Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of business, economics and financial markets.

UK house prices rose at the fastest annual rate in 20 months in August – although they remain short of the record highs hit in the summer of 2022, according to the latest figures from Nationwide.

Annual growth rate picked up to 2.4%, from 2.1% in July, the UK’s largest building society said. However, on a monthly basis its figures showed a 0.2% dip in prices, which it said was a result of “seasonal factors”.

That meant the average price of a UK home was £265,375.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said that lower interest rates to come from the Bank of England would likely push house prices higher. He said:

While house price growth and activity remain subdued by historic standards, they nevertheless present a picture of resilience in the context of the higher interest rate environment and where house prices remain high relative to average earnings (which makes raising a deposit more challenging).

Providing the economy continues to recover steadily, as we expect, housing market activity is likely to strengthen gradually as affordability constraints ease through a combination of modestly lower interest rates and earnings outpacing house price growth.

Labour reportedly to ‘give default right to ask for compressed hours’

The Labour government is considering giving UK workers the right to ask for compressed hours among other flexible working options – a type of four-day working – according to the Daily Telegraph.

The four-day week campaign is a push to reduce the number of days people work in a standard week from five to four. However, the somewhat different compressed hours – working the hours of five days in the space of four days – may be an option employers would have to consider, the paper reported.

The Telegraph cited an unnamed Labour source who said:

The Conservatives pledged to make flexible working the default then failed to do so. We’ll build on their existing legislation to ensure flexibility is a genuine default, except where it is not reasonably feasible for employers to agree.

Flexible working options such as compressed hours and term-time working can support more people to stay in the workforce and boost productivity, whether keeping parents in their jobs or helping those juggling caring responsibilities for older relatives.

There is an important health warning in the story: “Exactly how the new approach will work in practice is legally unclear.”

A government even considering giving compressed hours would be a significant change from the Conservatives, who were vehemently opposed to the four-day week. However, the Conservative government did introduce a right for workers to request – not demand – flexible working from day one.

Flexible working can include hybrid working, mixing working from home and the workplace for some roles, part-time, and flexitime, when employees choose their start and end times.

The UK 4 Day Week Campaign is running a pilot programme looking at flexible working options.

The agenda

• 9:30am BST: UK Bank of England consumer credit (July; previous: £1.16bn; consensus: £1.3bn)

• 9:30am BST: UK Bank of England mortgage approvals (July; prev.: 59,980; cons.: 60,500)

• 10am BST: Eurozone inflation rate (August; prev.: 2.6%; cons.: 2.2%)

• 10am BST: Eurozone unemployment (July; prev.: 6.5%; cons.: 6.5%)

• 1pm BST: India GDP growth rate (second quarter; prev.: 7.8% year-on-year; cons.: 6.9%)

• 1:30pm BST: US core personal consumption expenditure price index (July; prev.: 0.2%; cons.: 0.2%)