– House prices increased by 0.9% in March
– House purchase activity reaches highest level since May 2008
– Welcome signals of market improvement but too early to talk of house price recovery

House prices rose in March for the first time since October 2007, according to the Nationwide.

The building society said that property prices increased by 0.9% compared with the previous month.

That reduced the annual rate of house price falls from 17.6% in February to 15.7% in March, with the average UK home costing £150,946.

Nationwide described the change as a “surprise bounce” and warned against concluding the market had turned.

Source: Nationwide Building Society
Link: http://tinyurl.com/clqvu9

Work is well underway on this huge development being built by London-Irish developer Eamon Lyons. It is located on Old Street on the edge of London’s financial district – The City. It is due for completion in 2010. The development comprises of two 14 and 16-storey towers.

Eamon Lyons has over 20 years experience in the East End. Originally from the west of Ireland, Lyons cut his teeth with Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore Homes in the late 1980s and early 1990s but eventually established his own company, Tudorvale Homes, which has been building houses and apartments for over a decade.

Artists impression of the finished development

RYANAIR CHIEF executive Michael O’Leary yesterday said the airline would continue to pare back its services from Dublin airport in a move to up the ante against the Irish Government’s proposed introduction a €10 air travel tax.

Passengers traveling through Dublin Airport over the weekend have reported it being incredibly quiet – “it’s usually pandemonium in there”. Officially there was a 12% decline in the Passenger throughput at Dublin Airport for the month of February, over the same period last year, according to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).

Meanwhile the DAA is investing €2bn in new facilities over the next decade and planning permision has been granted for a new runway. Hmmmmm…?

White Elephant?

Sir Anthony O’Reilly is to step down as chief executive officer at Independent News & Media in May. He will be replaced by his son Gavin.

The announcement was made in a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange early this morning.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/

Eurozone interest rates have been slashed by a half percentage point to the lowest level ever as the European Central Bank responds to continental Europe’s worst recession since the second world war.

The ECB said its main interest rate would fall from 2 per cent to 1.5 per cent, bringing the total cut since early October to 275 basis points, and taking the eurozone’s monetary guardian into territory not charted since the euro’s launch in 1999.

http://www.ft.com/world/europe

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee cut its key rate by half a percentage point to 0.5 per cent on Thursday and unveiled a programme under which it will buy up to £150bn in government gilts and corporate bonds.

http://www.ft.com/home/uk

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 0.5% – a fresh all-time low – and said it was now boosting the money supply to help revive the economy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7925620.stm

The pound rose against the dollar and euro after a survey showed U.K. consumer confidence in February rose from the lowest level in at least four years.

The currency also advanced on speculation the Bank of England may bolster economic growth by cutting its benchmark rate to a record low tomorrow and signaling its ready to buy government bonds as part of a quantitative easing policy. An index of U.K. sentiment increased to 43 last month, from 41 in January, which was the worst result since data began in 2004, Nationwide Building Society said today.

www.bloomberg.com