Could a few green shoots lift Rishi Sunak’s fortunes?

As house prices show a surprisingly strong recovery, this could be the week inflation falls again and the cost of living crisis eases even further – but, says James Moore, the prime minister will struggle to take much credit for any of it

Bloom time: The Bank of England will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Is it just me or does it feel like spring is in the air? This could be the week the economy finally sends out some green shoots of recovery. Rishi Sunak will doubtless be relieved by the economic indicators coming his way.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, the caveat. UK plc is hardly off to the races. But January at least finished in the black, with GDP growth of 0.2 per cent. Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, has even been moved to opine that the “technical” recession he reported at the end of last year may already be over.

The economic week started with signs of the sun shining on the housing market. Property website RightMove has reported a 1.5 per cent rise in asking prices, a number that outpaced the historic 1 per cent average. The website also reported an uptick in buyer demand, despite what it called the “lacklustre spring budget”, which contained little succour for first-timers struggling to get onto the ladder.