Welcome to Taking Stock on Wednesday 13th September 2023
House prices fall at their fastest pace since February 2009, which in hindsight was an opportunity.
British house prices showed the most widespread falls in 14 years in August as demand weakened against the backdrop of elevated mortgage costs and economic uncertainty.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price balance, which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, slumped to -68 in August from -55 in July.
The bottom of the Great Financial Crash was a month later on 9th March 2009.
VOX CONTENT
MOST FOLLOWED
MOST READ RNS
Greatland Gold - Corporate Update
Hemogenyx Pharma - Clinical Hold Lift Plan is accepted by FDA
THG PLC - Interim results for the half-year ended 30 June 23
Invinity Energy Systems - First Commercial Mistral Order
RISERS
Critical Mineral - Completion of Cyprus Assets Sale
LoopUp Group - Interim results for the period ended 30 June 2023
Keystone Law Grp - Half Year Results
Trainline PLC - Trading Statement
Checkit PLC - Interim Results
FALLERS
Tungsten West - Final Results for the year ended 31 March 2023
THG PLC - Interim results for the half-year ended 30 June 23
TOP BUSINESS STORIES
Arm Holdings IPO: UK-based chip designer valued at £43.6bn ahead of eagerly awaited return to the stock market
UK-based chip designer Arm Holdings has secured a $54.5bn (£43.6bn) value ahead of its eagerly anticipated return to the stock market later on Thursday.
Shares in the firm, majority-owned by Japan's SoftBank Group, are scheduled to start trading today on the Nasdaq in New York.
High demand from investors meant it was able to sell the 95.5 million shares on offer - a 9.4% stake - at the top end of a lowered price range, $51 (£41) per share.
The overall market value - while better than the $40bn (£32bn) it would have achieved through a sale of Arm to Nvidia that was abandoned last year - is below the $64bn (£51bn) valuation that SoftBank had placed on Arm only last month.
The initial public offering (IPO) is the biggest for Wall Street since Rivian's market debut in 2021.
UK government defeated over plan to relax water pollution rules to boost homebuilding
The British government's plan to relax rules around water pollution to enable the construction of thousands of new homes was defeated by the upper house of parliament on Wednesday.
The government said last month it planned to remove European Union "nutrient neutrality" laws it had retained post-Brexit, which are intended to ensure development does not pollute waterways with chemicals from sources such as agricultural fertiliser and untreated sewage.
Environmental groups opposed the move, saying it would further spoil dirty rivers.
The House of Lords voted by 203 to 156 to reject a government amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill which would have allowed development in areas previously impacted by nutrient neutrality.
Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said the government would not be able to reinsert the change if it lost the vote, which would be "devastating" for families wanting new homes.
Payments made with cash rose for the first time in a decade last year as consumers struggled with rising prices.
But the number is still dwarfed by debit card use which accounted for half of all payments, its highest ever level.
Consumers often say they find it easier to manage their money using cash.
