Official figures show that the British economy shrank at a much sharper pace than initially thought and at its fastest rate in more than 50 years in the first three months of this year.
The Office for National Statistics said economic output, measured by gross domestic product, fell by 2.4% in the three months to March. This compared with an earlier estimate for a fall of 1.9%.
The Q1 drop was the biggest since the second quarter of 1958 and worse than analysts' predictions for a fall of 2.1%.
GDP fell 4.9% compared with a year ago, the biggest decline on record. The previous estimate had been a fall of 4.1%.
The extremely large revisions were a result of changes in the way construction output was calculated and also lower services output, which each contributed around half of the downgrade.
Second house price rise in a row
Earlier, new figures showed that British house prices rose for the second month running in June, leaving them less than 10% down on a year ago, in another sign the market may be stabilising.
Mortgage lender Nationwide said house prices rose 0.9% this month, taking the annual rate of decline to 9.3% - the smallest fall since July 2008 - from 11.3% in May.
Prices in the three months to June were 0.9% higher on the previous three months, the first positive reading since December 2007.
'House prices have risen in three of the last four months, suggesting that the improvement that began to show up in March represents more than just statistical noise,' said Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's chief economist.
Earlier, a survey by GfK/NOP showed British consumer confidence hitting its highest level in 14 months in June as people became more optimistic about their finances - the latest in a long line of indicators suggesting the worst is over for the economy.
