The UK’s recent housing market rally has run out of steam, according to the latest poll from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Following the upturn in activity seen towards the expiry of the stamp duty holiday in March, prices edged lower in April with 19% more surveyors reporting falls rather than rises. Looking [...]
demand
Landlord optimism at four-year high
Landlord optimism is at a four-year high, with 65% of landlords rating prospects for their lettings businesses as “very good” or “good”, over the next three months. According to recent research by the National Landlords’ Association (NLA) respondents are also increasingly optimistic about the overall state of the UK’s private rented sector, with 54% rating [...]
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 [...]
Rental demand to outstrip supply into 2012
Demand for private rental sector (PRS) property will continue to outstrip supply for much of 2011 and into next year, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) claims.
In a survey of members, ARLA found that 59% of agents believe tenants will be competing for properties this year, although almost four in ten thought that more [...]
Hometrack: agreed house sales up 25%
Demand for housing jumped by 14.7% in February, the first increase for eight months, according to new figures from Hometrack, which also show the supply of homes for sale rising 7.5%, compared with January, the highest monthly increase for three years.
A mix of seasonal and pent-up demand resulted in estate agents reporting a 25% rise [...]
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 [...]
Bovis completions up 5%
Bovis Homes completed 1,901 dwellings in 2010, of which 1,592 were private homes.
The figure is up 5% on 2009 and the group’s forward sales for 2011 stand at 420, which is consistent with the prior year, despite a lower number of active outlets (66 on average during 2010 versus 85 during 2009).
The housebuilder has [...]
Mortgage demand weakens
Lenders have report that demand for house purchase mortgages fell “markedly” in the three months to December, with the trend expected to continue over the current quarter.
According to the Bank of England’s latest Credit Conditions Survey, the decline reflected “a recent fall in house prices, a general weakening of sentiment towards the housing [...]
