THE WEEK AHEAD

The week ahead brings a steady flow of economic data, mostly from offshore as the local calendar takes a break for the Christmas period. Locally, the RP Data house price index is due, along with private sector data. Overseas, jobless claims figures, house price data and the pending home sales index are due in the United States.

Local data

The week in local data is decimated by the Christmas Day and Boxing Day holidays early in the week, but comes to life again on New Year's Eve.

The RP Data house price index for November is set for release on Friday. The index edged up in October, for the first time in five months, but the November interest rate rise from the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to weigh on the outcome for the latest edition.

Private sector data for November is also due. Economists are predicting a lift of just 0.1 per cent in credit, leaving the annual growth rate at about 3.3 per cent.

Offshore

The week ahead is busier offshore, with Monday bringing hometrack housing prices data for December in the United Kingdom.

In the United States, Tuesday sees the S&P Case-Shiller home price index, as well as the Richmond Federal Reserve Manufacturing index.

Consumer confidence data for December is also due, with analysts expecting a rise of 1.9 points to 56.0.

On Wednesday, the weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) petroleum status report is due.

In Europe, M3 Money Supply data for November is set for release.

Thursday sees the highly anticipated US pending home sales index, and the weekly EIA natural gas report.

Jobless claims data is also due. In the UK, GfK consumer confidence data for December is due.