Final figures confirmed that the UK economy has shown marginal growth in the last quarter of 2022. According to an Office for National Statistics estimate, gross domestic product grew 0.1% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, revised upwards from an initial estimate of no growth.
This follows a contraction of 0.1% in the third quarter, which was revised down from 0.2%. This means that the UK has avoided a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
“Growth is quite weak, but remember that this was the moment when the UK was expected to enter recession, so the fact that GDP figures have been revised upwards is something to celebrate,” said Danni Hewson, head of Financial Analysis at AJ Bell.
According to figures from mortgage lender Nationwide, house prices in the UK fell the steepest in ten years in March.
UK house prices fell 3.1% year-on-year in March, the biggest drop since July 2009. The decline has accelerated from the 1.1% decline the month before. The March figure was worse than the market consensus cited by FXStreet of a 2.2% decline.
