POUND NOTES
Online retail sales soared to a new record high in February but this failed to offset another dire month for shops as they remained closed during lockdown, new figures show. The latest BDO high street sales tracker revealed combined in-store and online like-for-like sales fell 3.1% in February in the second worst month since last August.
Strong online demand for fashion and homewares helped soften the blow as swathes of the high street remained shut, sending internet sales surging by a record 167.3%. Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO, said: “As we mark a year of Covid’s impact on retail and the wider economy, we’ve seen total retail sales decline by around minus 8% on average each month. “Obviously, there is still a long road ahead but with shops looking at re-opening there were a few positive signs this month.”
House prices dipped for the second month in a row in February, according to an index. Property values fell by 0.1% month-on-month in February, following a 0.4% decrease in January. Across the UK, property values were still 5.2% higher in February than the same month last year, Halifax said.
But it cautioned that it would not expect the level of growth seen in house prices across 2020 to be sustained throughout this year. The average UK house price in February was £251,697. Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said: “Having enjoyed an extremely strong period of activity in the second half of last year, the housing market continued its softer start to 2021, with average prices down very slightly compared to January. “However, with annual house price inflation currently at 5.2%, property values remain comfortably higher than 12 months ago.”