British Pound Ticks Up as RICS Survey Beats Forecasts

Talking Points:

• The British Pound got a lift thanks to some good news on house prices
• The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) price balance came in at 25% for January
• That was better than expected and above the previous month’s rise

The British Pound rose moderately on Thursday following the release of a more-upbeat-than-expected survey of house prices in its home country.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) house price “balance” came in at 25% for January. That was above both the 22% which markets had been looking for and December’s 24%. The figure is arrived at by subtracting those respondents who saw price falls from those reporting price rises over the month. So a positive value indicates rising prices.

RICS said that house price growth was slightly more broad-based in January after slowing in December (spells of festive-season torpor are entirely usual in the UK housing market). However, prime central London property registered an 11thstraight monthly price fall and RICS reported static demand from new buyers.

The big question for this market has been whether the relative weakness in London would ripple outward, but so far at least this does not seem to be the case. The broader southeast of England remains in overall housing shortage, which should underpin the market.

GBP/USD had been meandering lower as Thursday’s Asian session took off. However, it snapped out of this following the survey’s publication, rising to 1.25310 from 1.25220.

Modest snapback: GBP/USD

Chart Compiled Using Trading View

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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research

Contact and follow David on Twitter: @DavidCottleFX