Daily Brief – UK Housing Market

UK Housing Market

Best performance in the past two years etc etc with the Halifax average house price up 4.8% as at the end of November. Without being curmudgeonly or seasonally Scroogelike the real house price performance allowing for inflation in the last 2 years is minus 10.5% for all those mistakenly regarding their house as a tradeable asset rather than a place to live and call home.

GBP/USD 1.2745.

Germany

The German election looks to be fixed for February 23 and Chancellor Scholz has beaten off challenges from within his SPD Party to lead the team out on to the pitch. Those challenges melted away for a very good reason. Apart from Scholz few believe that he or the SPD can win. Polls suggest they will capture just 15% of the vote which puts them third and with the worst level of support since the nineteenth century. No wonder no one wants to wear the SPD captain’s armband.

EUR/GBP 0.8293.

Bitcoin

Number 7 by size in the global financial assets chart BTC is valued at almost $2 trillion which is more than Silver and also oil giant Saudi Aramco both of which are of course real asset plays. If you are either in it or suffering from FOMO you may be encouraged by super successful Wall Street titan Ken Griffin changing his previous doubting stance to a positive one on BTC over the weekend; he did add however that he is unable to see what problems it solves. Unlike some of Trump’s new government picks who see it as a way to reduce the gargantuan US debt mountain. Definitely no clarity on how that one might work.

EUR/USD 1.0565.

Snow in the Alps

As I flew over the French alps yesterday it was heartening to see that there was more than a dusting of snow on the mountains with a number of snowfalls across the region in the past two weeks. Between 1920 and 2020 snowfalls reduced by 34% and in some south western areas of Italy, Slovenia and Austria by as much as 50%. Unsurprisingly it is the resorts and villages below 2000 meters that have lost the most snow and as some of our readers have decided, it looks unlikely to be a trend that is reversed, so they have sold their properties before the ski premium value… melts away.

EUR/JPY 158.55.

Hello Again

Only in America: they take these things very seriously so it was inevitable that the US held a poll that was published this day in 1988 which posed the question of which music was best as background to sex. In 3rd position(sic) was Luther Van Dross. 2nd was Beethoven but in 1st came Neil Diamond.

Hello, again, hello
Just called to say hello
I couldn’t sleep at all tonight
And I know it’s late
I couldn’t wait

Hello, my friend, hello
Just called to let you know
I think about you every night
When I’m here alone
And you’re there at home
Hello

Maybe it’s been crazy
And maybe I’m to blame
But I put my heart above my head
We’ve been through it all and you love me just the same
And when your not there
I just need to hear

Hello, my friend, hello
It’s good to need you so
It’s good to love you like I do
And I feel this way when I hear you say
Hello

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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