment strategies, and long-term planning that anticipates economic cycles.
The summit will bring together prominent international and regional figures, including former UK Treasury Commercial Secretary Lord Jim O’Neill, Mohamed El-Erian, chairman of Gramercy Fund Management, Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, chairman of the editorial board at Al Arabiya, Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade Dr. Amer Bisat, economist Nouriel Roubini of NYU Stern School of Business, Naim Yazbeck, president of Microsoft Middle East and Africa, John Pagano, CEO of Red Sea Global, Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon, MBE, co-founder of Stemettes, SRMG CEO Jomana R. Alrashed and other leaders in finance, technology, and investment.
With offices in Bahrain, Dubai, Riyadh, and Kuwait, and through its Zurich-based sister company Petiole Asset Management AG with a presence in New York and Hong Kong, The Family Office has established a reputation for combining institutional rigor with innovative, long-term investment strategies.
The “Investing Is a Sea” summit underscores Saudi Arabia’s growing role as a global center for financial dialogue and strategic investment, reinforcing the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objective of fostering economic diversification and sustainable development.
