Morning, I’m Louise Moon from Bloomberg UK’s breaking news team, bringing you up to speed on today’s top business stories.

In a bit of a shock to the system this morning, house prices last month rose at a far greater pace than anyone expected. 

The average cost of buying a home in November was 3.7% higher than a year ago, according to Nationwide. This was up from a 2.4% rise in October, making it the biggest annual jump since 2022. On a monthly basis, prices rose the most since March 2022.

That’s thanks to low unemployment, rising incomes and easing borrowing costs. More on this from Markets Today below.

Now, while it is difficult to pin the rise directly on the new government, Keir Starmer will surely take pleasure in the indication of a strengthening economy.

After more than a slight bit of turmoil since taking over in July, the Prime Minister is planning a bit of a reset, partly to boost confidence in his economic agenda (and help popularity ratings.) Later this week, he's set to lay out targets on the economy, health care and crime.

What’s your take? Ping me on X, LinkedIn or drop me an email at lmoon13@bloomberg.net. Oh, and do subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted business journalism on the UK, and beyond.

Topps Tiles has come out swinging against calls for an overhaul by its largest shareholder in a piece by The Sunday Times. It argued its drop in full year revenue was actually better than the overall market, and it is investing heavily in digital.

Boohoo is making some progress in trying to prove itself as it faces challenges from Mike Ashley, of biggest shareholder Frasers Group. It has repaid £50 million of a £97 million loan agreed as part of a refinancing, funded by a placing and from reducing stock. 

The UK is on track to waste a record amount of wind power this year because the grid can’t cope, forcing it to pay wind farms to turn off. That makes both cutting bills and decarbonisation plans harder.

• Biden pardons his son Hunter, reversing a previous stance with weeks left in term.
• Ireland likely to return to incumbent coalition after vote but PM faces support drop.
• France’s finance chief refuses Le Pen’s budget demands, says won’t be blackmailed.

Here’s your daily snap analysis from Bloomberg UK’s Markets Today blog:

The acceleration in house price growth is surprising — even according to Nationwide’s chief economist — and this morning’s report doesn’t really give an explanation for the lift, which is interesting in itself.

The monthly rate of 1.2% growth was well ahead of all the economist estimates surveyed by Bloomberg, with the highest being a rise of 0.3%.

On an annual basis, the rise also beat all forecasts, with the pace of 3.7% growth being the fastest since November 2022. In the absence of any great insights into what’s behind the hotter market, that November comparison suggests an element of seasonality. 

And it’s also worth noting that October’s monthly and annual growth rates came in below estimates, so some of the expected price inflation then seems to have materialised a month later.

Still, this isn’t one to blame on the budget. As Nationwide notes, the majority of mortgage applications related to today’s data began before the chancellor’s October 30 announcement.

— Morwenna Coniam

Check Bloomberg UK’s Markets Today blog for updates all day.

Upper Crust owner SSP is issuing first half results tomorrow. Analysts have flagged concern over the potential impact on near-term profitability and cash from its exposure to airports and railway stations, as well as from cost inflation.

Florian de Chezelles is co-founder of The Salad Project. The chain has seven locations around London and aims to run 12 by the end of next year. We met in their co-working space near the original Spitalfields site, which opened in 2021.

Photographer: Louise Moon/Bloomberg

What made you pick your job? It was my business partner’s idea — he spent time in the States and used to go to salad chains on a daily basis. They nail it out there: these are lifestyle brands, they go way beyond nice leaves and tomatoes. He came to London, worked for Expedia in Angel, and realised he couldn’t find the equivalent. We’d always joked about doing different things: we wanted to open a pub in Rio de Janeiro, we had lots of weird ideas. I studied hospitality in Switzerland. And I had an awful job that I hated for about a year, at The Waldorf Hotel selling Christmas parties to big law firms, so it was not hard to get me to take risks. 

How do you save time? I’ve just had a daughter, so on paternity leave I reorganised my week with a very strict calendar. Things like emails only get opened first thing in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. And I love to take calls on my bike.

Where do you go for a working lunch? Salad Project every day. If I’m trying to impress someone: Entrecôte.

What book do you always recommend? The Count of Monte Cristo. It is by far the best fiction I’ve ever read, it's fascinating.

Top podcast recommendation? I just listened to Steven Bartlett lay into Boris Johnson on Diary of a CEO. He gave him hardball after hardball, but it was very entertaining.

Who's your dream dinner party guest? Elon Musk. Love his unconventional way of thinking, he’s not scared to say what he thinks.

What do you most want to achieve in your career? I’d love to open a hotel with my wife one day, in the south of France where I grew up. She’s a designer, so I think we’re very complementary — she has a really good eye for things I don’t. Now that I’ve tasted the freedom of being your own boss, I don’t think I ever want to go back.

At the start of my career, I wish someone had told me… We quit our jobs in 2019 with the intention of opening in 2020, but then we got hit by Covid. If someone had come in and been like “just hold on there, there will be ups and downs, this is just the first, hold on tight,” that would have made that experience a little bit less negative.

Manchester City fans taunted manager Pep Guardiola last night after losing 2-0 to Liverpool, chanting he would be “sacked in the morning”. Guardiola responded by holding up six fingers — what did that mean?

Photographer: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP

[Friday’s answer: Katherine Grainger, the new chair of the British Olympic Association, won a medal at five successive Olympics for rowing.] 

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