Bank rate maintained at 5.25% – May 2024

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets monetary policy to meet the 2% inflation target, and in a way that helps to sustain growth and employment. At its meeting ending on 8 May 2024, the MPC voted by a majority of 7–2 to maintain Bank Rate at 5.25%. Two members preferred to reduce Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 5%.

The Committee’s updated projections for activity and inflation are set out in the accompanying May Monetary Policy Report and are conditioned on a market-implied path for Bank Rate that declines from 5¼% to 3¾% by the end of the forecast period, compared with an endpoint of 3¼% in February.

Internationally, recent growth outturns have tended to be stronger in the United States than in the euro area. Underlying inflationary pressures in both regions have continued to moderate somewhat since the start of the year, though by less than expected in the United States. Forward interest rates have risen in the United States and, as a result, elsewhere.

Following modest weakness last year, UK GDP is expected to have risen by 0.4% in 2024 Q1 and to grow by 0.2% in Q2. Despite picking up during the forecast period, demand growth is expected to remain weaker than potential supply growth throughout most of that period. A margin of economic slack is projected to emerge during 2024 and 2025 and to remain thereafter, in part reflecting the continued restrictive stance of monetary policy.

With respect to indicators of inflation persistence, services consumer price inflation has declined but remains elevated, at 6.0% in March. There remains considerable uncertainty around statistics derived from the ONS Labour Force Survey. It is therefore more difficult to gauge the evolution of the labour market. Based on a broad set of indicators, the MPC judges that the labour market continues to loosen but that it remains relatively tight by historical standards. Annual private sector regular average weekly earnings growth declined to 6.0% in the three months to February, although that series tends to be volatile. Alternative indicators also suggest easing pay growth.

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CoreLogic U.K. completes acquisition of Parity Projects Limited

CoreLogic U.K., a wholly owned subsidiary of CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Parity Projects Limited, a leading expert in the domestic housing retrofit sector, providing retrofit advisory services, tools and data. This acquisition will allow CoreLogic to accelerate its progress in helping to minimise environmental impact in construction and will be instrumental in providing expertise and tools that enable stakeholders to reduce the carbon footprint of their building projects.

Established in 2005, Parity Projects Limited uses data science, proprietary software and analysis to help clients deliver energy efficiency competently and effectively, working with local authorities and landlords of every size, mortgage providers and private homeowners to develop cost-effective retrofit programmes.

Clients can work with address-level data and use their highly flexible modeling to identify ways to improve energy efficiency—reducing carbon emissions and fuel bills, delivering more comfortable homes, and delivering against the Net Zero agenda. Parity Projects’ mission is to provide a decarbonisation plan for every home, which is crucial, considering Met Office figures showed that temperatures across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in June 2023 were the highest in a series since 1884.

The Parity Projects acquisition will further enhance the retrofit services that CoreLogic U.K. currently provides, with a key focus on providing the ability to analyse address level data to identify, assess and model properties that should be targeted for retrofit measures, therefore releasing into the market more properties and extending retrofit opportunities on their Net Zero journey. This acquisition is an extension of what has already been a very successful strategic partnership and will allow both parties to utilise each other’s expertise, strengths and industry position to evolve a whole new set of products and services to address climate challenge and deliver more comfortable homes and lower energy bills along the way.

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CREtech London did you miss it?

CREtech London is now over for another year – did you miss it or did you get there? You have waited a whole year but now the sun is out and the 2024 CREtech conference is once again open for business, networking, the sharing of wisdom and finding out what the future of the built environment really looks like. And if you were wondering for a second the true value of rubbing shoulders with all the most important players in the vertical, take a quick look below, a veritable Who’s Who of all the people you need to meet.

And as an extra bonus – I will also be at the conference for the two days the 8th and 9th so if anyone wants to catch up this is where you will find me for the next 48-hours, immersing myself in the very latest technologies, strategies and as ever continuing to make friends with complete strangers who may one day become the very people who help me to further grow my businesses.

I like many spend many days each year on video conference calls, which are brilliant at getting things executed, but nothing beats a handshake and smile and the ability to just spend time with others away from the normal daily grind, humans are social little animals and CREtech is one of the best places to do just. If you see me wandering around today or tomorrow just get my attention I will be more than happy to help in any way I can.

Lastly of course I would like to thank the maestro Michael Beckerman, and for the opportunity of being a media partner for this conference, we at PROPTECH-X and PROPTECH-PR have for years been firm advocates for both Michael and all the work he does to support the industry, and of course CREtech the event in London and New York.

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Andrew Stanton’s PROPTECH-X ‘Proptech & Property News’ in association with Estate Agent Networking & News Now publications. #proptech #property #realestate #digitaltransformation #startups