- Howard Archer, chief UK and Eurozone economist at IHS Global Insight
British consumer confidence declined to its lowest level in the last six months in November, a survey conducted by GfK on behalf of the EU revealed. The consumer sentiment indicator fell to +1 in November from +2 in the preceding month, while analysts had expected it to remain unchanged in November. The last time the figure reached such a low level was in May. With regards to Britain's economic growth, it demonstrated weak numbers in the third quarter. The second revision to the UK GDP stayed steady at 0.5%, matching market expectations, the Office for National Statistics reported. In the second quarter, the economy grew by 0.7%. Measured in yearly terms, the GDP climbed up by 2.3%. The government's spending accounted for 1.3% quarter-on-quarter, capital expenditure rose by 1.3% on quarter and the total business investments stepped up by 2.2%, beating economists' projections of 1.5%.
As to the house price growth in the UK, it slowed somewhat in November, according to data collected by Nationwide. More precisely, house prices moved up 3.7% from a year ago down from October's 3.9%. It was the weakest growth since August, when prices increased by 3.2%. On a monthly basis, house prices climbed 0.1% in November compared with a rise of 0.5% in October.
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