House prices recorded a second month of growth in November, according to a closely-watched report.
The Nationwide House Price Index showed average values were 0.2% higher, building on the 0.9% increase it measured in October.
It meant, the mortgage lender said, that prices were 2% down on an annual basis – outperforming the expectations of economists in a poll for the Reuters news agency which had forecast a 2.5% decline.
The rolling 12 month measure stood at its strongest level since February.
Nationwide released its report just days after Bank of England data showed a leap in mortgage approvals in October.
Analysts said the rise, to 47,400 from an eight-month low the previous month, demonstrated a renewed sense of optimism among buyers that the Bank’s cycle of interest rate hikes to tackle stubborn inflation was at an end.
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Housing market activity picking up
The Nationwide report covering October had indicated a greater role from a shortage of properties on the market.
But its chief economist, Robert Gardner, said on Friday: “There has been a significant change in market expectations for the future path of Bank rate in recent months which, if sustained, could provide much-needed support for housing market activity.”
The cost of fixed-rate deals has been coming down since financial markets started to price in no further interest rate increases.
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However, that drop in average mortgage rates has been limited.
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Housing crisis in Bristol
The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has made it clear he does not expect the Bank to announce interest rate cuts for the foreseeable future – denting some confidence in markets that the Bank rate could slip back to 5% in June.
It currently stands at 5.25%.
Housing market experts say the pause to rate hikes, which started in September, would continue to help support prices in the coming months, barring any shocks, amid the lack of any stimulus to support activity.
Commenting on the state of the market, Sam Mitchell, CEO of Purplebricks, said: “Banks are competing more aggressively on the rates they’re offering to consumers following two consecutive interest rate holds, which is driving increased activity in the housing market during a time when we usually experience a seasonal slowdown.
“In November, Purplebricks has seen viewings and offers increase week on week, which is unheard of this time of year.
“It is our sense that buying and selling decisions that have been held off in the face of 14 interest rate rises in a row and through the cost of living crisis will be released to fuel accelerated activity in 2024.
“This will be aided by increased heat in the rental market that will continue to fuel first-time buyers’ appetite to get on the property ladder.”
Matt Thompson, head of sales at Chestertons, added: “Although the autumn statement did not include much for house hunters, first-time-buyers in particular welcomed the news of the Guaranteed Mortgage Scheme being extended until June 2025.
“This, in addition to the previous announcement that interest rates remain at 5.25% for the time being, has led to a boost in buyer confidence in November.
“Many house hunters also don’t expect property values to fall much further; particularly as prices haven’t decreased to the extent as initially predicted. As a result, buyers have been more motivated to continue their property search last month.”
Rachel Reeves will hold talks with some of Wall Street’s leading financiers in Davos this week, less than hours after Donald Trump’s second US presidency gets underway.
Sky News understands that the chancellor will attend a breakfast hosted by JP Morgan on Wednesday amid speculation about the threat of US tariffs being imposed on the UK as well as the prospects for a bilateral trade deal between the two countries.
Among those attending the meeting will be Filippo Gori, JP Morgan’s European chief; Richard Gnodde, who runs Goldman Sachs’s international operations; Sharon Yeshaya, Morgan Stanley’s chief financial officer; and Jenny Johnson, president and chief executive of Franklin Templeton.
The talks, to be held during the annual World Economic Forum, will come amid growing concern about the impact of the chancellor’s October budget on sentiment among international investors in Britain.
Despite hailing £63bn of investment committed at a key summit, weeks before Ms Reeves’s first fiscal event, the government’s non-dom reforms have sparked fears about an exodus of wealth creators from the UK.
The chancellor will use Wednesday’s event to talk up the government’s economic agenda, even after a torrid period which saw a spike in the cost of government borrowing, sparking brief comparisons with the aftermath of the Liz Truss administration’s mini-budget in 2022.
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City sources said that Alexandra Soto, Lazard’s chief operating officer; David Livingstone, Citi’s chief client officer; and Philip Freise, KKR’s co-head of European private equity would be among those also attending the meeting.
Ms Reeves will hold other meetings with bankers, foreign governments and British company chiefs during her trip to Davos.
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‘We need to grow our economy’
Earlier this month, she travelled to China for the first formal financial summit between the two countries for about six years.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment, while none of the firms represented at Wednesday’s summit who were contacted by Sky News would comment.
TikTok has begun restoring service to the app in the US after Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order pausing its ban.
A law signed by President Joe Biden last April required ByteDance, TikTok‘sChina-based parent company, to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner by Sunday or face a ban.
Some users reported that they lost access on Saturday night, and Americans opening the app on Sunday have been greeted with a message saying they “can’t use” TikTok “for now”.
But in a post on Truth Social ahead of his inauguration, Mr Trump said he would issue an executive order handing the app an extension to find a new owner.
“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark,” the president-elect wrote, adding the order will allow time “so that we can make a deal to protect our national security”.
He then confirmed that “there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order” and said: “Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.”
TikTok later said it had started restoring service on Sunday, thanking the president for clarifying to service providers “that they will face no penalties providing TikTok”.
It added: “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
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Ahead of the ban coming into effect, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s plans to shut down the app a “stunt” and said actions enforcing the ban would “fall to the next administration”.
Mr Trump also indicated on Truth Social what a possible deal could look like, saying he would prefer the US “to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” with ByteDance or a new owner.
“Without US approval, there is no TikTok,” he said. “With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”
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Why was TikTok getting banned in the US?
On Saturday, the president-elect told NBC News‘ Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker that TikTok would “most likely” be given a 90-day pause from the ban to find a new owner.
Under the bipartisan law on TikTok – signed by Mr Biden – the president can grant a one-time extension of 90 days under three conditions:
• There is a path to divestiture of the app
• There is “significant progress” toward executing a sale
• There are in place “the relevant binding legal agreements to enable execution of such qualified divestiture during the period of such extension”
No legal agreements on the sale of TikTok to a non-Chinese owner have been made public, and Mr Trump did not say on Saturday if he was aware of any recent progress toward a sale.
CNBC later reported Perplexity AI made a bid for the app’s parent company on Saturday to allow it to merge with TikTok US and create a new entity, which would also include New Capital Partners.
During his first term in the White House, Mr Trump attempted to ban TikTok as well as the Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat but was blocked by the courts. It was later revoked by Mr Biden.
Last year, he briefly met with the app’s chief executive Shou Zi Chew, who will attend the inauguration on Monday.
He’s expected to sit with fellow tech executives Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, a Trump transition official told NBC.
The government doesn’t think Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on the UK, but is “prepared for all scenarios”, a cabinet minister has said.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillipsthat the former president’s return to the White House “could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities”.
Mr Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on all imports into the United States, singling out Canada, Mexico, and China as countries that could face steeper measures within hours of his inauguration on Monday.
Asked what the government will do if that happens to the UK, Mr Jones said that was a “hypothetical” question and to wait and see “what actually happens”.
“If that were to happen, I will come back and lay out the details for you. But the point is, is that I don’t think we’re going to be in that scenario,” Mr Jones said.
He said there is a narrative in the UK that Mr Trump’s presidency poses “a big risk for Britain”, when this isn’t the case.
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“Britain is a brilliant country with huge capabilities and assets which are valued not just to the British people, but to the American economy and other parts of the world,” he said.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that under the Trump administration there are going to be plenty of opportunities that we can seize, and we should be positive about that and be strong about securing this deal.”
Mr Jones confirmed there is ultimately a plan if tariffs are imposed, but said it isn’t for him “to lay out the details in advance of something actually happening on TV”.
“It’s not breaking news that the government prepares for all scenarios,” he added.
“My broader point is that we shouldn’t be looking at president-elect Trump’s inauguration as a risk, or a bad thing for the UK. It could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities.”
President-elect Trumpwill be sworn in to a second term in office on Monday, following his election victory in November, and there have been concerns over what his pledged tariffs could mean for economies around the globe.
The former businessman has been clear he plans to pick up where he left off in 2021 by taxing goods coming into the country, making them more expensive, in a bid to protect US industry and jobs.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel,who is in Washington DC for the inauguration, said Mr Trump is “within his rights to make the statements that he wants around tariffs… but as ever this is a discussion and a negotiation”.
She said the Labour government should resume her party’s talks over a post-Brexit free trade deal with the US and “not even enter into these discussions around tariffs”.
A trade deal with the US had been set as a priority in the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto but was not achieved by the time of the general election in July last year, which they lost.
Ms Patel went on to call Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a “pop-up act” and “not relevant” when asked if her party should make peace with him to get on well with Mr Trump, given the close relationship of the pair.
She said the Conservatives and Republicans are “sister parties” with “enduring, long-standing ties”.
“We’re not a pop-up act in the way in which they [Reform UK] are… so I don’t think that’s particularly relevant,” she said.
However, the Lib Dems accused the former home secretary of “competing with Reform to be most submissive toward Trump”.
Confidence in Mandelson’s appointment
Mr Trump’s inauguration has also caused a stir after reports in the Sunday papers suggested he could reject Lord Peter Mandelson as Sir Keir Starmer’s nomination for the UK’s ambassador to the US.
The Labour grandee has been critical of Mr Trump in the past, and was last month branded an “absolute moron” by a Trump campaigner.
However Mr Jones signalled he was confident that the Blair-era minister would take up his position, telling Sky News he “doubts very much” the media reports are true.
“It’s probably being propagated by some politicians that would like to cause a bit of a nuisance. I doubt that will be the case.”
Govt ‘doesn’t agree’ with Khan’s Trump comments
Mr Jones was also forced to distance himself from comments made by Labour’s Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
Mr Khan has warned of a century-defining battle against “resurgent fascism”, writing in The Observer that “these are deeply worrying times, especially if you’re a member of a minority community”.
Mr Jones said he does not associate with that language and questions about it “are for Sadiq to answer.”
He later told the BBC: “I speak on behalf of the government and we don’t agree with it.”