March 20, 2013
The RICS February 2013 Housing Market Survey highlights a broadly stable price picture at the national level. While the failure of buyer enquiries to rebound in a meaningful sense after January’s snow-related slowdown provides a note of caution, for now surveyors remain optimistic. Indeed, sales and prices are expected to rise moderately over the next […]
February 26, 2013
It’s cheaper to buy than to rent by £120 a month – and the gap is widening as rents soar, according to a survey. In its latest review of comparative costs, Halifax revealed that buyers pay less than renters across the UK. The average monthly cost of buying a three bedroom house was £621 in […]
February 19, 2013
Housing market activity rose to the highest levels in five-years, according to the latest Halifax house price index. Sales increased by 5% in 2012 to reach 932,000 – the highest annual total since 2007 when the figure was over 1.6m. House prices in the three months to January were up 1.9% compared with the preceding […]
February 7, 2013
The average price of a property in the UK rose to £162,080 in December 2012, up 0.8% on the £161,490 recorded for November, according to figures from the Land Registry today. The annual price change for UK properties is 1.7%. The best performing region was London where house prices rose 3.1% on a monthly basis […]
January 24, 2013
Lending to first-time buyers increased by 11% in 2012 as the number of loans extended to borrowers with small deposits rose from 57,691 in 2011 to 63,896. The latest figures mark 2012 as the best year for high LTV lending – defined as 85% plus – since 2007, according to e.surv’s Mortgage Monitor analysis. A […]
January 11, 2013
New mortgage advances increased 7% in the third quarter of this year to £40bn, up from £37bn in Q2, according to the latest FSA mortgage lending data. New commitments fell 10% from £40bn in Q2 to £36bn last quarter. The value of outstanding loans totaled £1.23trn, rising marginally from £1.2trn in Q2. The average interest […]
November 28, 2012
Sellers dropped their asking prices by 2.6% between October and November although house prices remain 2% higher on an annual basis. The 2.6% fall, equivalent to an average of £6,407, represents the smallest November decline in three years, according to the latest Rightmove house price index. The average asking price of a house now stands […]
November 22, 2012
Gross mortgage lending could reach £145bn in 2013 with brokers accounting for a greater proportion of business, says the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries. The AMI’s quarterly economic bulletin says the FSA’s impending ban on non-advised sales, which will come into force in April 2014 as part of the mortgage market review, along with the government’s New […]
November 8, 2012
The number of UK borrowers in negative equity has fallen by 100,000 since the first quarter of 2011, from 827,000 to 719,000, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders. In its fortnightly News and Views letter, the CML says this 13% decline leaves around 10% of borrowers in negative equity when the Halifax House Price Index […]
November 1, 2012
The British Bankers’ Association’s figures for September show gross lending rose by £0.3bn to reach £7.3bn but remained below the six month average of £7.5bn. Net lending rose from minus £0.3bn in August to £03.bn in September. The number of mortgage approvals reached 62,974, up from 60,119 in August and 2,771 above the six month […]
October 2, 2012
Once, renting a house was the logical way to save up to buy a home of your own – but not anymore. In fact, it is cheaper to pay a mortgage on a three bedroom house than it is to rent a similar property, a major report reveals today. On average, a homeowner spends around […]
September 5, 2012
Gross mortgage lending increased to £12.7bn in July, representing a monthly increase of 8%, according to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This latest figure shows that mortgage lending rose to its highest level since November 2011 when it reached £13.2bn. CML’s market and data analyst Caroline Purdey says: “Gross mortgage lending […]