Rents in England and Wales rose for the first time in three months in April, according to the latest buy-to-let index from LSL Property Services. The lettings agent chain recorded a 0.5% average increase, to £709 per month, although the annual rate of gain steadied to 2.4%, compared to 2.7% in March. Rents rose in [...]
april
House prices down 0.9% on the year
UK house prices edged down by 0.2% in April, according to Nationwide, and were 0.9% lower than a year earlier, at an average £164,134. The monthly decline followed a 1% fall in March, prices now having slipped for the fourth time in five months. In part, Nationwide attributes the recent softening of the market to [...]
Asking prices beat 2008 levels
Asking prices have risen 2.9% in April, according to Rightmove, with the typical vendor raising their expectations by £6,798. At £243,737 the average asking price has, in fact, hit an all-time high, having risen 3.4% over the last 12 months to beat the previous record set in May 2008 by 0.5%. However, in London prices [...]
Asking prices beat 2008 levels
Asking prices have risen 2.9% in April, according to Rightmove, with the typical vendor raising their expectations by £6,798. At £243,737 the average asking price has, in fact, hit an all-time high, having risen 3.4% over the last 12 months to beat the previous record set in May 2008 by 0.5%. However, in London prices [...]
House purchase lending slips in April
UK lenders approved 45,166 mortgages for house purchases in April, Bank of England figures show. The total compares with 47,145 homebuyer loans sanctioned in March, and a previous six-month average of 46,179. In addition, remortgaging approvals declined to 28,091, as fears over interest rate rises subsided (March: 31,201; previous six-month average 32,534). According to the [...]
Mortgage approvals remain subdued
Annual growth in UK banks’ net mortgage lending (gross lending with repayments and redemptions stripped out) stood at 2.2% in April, with gross mortgage lending during the month of £7.9 billion. According to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), gross lending remained stable compared with the recent six-month average but showed a 5% decline compared with [...]
April fall in UK house sales
House sale volumes slid in April, with figures from HM Revenue and Customs showing only 66,000 UK homes changing hands during the month. The total is down 1,000 from March and by 6,000 year-on-year, leaving sales since the beginning of the year 5% fewer when compared with the first four months of 2010. Despite a [...]
Home ownership goal stretched to aged 38
Brits with property-owning ambitions don’t expect to be able to buy their first home until aged 38, or 43 for Londoners, according to new research from moneysupermarket.com. With only 1,581 home loans currently available to first-time buyers (compared with 14,940 in July 2007) the average loan-to-value ratio stands at 77%, meaning new buyers aiming for [...]
Average rent returns to 2010 peak
Rents in England and Wales have regained their November 2010 high, according to the April Buy-to-let Index from LSL Property Services. The month saw a 0.8% average rise compared with March, to £692 per month, with average yield hitting 5.1%. LSL estate agency managing director, David Newnes, says the typical landlord is charging nearly £30 [...]
House prices nudge up in April
The average price of a home in England & Wales rose by 0.3% in April, to £223,352, taking the annual growth rate to 0.9%, up from 0.3% in March. According to the latest LSL/Acadametrics house price survey, the monthly rise was driven by a rush of transactions involving wealthy buyers intent on avoiding higher stamp [...]
House prices slip 1.4%
UK house prices fell 1.4% in April, compared with March, Halifax has reported. Using the more reliable three-month-on-three-month measure, prices were 1.2% down on the previous quarter, having seen modest declines since mid-2010. The average property lost 3.7% of its value in the year to end-April, marking the biggest annual fall since October 2009. While [...]
April house sales follow seasonal trend
April saw a slight decline in UK housing activity, according to the latest Property Activity Index from Agency Express. The UK’s biggest “For Sale” board contractor reported that house sales were down 3.6% on March and that April also saw a drop of -0.5% in the number of new listings. However, the firm points out [...]
Hometrack: house prices to see further falls
House prices in England and Wales remained level in April, with a 0.3% rise in London prices offsetting small falls across other regions, Hometrack has reported. According to the housing intelligence firm, increased buyer demand over the first four months of 2011, and strong growth in the number of sales agreed, has been easing downward [...]
House prices slip 0.2%
Nationwide’s latest house price index shows the value of the typical home falling by 0.2% in April, to £165,609. The decline follows a monthly rise of 0.5% in March and leaves the average house price 1.3% down on a year earlier. However, the three-month-on-three-month measure, which is a better measure of the underlying trend, shows [...]
