The Bank of England has decided not to extend its quantitative easing programme at the moment but left the door open for future asset buying if needed, city wire reported today.
In a statement, the bank’s monetary policy committee said: ’The committee will continue to monitor the appropriate scale of the asset purchase programme and further purchases would be made should the outlook warrant them.’ But for now, members believe there are signs the economy is pulling out of recession and more stimulus is not needed.
see www.citywire.co.uk for the full report
Halifax stated that ‘House prices rose by 0.6% in January. This was the seventh successive monthly increase and takes the average price to 9.9% above its trough in April 2009. January’s rise, nonetheless, was more modest than in any of the previous six months.
Increased demand has combined with a low supply of properties available for sale to push up prices. There are some signs that more people are putting their homes on the market. A further increase in the supply of property is possible over the coming months, which would help to curb upward pressure on prices. Overall our current view is that house prices will be flat in 2010.’