MFI goodbye !

For the ones that can put 2 and 2 together, some good news for MFI......

UK Dec house prices up 0.5 pct from previous month - Nationwide UPDATE

LONDON (AFX) - House prices in the UK rose more than anticipated in
December, though the annual rate of growth ended the year in single digits for
the first time in five years, a closely watched survey found.
The Nationwide, the UK's largest building society found that house prices
during December rose 0.5 pct from the previous month, up on November's 0.3 pct
and expectations of another 0.3 pct rise.
Over 2005, house prices increased 3 pct, the first time in five years that
the annual rate has ended the year in single digits. During 2005, the price of
the average house rose by just over 4,500 stg, equivalent to 13 stg per day
compared with an average rise of 47 stg per day in 2004.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight, said the survey
"reinforces the overall impression that house prices have firmed to a limited
extent in the final months of 2005, but still remain relatively muted".
The pick-up in prices over the last few months of the year, evident in many
other surveys, was illustrated by the fact that in the last three months of
2005, prices rose 1.3 pct, up on the 0.8 pct in the same period last year.
Nationwide noted that 2005 was also the first year this century that growth
in the equity market has outperformed the housing market. The FTSE 100 grew by
16 pct in 2005, outperforming the housing market market for the first time since
1999.
Over a longer term horizon, the building society said the FTSE still remains
10 pct below its 1999 level, whereas house prices are more than twice as high as
than at the end of 1999.
The average house price in the UK is now 157,250 stg, almost exactly the
same level as in May.
Looking ahead, Nationwide expects another cut in interest rates from the
Bank of England to help the housing market further but stressed that it does not
anticipate house price inflation to accelerate back up to levels seen in early
2005. Over 2006, it expects house prices to rise between 0-3 pct.
"Broadly favourable economic conditions, combined with the ongoing imbalance
between the demand for housing and the rate of new build mean that there is a
supportive environment for prices," said Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's
economist.
"But affordability, particularly for first time buyers, remains a
significant obstacle," she added.