Good morning: UK house prices are on course to suffer their biggest decline since the financial crisis, with economists warning of a market “correction” this year caused by rising borrowing costs and a likely recession.
Two thirds of economists surveyed for the The Times economists survey expected house prices to fall by more than 4 per cent, with most warning of near-double-digit declines.
The house price projection was among several bleak forecasts by the 40 economists, drawn from the City, academia and think tanks, who took part in our annual survey.
An overwhelming 82 per cent of respondents expected growth to be below 0 per cent in 2023, with a majority predicting that national GDP would fall by about 1 per cent. Global growth is expected to expand in a range of 1 per cent to 2 per cent.
We get more economic data today with the publication of UK manufacturing PMI data for December at 9.30am. Economists expect a reading of 44.7.
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On the corporate front this morning:
INCHCAPE: The FTSE 250 car dealer has said it expects pre-tax profit from continuing operations “towards the top end, or slightly above, the previously guided range” of £350 million to £370 million as it announced that it had completed the acquisition of the Latin American distributor Derco for £1.3 billion.
FERREXPO: In a brief stock-exchange statement, the London-listed iron ore pellet maker has said that it has received a formal resignation letter from Kostyantyn Zhevago, its controlling shareholder and non-executive director. Zhevago was arrested in the French ski resort of Courchevel last week. Ukraine is seeking his extradition on suspicion of embezzlement and money laundering.
WIZZ AIR: The budget airline carried 4.2 million passengers in December, an increase of 58.4 per cent year-on-year.
Finally, Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is due to make his initial appearance in front of the US district judge Lewis Kaplan at the Manhattan Federal Court (7.00pm UK time). Reports suggest that the former billionaire, who stands accused of orchestrating what US prosecutors have called “one of the biggest frauds in US history”, will plead not guilty.
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Please keep sending your thoughts, observations (and corrections) to me at richard.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk and follow me on Twitter, @fletcherr, for a first glimpse of tomorrow’s business section front page.
Have a great day.
Richard
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