Land Registry figures show house prices in England and Wales slipping by 0.6% in March, compared with February, taking the value of the typical home to £160,372. However, the North East, which has been hard-hit by the house price crash, turned in an impressive performance with property prices shooting up 5.6% on a monthly basis. [...]
March
House prices slip 0.6%
Land Registry figures show house prices in England and Wales slipping by 0.6% in March, compared with February, taking the value of the typical home to £160,372. However, the North East, which has been hard-hit by the house price crash, turned in an impressive performance with property prices shooting up 5.6% on a monthly basis. [...]
Mortgage lending jumps 17%
Gross mortgage lending stood at around £13.4 billion in March, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), with the figure up 17% year-on-year. The ending of the stamp duty concession resulted in the highest monthly total for March since 2008, meaning gross lending for the first quarter of of the year increased 13% on [...]
Home buyers continue to test the market
Potential home buyers continued to test the market during March as the stamp duty holiday finally came to an end, says the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Nine per cent more surveyors reported increases rather than decreases in demand, the highest reading in almost two years, and the flow of [...]
Halifax: broad stability in UK house prices
House prices in the first three months of 2012 were 0.1% lower than in the previous quarter, according to Halifax, although the value of the typical home increased by 2.2% during March. The rise followed a 0.4% decline in February and the lender points out that prices continue to fluctuate month-to-month as transactions levels remain [...]
House prices post first rise in 20 months
In March, house prices in England and Wales posted their first monthly rise for 20 months, according to Hometrack. Increased demand and activity, plus a scarcity of housing for sale, resulted in an increase of 0.2%, although London continued to drive the national headline figure with a 0.5% monthly rise. Overall house prices showed a [...]
House prices post first rise in 20 months
In March, house prices in England and Wales posted their first monthly rise for 20 months, according to Hometrack. Increased demand and activity, plus a scarcity of housing for sale, resulted in an increase of 0.2%, although London continued to drive the national headline figure with a 0.5% monthly rise. Overall house prices showed a [...]
Asking prices up 1.6%
New sellers increased asking prices by 1.6% (an average £3,687) in March, according to Rightmove, with vendors’ ambitions up 4.9% over the first three months of the year, compared with the same period of 2011. The rise marks the largest first-quarter increase in asking prices since 2004 and as search activity has increased by 16% [...]
Interest rate fears drive remortgaging surge
The first three months of the year saw a remortgaging surge, with activity accounting for 37% of the quarter’s lending (up from 30% in the previous quarter), the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reports. In March, there were 33,900 loans for remortgage, up 16% compared to February and up 17% year-on-year, with the rise linked [...]
Land Registry: house price falls biggest in two years
House prices have fallen at their fastest rate since February 2009, according to latest figures from the Land Registry. The value of the typical home in England and Wales declined by 1.1% in March, with the North West the only region to experience a monthly rise (0.7%), while in Wales prices tumbled by 3.3%, when [...]
House purchase mortgage approval down 10%
The UK’s High Street banks saw net mortgage lending rise by 2.3% in March (or £0.8 billion), compared with a year earlier, as households remained focused on paying down debt. New mortgage lending held up “fairly well” according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) but because of of stronger remortgaging (rather than house purchase) activity. [...]
BoE: Mortgage approvals up in March
The Bank of England has today revealed mortgage approvals rose in March. According to the Bank, there were 44,000 loans approved in the month, up from February’s 43,000. However, the figure remains well below the 51,000 approved in the same month a year ago. The figures come a day after the Council of Mortgage Lenders [...]
CML reports 2% fall in mortgage lending in March
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has today said mortgage lending continues to remain weak, suggesting the housing market will remain subdued this year. According to the Council, gross mortgage lending for March was 2% lower in March on an annual basis. However, on a monthly basis, gross lending rose 21% to £11.3 billion, compared [...]
RICS: housing market recovery “some way off”
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has declared that the UK housing market remained flat during March, although with regional divergences widening. Overall, there was a slight downturn in demand for property compared with February but surveyors in areas such as Scotland, Wales and the South East reported a steady increase in new-buyer enquiries. [...]
House prices flat but inflation eats away at real values
The LSL Acadametrics house price index for March shows the value of the typical home in England and Wales falling by 0.1%, to £222,146, reversing a small increase seen in February. On an annual basis, eight of the ten regions covered experienced falling house prices, with only Greater London and the South East keeping the [...]
March sees annual house price fall of 2.9%
The latest house price index from Halifax shows the value of the typical home increasing 0.1% in March, to £162,912. Prices were down 0.6% on a quarterly basis with the decline showing an improvement on a fourth-quarter 2010 drop of 1%. However, on an annual basis the average home had lost 2.9% of its value, [...]
Housing market confidence on the rise
Agency Express has hailed its latest Property Activity Index as further evidence that confidence is returning to the housing market. According to the UK’s biggest “For Sale” board contractor, March saw the second consecutive monthly rise in the number of homes sold, with sales up 23.2% on February and up 4.8% year-on-year. All regions saw [...]
Hometrack: house prices slip in March
Hometrack’s latest survey shows house prices across England and Wales falling by 0.1% in March, compared with February, taking the value of the typical home down to £153,100. Twenty-seven per cent of post codes registered falling prices leaving 8% recording rises, including London which saw the first uplift for eight months (+0.2%), on the back [...]
House prices up 0.5% in March
UK house prices increased by 0.5% in March, according to Nationwide, with the rise leaving the typical home worth 0.1% more than a year ago. Prices have now increased modestly in three of the past four months, with the three-month-on-three-month measure (regarded as a better indicator of the underlying trend) putting the value of the [...]
Rightmove reports “trouble on the terraces”
Tightening lending criteria has hit prospective buyers of terraced properties hardest, Rightmove reports, as they are least able to save the necessary deposits. In response, sellers of the typical first-time buyer terraced home are sitting tight, with new stock of this type of property down 31% in March, compared with pre credit-crunch levels. In addition, [...]
Asking prices up 0.8% in March
Housesellers coming to market increased asking prices by an average 0.8% in March, according to Rightmove. The typical home is being offered for sale at £231,790, up 0.9% on a year earlier, and new listings have risen 5%, compared with March 2010. However, the volume of properties put up for sale remains 26% down on [...]
Homebuyer demand weakens
The latest Property Tracker survey from the Building Societies’ Association (BSA) suggests that demand for property purchase may remain weak. The research indicates that 41% of people think that it would currently be a good time to buy, down from 43% in December, while 29% of respondents disagreed that it would be good to buy [...]
Mortgage borrowers granted another base rate reprieve
Homeowners on lenders’ tracker and standard variable rates have been granted another reprieve, with the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee having decided to keep the base rate at 0.5% in March.
The rate has remained unchanged since March 2009, when it was cut to its current historic low.
Meanwhile, research from Moneyfacts.co.uk shows that rates [...]
