Wherever you look the statistics seem to be unprecedented. House prices fell at their fastest rate ever in 2008. Sales are lower than at any time since records began in the 1950s. Housing starts are at the lowest level seen in peacetime since the 1920s. For current information, see further details. According to many forecasters,
According to two leading business groups’ reports, the British economy will start recovering next spring. The Confederation of British Industries has predicted that any recovery will be ‘slow and fragile’ with the economy shrinking 3.9 per cent this year, but expects there will be an economic recovery by next spring when growth turns positive at
Research by the Prince’s Trust show that deprived young people are being hit by the recession worst, and more is to come. Claims for jobseeker’s allowance by 18- to-24-year-olds have risen by more than 80 per cent in the past year, totalling more than 450,000 young people. At the same time, youth charities are facing
Economists have been quick to dampen speculation that the housing market has hit the bottom after yesterday’s figures from Halifax showing house prices had increased 2.6 per cent in May. The jump in house price inflation was the third in the past 21 months, but even Halifax cautioned reading too much into the figure. Other
Economic gains in deprived parts of Wales in the past 10 years have been wiped out by the recession, and worse is still to come. A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and New Policy Institute found that, compared with other parts of the UK, economic recovery since 1997 was slower to kick in and
Optimism in the construction industry is at its highest level since the start of the credit crunch in August 2007, a survey of purchasing managers has found. The index from the Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply is still at an historically low level, but has been slowly rising since its trough in July 2008.
Planning applications received by district-level authorities in England in the past quarter are down 30 per cent in year on year figures, Communities and Local Government data shows, with decisions made on residential developments of 10 or more homes falling by 46 per cent. The CLG acknowledged that the recession has had an impact on
Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King said that interest rates will fall no further, and promised that the £75 billion quantitative easing would trigger a recovery and beat the recession. Talking to Sky News after the Bank yesterday dropped interest rates to their lowest ever rate of 0.5 per cent, King said he