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19th January 2018
Data from Land Registry and the ONS shows that the average house price in the UK reached £226,000 in November, a 5.1% year-on-year increase. The increase was led by Cambridge, where values jumped 16.4%, and the West Midlands, where the average sold price was 7.2% up on a year earlier. The figures show that the London market remains sluggish, with a 2.4% increase in prices over the year representing the weakest price growth of all regions. Despite this, the £482,000 average sale price means the capital remains the UK’s most expensive region. The lowest average price was in the North East, with a typical sale value of £128,000. Across the UK, England saw average prices climb 5.3% to £243,000, Wales’s average was up 4.5% to £153,000, Scotland saw typical values rise 3.6% to £146,000, and Northern Ireland’s average price of £132,000 marked a 6% increase.
The Daily Telegraph (16/01/2018)
19th January 2018
November saw a 15.2% annual rise in the number of new first-time buyer mortgages, new figures from UK Finance show, with 34,800 new first-time buyer loans. Lending to home movers rose 16.8%, with 36,200 new mortgages, and remortgaging also increased, with an 8.5% climb recorded. Across all mortgages, lenders approved 13% more loans in November than at the same time last year. Paul Smee, head of mortgages at UK Finance, said the data shows housing market activity “remains buoyant” despite the Bank of England’s decision to raise the base rate to 0.5%.
Daily Mail (16/01/2018)
12th January 2018
A typical 20% deposit for first-time buyers in London is now more than £80,000, according to the Nationwide Building Society. It analysed its mortgage data for the cost of the typical first-time buyer's house purchase in each region. Elsewhere in the UK, the average deposit could be closer to £20,000, as the squeeze on wages and low interest rates makes it more difficult to raise the money than a decade ago. Meanwhile in most regions, it would take about eight years for the typical buyer to save for a deposit. This rises to nine years in the South East of England and to nearly 10 years in London.
BBC News (05/01/2018)
12th January 2018
House prices rose by 2.7% in 2017, compared with a 6.5% increase in 2016, according to the Halifax, the lowest rise since 2012. The mortgage lender added that December had the first monthly drop in prices since June, with the average price of homes falling by 0.6%, or £1,387, to reach £255,021. "Nationally house prices in 2018 are likely to be supported by the ongoing shortage of properties for sale, low levels of housebuilding, high employment and a continuation of low interest rates making mortgage servicing affordable in relative terms," said Russell Galley, the managing director of Halifax Community Bank.
Financial Times (08/01/2018)
12th January 2018
Mortgage borrowers are benefiting from competition on the high street following the biggest squeeze on profit margins for two years. The Bank of England reported that in the final three months of 2017 the difference between the central bank's base interest rate and the average mortgage rates charged to borrowers narrowed significantly. Most of the extra demand towards the end of last year came from remortgagers keen to lock in low rates following November's 0.25% rise in the base rate to 0.5%, as the Bank’s latest Credit Conditions Survey said lenders were restricting access to unsecured loans and credit card borrowing after a steep rise in defaults.
The Guardian (11/01/2018)
12th January 2018
The number of London homes changing hands is around half the levels seen before the recession, according to the Office of National Statistics, which says during 2017 just over 52,000 houses and flats were sold across the capital, compared to more than 92,000 sold before the recession.
Evening Standard (10/01/2018)