In a new report, the Bank of England notes a “modest” increase in housing market activity since the start of the year, beyond what was expected. However, according to the Bank’s agent contacts, the market has been catching-up from a particularly subdued late 2011 while being bolstered by the ending of the stamp duty concession, [...]
January
Housing market horizons end with stamp duty concession
In a new report, the Bank of England notes a “modest” increase in housing market activity since the start of the year, beyond what was expected. However, according to the Bank’s agent contacts, the market has been catching-up from a particularly subdued late 2011 while being bolstered by the ending of the stamp duty concession, [...]
January rent rise a first
Rents rose by 0.1% in January, to an average £712, according to LSL Property Services. Last month’s increase marked the first rise for the month since the firm’s records began and took annual rental inflation to 4.3% (December 4%). On a monthly basis, rents rose the fastest in the West Midlands and South West, where [...]
House sales edge up in January
House sales edged up slightly in January, as first-time buyers looked to beat the stamp duty concession, which ends next month. According to the latest poll by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), 12% more respondents reported rises, rather than falls, in newly agreed sales since the start of the year. And with a [...]
House prices up 0.6% in January
Halifax has provided a welcome boost to the UK housing market, having worked out that the value of the average home rose 0.6% in January, to £160,907. The increase is only the second in the past six months and left January also registering a quarterly fall of 0.9% and an annual decline of 1.8%. According [...]
Nationwide: house prices slip 0.2%
UK house prices slipped by 0.2% in January, according to Nationwide, with the annual rise pared down to 0.6% (December 1%). The value of the typical home currently stands at £162,228 but the lender is not surprised by the soft start to 2012 given the challenging conditions late last year, including the contraction in the [...]
Sharp rise in home buyer interest
Early indications from Rightmove suggest strong interest from potential home buyers in 2012, despite the lack of mortgage finance. Search activity on the property portal shot up 27% in the first 10 days of January, compared with a year earlier. However, the supply of new homes for sale hit a record low, with an average [...]
Sharp rise in home buyer interest
Early indications from Rightmove suggest strong interest from potential home buyers in 2012, despite the lack of mortgage finance. Search activity on the property portal shot up 27% in the first 10 days of January, compared with a year earlier. However, the supply of new homes for sale hit a record low, with an average [...]
House prices lose 1.4% in January
UK house prices fell 1.4% in January, to an average £208,552, with the decline taking the annual rate of gain down to 0.5% (December 3.8%). New figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government also show that year-on-year, the value of the typical home was up 1% in England, down 1.8% in Wales, had [...]
January mortgage lending down 26%
Mortgage lending plummeted by 26% in January, compared with December, but the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) is keen to explain how an “unusual combination of factors” are to blame.
Putting aside seasonal factors, the lenders’ body reckons the impact of government spending cuts, rising inflation and new tax measures all “discouraged” potential house buyers.
Extreme weather [...]
House purchase lending nudges up
Lenders approved 45,723 mortgages for house purchases in January, new data from the Bank of England show, with the figure slightly up on December’s but below the previous six-month average of 46,686.
Approvals for remortgaging increased to 33,498 (December: 31,561) ahead of the six month average of 30,407, no doubt as homeowners’ anxieties over interest [...]
House prices show 0.9% annual decline
New house price data from the Land Registry show homes in England and Wales putting on 0.2% in January, taking the average value of a property to £163,177.
However, the annual rate of change stood at minus 0.9%, the first negative figure seen since October 2009.
In addition, property sales decreased from an average of 60,898 per [...]
House purchase mortgage approvals down by almost a third
The UK’s banks saw net mortgage lending (gross lending with repayments and redemptions stripped out) rise slightly in January, compared with December.
However, the British Bankers’ Association reports that while house purchase approvals were also slightly up on a monthly basis (28,932) volumes were down 29% when compared with January 2010.
In addition, the value of the [...]
Gross mortgage lending down 13%
Gross mortgage lending fell to around £9.2 billion in January, down 13% on December but up 5% on a year earlier.
New figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show the first year-on-year increase since August 2010, although CML economist, Peter Charles, points out that the Bank of England’s latest Inflation Report warns that UK [...]
Rents slip as buy-to-let attracts investors
Rents in England and Wales fell slightly in January, as the buy-to-let market saw a growing number of investors.
According to the latest Buy-to-Let Index from LSL Property Services, average rent dropped by 0.3% (£682) compared with December but remained 4% higher than a year ago, with signs of renewed growth in several areas.
The January movement [...]
House prices up 0.6% year-on-year
The average price of a home in England and Wales fell by 0.1% in January, to £221,211, according to the LSL/Acadametrics House Price Index.
The marginal decline left annual property price inflation at 0.6%, but despite falls over the last four months, the value of the typical home remained 10.5% (£20,975) above the lowest price on [...]
RICS: housing market remains sluggish
The UK housing market remained sluggish during January, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reports.
Lack of buyer demand and low levels of supply meant that 7% more surveyors reported demand for property falling, rather than rising, with potential purchasers remaining cautious about the outlook for the economy, and the possibility of mortgage rate increases [...]
House prices up 0.8%
UK house prices rose by 0.8% in January, according to Halifax.
However, the lender reports a quarterly fall of 0.7%, to £163,173, with the annual rate of change currently at minus 2.4%.
Looking ahead, Halifax housing economist, Martin Ellis, expects limited movement in house prices overall in 2011, although there are likely to be some monthly fluctuations, [...]
House sales and new listing show January rise
The latest Property Activity Index from Agency Express shows a 34.3% hike in the number of properties being put on the market in January, compared with a year earlier.
The UK’s biggest “For Sale” board contractor also reports that the number of sales agreed rose 25.7%, compared with January 2010, and were also up 13.4% on [...]
Nationwide: January house prices down 0.1%
UK house prices fell by 0.1% in January, according to Nationwide, taking the annual rate of change to minus 1.1%.
The monthly decline follows a gain of 0.4% in December (when annual house price inflation also stood at 0.4%) and takes the value of the typical home down to £161,602.
The three-month-on-three-month measure, which is a better [...]
Rightmove: asking prices nudge up in January
In its January House Price Index, Rightmove reports that average asking prices have risen to £223,121, following substantial falls (amounting to 6.2%) during November and December.
A scarcity of new sellers was behind the 0.3% increase in the average vendor’s ambitions, taking the annual rate of asking-price inflation to 0.4%.
According to the property portal, the number [...]
Base rate on hold at 0.5%
The Bank of England has announced that the base rate will remain on hold at 0.5% in January.
The Bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee has resisted any need to raise interest rates, despite the Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation increasing to 3.3% in November.
The UK’s official level of inflation has now been running above the [...]
