The latest Northern Ireland Residential Property Price Index shows that overall average house prices increased 3.1% quarter-on-quarter and 4.4% year-on-year. Continue reading
Author: Richard Ramsey
China rebounds but global output growth eases
The latest PMI surveys highlight some noteworthy trends on the local, national and global economy from July 2017. This slide pack explores them in more detail.
Key highlights include: Continue reading
Chief Economist’s Weekly Briefing – Lost & found
The financial crisis may be ten years old, yet many of the problems it exacerbated are even older.
NI PMI: New order growth picks up in July
The latest Ulster Bank Northern Ireland PMI is out today. It indicates that solid growth of new orders fed through to a further increase in business activity in July. There were reports of success in securing new work from the Republic of Ireland amid sterling weakness, helping to boost total new business. Job creation was sustained, albeit at a more moderate pace, while inflationary pressures continued to ease.
Credit Crunch Cluedo – 10 years on
Ten years ago today heralded the start of the ‘credit crunch’. The term which was unfamiliar to most people entered dictionaries in 2008. A credit crunch refers to the sudden reduction in the availability of credit or a sudden tightening in the conditions to obtain credit. In short, the availability of credit decreased sharply and the cost of credit increased significantly. In turn, this morphed into the global financial crisis or GFC and was accompanied by a global downturn. The rest they say is history. A decade has passed and hundreds of books have been written about the credit crunch and the global financial crisis that followed.
Northern Ireland’s television and online habits revealed by Ofcom
Ofcom has revealed Northern Ireland’s television and online habits in their latest Communications Market Report. The report, released on 3rd August 2017, provides an overview of communications services across Northern Ireland and monitors key trends in the availability and take-up of digital services across the United Kingdom.
Research was undertaken and included a face-to-face survey of 3,743 respondents aged 16+ in the UK, with 493 interviews being conducted in Northern Ireland across a range of ages, socio-economic groups, geographic locations and gender.
Chief Economist’s Weekly Briefing – Wait and see
The summer’s weather has been, by and large, a mixture of sunshine and showers. The economic weather has been similar, with the number of ‘positive’ economic results generally matching the number of ‘negative’ ones. In this climate it’s often best to wait and see, which is exactly what the MPC opted to do last week.
Revamping the generation game
Around 10 years ago, the housing market was undoubtedly Northern Ireland’s big economic story. Today, it is much further from the headlines but beneath the surface there has been a very significant economic tale unfolding.
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Chief Economist’s Weekly Briefing – Lone star
The UK economy is hardly firing when growth accelerates by half, only to reach 0.3%q/q. Yet many would settle for that given the predictions made last year. For that thank a surprisingly strong service sector that’s supporting generalised weakness elsewhere. Until the other parts of the economy start moving, growth will remain sluggish.
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Chart of the Month – Northern Ireland Home Ownership by Age
10 years ago Northern Ireland’s housing boom was turning to bust. Back then the focus was on residential property price falls and the collapse in house building. Another less closely watched indicator, rates of home ownership, also plummeted. This trend was accompanied by a corresponding boom in the private rented sector which has more than doubled between 2006-2016.
