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UK house prices increase almost 1% in October; Next lifts profit forecasts again
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UK house prices increase almost 1% in October; Next lifts profit forecasts again
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as low supply of properties on the market lift house prices unexpectedly
Headlines
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Today's agenda
The health of the UK housing market will be on the mind of Bank of England policymakers this week, as they meet to set interest rates at noon tomorrow.

The latest news is that house prices increased in October, but remained lower than a year ago, as a shortage of properties lifted prices after their recent falls.

The lender Nationwide has reported this morning that UK house prices rose by 0.9% month on month in October, compared with forecasts of a 0.4% fall.

The average price of a property sold last month rose to £259,423, up from £257,808, according to Nationwide’s data, which is based on transactions involving a mortgage.

That still leaves house prices down 3.3% compared with October 2022, though.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said that housing market activity remained extremely weak.

He said: "This is not surprising as affordability remains stretched. Market interest rates, which underpin mortgage pricing, have moderated somewhat but they are still well above the lows prevailing in 2021.

“The uptick in house prices in October most likely reflects the fact that the supply of properties on the market is constrained. There is little sign of forced selling, which would exert downward pressure on prices, as labour market conditions are solid and mortgage arrears are at historically low levels.

"Activity and house prices are likely to remain subdued in the coming quarters."

The clothing retailer Next has raised its full-year profit outlook again despite the cost of living squeeze on consumers.

Next has increased its full-year guidance for profit before tax this financial year by £10m to £885m – its fourth increase in the last six months, after an early upgrade in September.

The upgrade comes as Next also reports a 4% rise in full-price sales in the third quarter of this year.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, will set interest rates later today (6pm UK time). The Fed is expected to leave interest rates on hold, while it assesses whether its existing monetary tightening is enough to bring down inflation.

Executives from some of the world’s biggest tech firms are joining world leaders and artificial intelligence experts at Bletchley Park, the birthplace of computing, for Rishi Sunak’s AI summit.

The event will focus on frontier AI systems, the cutting-edge models that can perform a wide variety of tasks matching or exceeding the performances of the most advanced AI available today.

The agenda
• 9.30am GMT: UK manufacturing PMI report for October
• 11am GMT: US weekly mortgage approval levels
• 12.15pm GMT: ADP survey of US private sector payrolls
• 2pm GMT: JOLTS survey of US job vacancies
• 6pm GMT: Federal Reserve sets interest rates
• 6.30pm BST: Federal Reserve press conference

We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
Nils Pratley on finance
BP’s interim boss struggles to be heard. But his message is right
BP’s interim boss struggles to be heard. But his message is right
 

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