Japan avoids recession with weak return to growth – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Japan misses growth forecasts for the final three months of 2025Competition among UK house sellers is running at an eleven-year high, giving buyers more opportunities and keeping prices pegged this month.Property portal Rightmove is reporting this morning that the average asking price for a newly listed homes dipped by just £12 this month, to £368,019.“Virtually flat prices in February really needs to be viewed alongside what happened in January.After the prolonged uncertainty in the run up to the late November Budget, plus the usual Christmas slowdown, we saw activity pick up again from Boxing Day. Many sellers, some of whom had been holding back because of the Budget, came to market in early 2026 with renewed confidence, which helped to drive that bumper January price rise.“I figured the GDP figures would be treated as past figures, but seeing the Nikkei average