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The first FindaProperty.com House Prices and Affordability Index, shows national UK asking prices moving into positive annual growth for the first time this year, with prices currently 512 pounds Sterling higher than a year ago. This is a result of six consecutive months of stable or positive monthly house price growth, as buyers take advantage of good value in the market with renewed confidence.

The economic situation has improved markedly since the second quarter, pointing to a better growth outlook for the second half of the year. But as economic activity at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 was worse than initially estimated, GDP is still expected to fall by 4% overall this year in both the EU and the euro area, as forecast in the spring. However, uncertainty remains rife, and while the recovery may surprise on the upside in the very short term, how sustainable it will be remains to be seen. The Commission's forecasts for inflation in 2009 also remain unchanged at 0.9% in the EU and 0.4% in the euro area, with the base effects of past hikes in energy and food prices, which were pushing prices down, fading away and no other significant inflationary pressures in view.

In July 2009 compared with June 2009, seasonally adjusted industrial production fell by 0.3% in the euro area (EA16) and by 0.2% in the EU27. In June production decreased by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.

The number of persons employed in the euro area (EA16) fell by 0.5% (702 000 persons) in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for the U.K. increased by 0.7 percent in July to 92.9 (2004 = 100), following 1.0 percent gains in both June and May. Volume of expected output, the yield spread and consumer confidence made the largest positive contributions to the index.

EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva announced the results of an EU-wide investigation - involving 26 Member States and Norway and Iceland - into misleading advertising and unfair practices on websites selling consumer electronic goods. The clampdown covered 369 websites selling six of the most popular electronic goods to consumers in the EU - digital cameras, mobile phones, personal music players, DVD players, computer equipment and game consoles. It covered 200 of the biggest websites selling electronic equipment in the EU as well as more than 100 websites which were targeted on the basis of consumer complaints.

The average real wage increase for European workers fell from 3.6% in 2007 to 1.3% in 2008, according to new data published by Eurofound’s European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO). The annual update on pay developments in Europe 2008 recorded sizeable differences between EU Member States, with the rate of real increase falling sharply, and the nominal rate dropping only slightly. Wide differences emerge, however, between the various groups of countries within the EU, in terms of the level of real wage increases, with a broad east-west split.

comScore, Inc. released the results of a study of visitation to online retail sites in France. The report revealed that 26.7 million people in France visited an online retail site in July 2009, an increase of 21 percent on the previous year, significantly higher than the 5-percent average growth in the retail category across Europe.

The VocaLink Take Home Pay Index rose by 0.7% to show 2.0% annual wage growth in August, the greatest one-month increase since February 2007. The figures are now back to the same levels seen in March this year, when the VocaLink Take Home Pay Index was in the midst of a six-month cycle of steadily falling wage growth. Economists see this turnaround of wage growth as an indication that the UK may be pulling out of recession.

In July 2009 the average MFI interest rates on new deposits showed mixed developments while the majority of the average MFI interest rates on new loans further decreased. In addition, almost all of the average MFI interest rates on outstanding amounts of deposits and loans decreased by 10 or more basis points.