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London continues to drag on UK house prices, according to data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with the capital enduring the lowest annual growth out of any region with prices falling 1.2% over the year to April 2019. Prices across the UK rose an unadjusted 0.7% month-on-month in April, the first rise in eight months, taking the average property price to £229,000. In England, the East Midlands saw the strongest annual house price growth in April, with a 2.9% increase. Regionally, Wales saw the strongest growth in the UK of 6.7% in the year to April, followed by Northern Ireland at 3.5%, Scotland by 1.6% and England by 1.1%. Northern Ireland remains the cheapest country in the UK to purchase a property, with an average house price of £135,000.
City AM (19/06/2019) The Daily Telegraph (19/06/2019)
The ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ is predicted to hand out £6.3bn worth of loans this year as parents help their children get on the property ladder, according to new research. Parents are also becoming more generous lenders, handing out £24,100 on average which will give younger generations a leg up onto the housing ladder, according to Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The study found that parents are expected to be involved in more than a quarter of a million (259,400) property purchases this year, making the bank of mum and dad equivalent to the UK's 11th biggest mortgage lender.
The Independent (16/06/2019) The Daily Telegraph (16/06/2019)
First-time buyers are bypassing flats and moving straight into houses - leading to a fall in the cost of apartments, official figures suggest. The cost of a typical apartment or maisonette in England has fallen by 2.1% in a year, while other types of property have become more expensive. The cost of detached homes has been rising fastest, with semi-detached and terraced homes also going up, figures from the Land Registry show. Experts suggest people are buying their first home later and are happy to rent a flat, but not necessarily buy one.
BBC News (19/06/2019) The Daily Telegraph (19/06/2019)
The amount of loan-to-value mortgage lending with ratios above 90% is approaching pre-crisis highs, but the Bank of England’s executive director for financial stability has said the regulator isn’t concerned. Speaking at the University of Warwick, Alex Brazier continued to say that, although banks have a real appetite to lend, households don’t have the appetite to borrow. He said credit conditions in the mortgage market are “easy” and mortgage pricing is competitive.
Mortgage Introducer (14/06/2019)
Homebuyers in London are prepared to pay an average of £43,000 more for properties within a five-minute walk of a Tube or railway station, research has revealed. An analysis by Nationwide compared prices of homes within 500 metres of a station — equivalent to a five-minute brisk walk — with those of a similar property nearly a mile away. On average buyers were prepared to pay 9.4% more for easy access to public transport, equivalent to a £42,900 premium.
Homes & Property (12/06/2019)
UK house prices grew at their fastest rate for two years in May with an increase of 5.2% year on year, according to new data released by Halifax. The value of the average UK home rose by 0.5% from April to £237,837 last month, and by 2.5% over the past three months compared with the quarter before, the House Price Index revealed. Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said the overall housing market was stable, and the lender expects stability to continue as employment remains high and interests are low. However, experts cautioned that Halifax’s index had been an “outlier” in recent months and that other house price measures have consistently pointed to a slowdown, particularly in London and the southeast of England.
The Times (07/06/2019) Daily Mail (07/06/2019)