The UK’s mortgage borrowers have gained £51 billion as a result of low interest rates, figures obtained by the BBC from the Bank of England show. The collective gain might console homeowners watching the value of their properties slide, although some, no doubt, can be counted among the UK savers who lost out on £43 [...]
inflation
Rightmove: asking prices highest for three years
According to latest figures from Rightmove, new sellers’ average asking prices are at their highest for almost three years, having risen 1.3% in May, following on from a 1.7% increase in April. The average home is being marketed at £238,874, or 1.5% below its May 2008 peak, although taking inflation into account asking prices are [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Pressure for interest rate rises mounts
Pressure is mounting on the Governor of the Bank of England over interest rate rises as inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index which excludes housing costs, rises to 4%.
Mervyn King is obliged to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer when inflation exceeds the Government’s target of 2% and in his latest letter [...]
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 [...]
Interest rates to “normalise” at around 5%
The UK’s homeowners should begin to prepare for higher interest rates, a Bank of England official has warned.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the bank’s executive director for markets, Paul Fisher, stated that rates need to return to a “normalised” position of around 5%.
Mr Fisher, who is a member of the Bank’s rate-setting Monetary [...]
Nationwide: House Price Inflation Reaches Double Digits
- House prices increased by 1.0% month-on-month in April
- Annual rate of price inflation moves into double digits for first time since June 2007
- House prices are 10.0% below the October 2007 peak
| Headlines | March 2010 | April 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly index * Q1 ’93 = 100 | 330.6 | 334.0 |
| Monthly change* | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| Annual change | 9.0% | 10.5% |
| Average price | £164,519 | £167,802 |
* seasonally adjusted
Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said:
The price of a typical UK property rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.0% month-on-month (m/m) in April, leaving house prices 10.5% higher than a year earlier. Over the lifetime of the last Parliament (May 2005 to April 2010), house prices have risen by 6.7%. This compares to a 13.5% increase in the consumer price index, the official target measure of inflation.
April’s figures show the first double-digit annual growth in UK house prices since June 2007. The year-on-year rate in this month’s figures, however, received an additional boost from the fact that April 2009 was one of the weaker months last year. Given the very strong performance of house prices from May 2009 onwards, it will take monthly increases in excess of 1% for the annual rate of inflation to be maintained in double digits going forward. The smoother three month on three month rate of inflation edged down further from 1.5% in March to 1.1% in April, which primarily reflects the impact of February’s 1.0% decline in house prices. April’s figures leave UK house prices exactly 10% below the October 2007 peak.
For further information please see April 2010 report (PDF 64KB).
