Release Explanation: This report gauges the costs of homes in the United Kingdom. The figure is based on surveyors' opinions on the state of the market, calculated as is the percent of surveyors reporting a rise in prices minus those reporting a fall. A fall in house prices indicates a weak housing market, which generally reflects a weakening overall economy.
Trade Desk Thoughts: The Rightmove house price index for the month decreased to negative 1.9 percent, month over month. There is also a very low level of new listing coming to the market with only 43,000 this month when compared with 89,000 in January of 2008. This has limited home buyers choices. Only one area in the U.K. had an increase from the previous month, East Midlands.
Forex Technical Reaction: After starting the new trading week with a 115 pip gap the sterling has managed to stabilize and is trading just below the R1 resistance level at 1.4885.