Wednesday newspaper round-up: house prices, Boxing Day sales, Odey

House price growth looks set to judder to a halt in 2018 or at best manage a small below-inflation rise, as the twin spectres of Brexit and rising interest rates put the brakes on the property market. Following what some have called a lacklustre year, homeowners and those looking to sell in the coming months have been told to expect an underwhelming and subdued 2018, with a number of leading commentators predicting UK house prices will either stay flat next year or perhaps rise by 1% or so. – Guardian

Millions of Britons have enjoyed a last hurrah in the Boxing Day sales with determined shoppers camping out in the early hours to secure the best bargains although crowds were smaller than in previous years. Shoppers started queuing outside branches of high street chain Next at 12.30am while on Oxford Street, in London a crowd started forming outside Selfridges at 2.30am. However, retail experts said that overall shopper numbers were significantly down on 2016. – Guardian

The parent company behind Scottish Power is preparing to join the race to merge smart-home technology and ­energy supply, which has accelerated to keep pace with electric vehicles. Spanish energy giant Iberdrola is testing systems that will allow customers to pay for electric vehicle charging at charge points across the country using the same utility account which pays for energy supplied to their homes. – Telegraph

British craftsmanship outperforms German engineering when it comes to solving problems thrown up by building unique cars, according to Rolls-Royce’s German chief executive. Tortsen Müller-Ötvös, who has headed the luxury car business since 2010, made the admission in a rare interview with the Telegraph as the company prepared to reveal its annual sales figures for 2017. “Rolls-Royce is the perfect mix of German engineering, German process and understanding in conjunction with British craftsmanship that brings the products up to perfection,” he said. – Telegraph

A thousand high-value manufacturing jobs are set to be lost in the Midlands because of the government’s continuing failure to decide whether to support tidal lagoon marine power. Two of GE’s British plants, at Rugby and at Stafford, had been designated to construct the underwater turbines and to provide the complex electrical power systems needed for the pioneering Swansea Bay tidal lagoon and similar marine energy projects around the coast of Britain. – The Times

Profits and performance fees have plunged again at Odey Asset Management after poorly timed trades and investments pitched the firm into one of the worst years in its history. Profits more than halved from £44.23 million to £18.6 million in the year to April 5, according to the firm’s accounts. This is sharply down from the £84 million of profits that the hedge fund, which was founded by the billionaire Crispin Odey, generated in 2015. – The Times