The UK economy had its most recent growth estimate revised upwards to 0.7 percent, according to the latest figure from the Office for National Statistics.
The original Gross Domestic Product figure for the final three months of 2016 was 0.6 percent, which has since been revised upwards by 0.1 percent after stronger than expected manufacturing figures.
The latest figure comes after the ONS cut its growth estimate for 2016 as a whole to 1.8 percent, down from an original forecast of 2 percent. This puts the UK economy slightly below Germany’s in the G7 growth league, with an estimate of 1.9 percent.
Agate Freimane, Senior Investment Director at BrickVest, commented on the revision:
“Since the Brexit vote, the Bank of England has cut interest rates and boosted quantitative easing. The latest GDP growth and inflation numbers show signs that these measures have worked and if this trend continues, the Bank of England will start to raise interest rates, which is likely to have a negative impact on real estate.
“Higher inflation means higher construction costs, leading to an increase in real estate prices. However since Brexit, the demand for real estate has softened and it is unlikely that developers will immediately pass on the higher inflationary costs to the end customer.”