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mpc: 16 The recent slackening of employment growth and the rise in unemployment could weigh on future consumer spending growth. However, housing market activity and prices continued to point to a pickup in the housing market. This could be indicative of strengthening confidence and reduced uncertainty on the part of households. The average of the lenders' house price indices had risen 1¾% in the three months to January compared with the previous three months, and loan approvals for house purchase had risen back towards the levels recorded in the second half of 2003 and first half of 2004.