Key Statistics: 2 Dec 2014

Construction

• The Nationwide reported a continued softening in the annual pace of house price growth in November, falling from 9.0% in October to 8.5% and marking the third consecutive month where annual growth has moderated. Nationwide reported that average prices rose 0.3% during November, this compares to a monthly rise of 0.5% in October.
• October was the strongest month for new housing ‘registrations to start’ since June 2011, according to figures released by NHBC. A total of 13,950 new homes were registered in October (11,151 private sector; 2,799 public sector), this is a 10% increase on October 2013 when 12,682 new homes were registered (9,666 private sector; 3,016 public sector). The rise in unit reservation is in contrast to the recent cooling in new sites starts recorded by Glenigan and suggests that housebuilders are pressing ahead with already opened developments.  During the three months to October the number of registrations was up 14% on the same period last year (32,716). Of these:
• Private sector registrations in August - October 2014 increased by 20% (29,341), compared with the same period in 2013 (24,350).
• Public sector registrations in August - October 2014 decreased by 7% (7,799) when compared with the same period a year ago (8,366).

Economy

• The latest estimates for the Office of National Statistics put UK economic growth in the third quarter at 0.7%, unchanged on their previous estimate.
• Total UK fixed investment (GFCF) reached £73.2 billion during the third quarter of 20145, according to ONS data. This is a 1% rise on the previous quarter and 7.1% up on a year ago. GFCF has increased for the last eight quarters, the longest sustained period of growth since 1998. Business investment fell by 0.7% during the quarter; although it was still 6.3% up on a year earlier and, at £44.6 billion, £2.6 billion higher than its pre-downturn peak in 2008 Q2. Increased investment in other buildings and structures was the main growth driver, rising by 4.6% during the quarter. However, other areas such as transport equipment, IT and private dwellings have seen more rapid growth over the last year. 
• Output by the UK service industry during the third quarter was 0.8% up on the preceding quarter and 3.3% up on 2013 Q3, according to ONS. All four service areas have grown over the last 12 months, with the fastest increase being in business services & finance which is 4.4% up on a year ago. The distribution, hotels & restaurants and transport, storage & communications areas both grew by 3.9% over the same period. In contrast Government & other services rose by just 1.2%.