A new report from Legal & General Mortgage Club promises valuable insight into the shape of the UK’s private rented sector and buy-to-let market. According to the lender, the buy-to-let market hit its lowest level for eight years in 2009, when new lending to landlords fell by nearly three quarters from its previous peak. However, [...]
report
Flat-pack and recycled homes to alleviate UK housing crisis
Traditional building methods need to make room for cost effective, sustainable designs if the UK’s housing crisis is to be alleviated, a report commissioned by the Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) claims.
According to the study, modular homes can be constructed off-site within 12 weeks, and then transported to a given location, at a cost [...]
MPs wary of benefit cuts in the private rental sector
An influential committee of MPs has expressed “a level of uncertainty” regarding the impact of the Government’s proposed housing benefit cuts.
A new report from the Work and Pensions Select Committee focuses particularly on claimants of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) in the private rental sector, who face new caps in LHA on property size, plus an [...]
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).
