"The health of the housing market is a reverberation of consumer confidence and credit availability"
- Simon Hayes and Chris Crowe, economists at Barclays Plc
A U.K. house-price index declined to the lowest level in half a year in April, said the Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors (RICS). The index fell to minus 19 from minus 11 the previous month.
"The health of the housing market is a reverberation of consumer confidence and credit availability," said Simon Hayes and Chris Crowe, economists at Barclays Plc in London.
"Unlike some other countries, the U.K. market continues to be fundamentally supported by a lack of supply, which is acting to stave off sharper price declines; but it is hard at present to see what might spur an improvement."
© Dukascopy Bank