[R]3:00PM New York, 9:00PM London – Housing market survey show continued softness and price decline across UK, except Scotland. Unemployment rate falls in January.[/R]

London stock indexes closed down after a report showed that house price falls accelerated in January. However other government reports indicating that the unemployment rate fell to a record and strong earnings from British Energy helped trimmed losses.

In London trading FTSE 100 fell 0.52% or 29.9 to 5,880.10.

Of the 102 stocks in FTSE 100 index 44 gained and 58 declined. British Energy led advancers with a rise of 9% after reporting that EBITDA for nine months ended December 31st stood at £745 million, 5% more than forecasted by analysts.

House Price Falls Accelerates in January

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported its RICS UK housing market survey for January 2008. RICS house price balance declined for the sixth month in succession signaling half a year of negative market sentiment, adding that 54.7% more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than a rise in house prices, from 49.1% in December.

Prices are increasing in Scotland only with the net balance of surveyors in that country reporting price-rise increasing to 7% from 3%. In addition, buyer enquiries fell at the fastest pace since October.

RICS notes that the fallout from credit crunch continues to prevent many would-be-buyers from entering the market and it is likely that demand will remain subdued while mortgage-lending criteria is tight.

The stock of unsold property on surveyors’ books jumped by more than 10% and has increased by 40% since September 2007, while the current average level of unsold property per surveyor stands at 85, the most since in 9 years.

Unemployment plummets

The Office of National Statistics reported today on its web site that the employment rate of people of working age rose 0.3% for the three months to December from the previous month and 0.2% on the year to 74.7% in January.

People in employment for the three months to December rose by 175,000 over the quarter and 296,000 to 29.40 million, the highest since the beginning of comparative records in 1971. However, total hours worked declined by 2.3 million to reach 935.6 million.

Statistics also showed that unemployment fell 0.2% over the previous quarter and 0.3% over the year at 5.2%, and the number of unemployed people fell by 61,000 for the quarter and 86,000 for the year at 1.61 million.

People claiming unemployment benefit declined for 16 consecutive months by 10,800 from December and 128,500 from the previous year to 794,600 in January. The figure is the lowest since June 1975.

The statistics office also added that the inactivity rate for people of working age fell 0.2% from the previous quarter and unchanged for the year at 21.0% for the three months to December 2007.

Economically inactive students has reached a record high of 1.94 million while the number of economically inactive people looking after the family or home has reached a record low of 2.26 million.

Average Earnings Rise

Separately, ONS reported that the annual rate of growth in average earnings, excluding bonuses, rose by 0.1% from the previous month at 3.7 % in December 2007.

Average earnings including bonuses rose by 3.8% in the year to December 2007 from 4% in November. Job vacancies in the three months to January rose by 7,300 over the previous quarter and 72,000 over the year to 677,400.

According to the statistics office December pay growth in the private sector was 4%, while it was 3.3% for the public sector.

Gainers & Losers

British Energy led gainers in the FTSE 100 index shares with a rise of 9% followed by gains in Experian Group of 4.19%, in Man Group of 4.04%, in International Power Plc of 2.59%, and in Reckitt Benckise of 2.56%.