Docklands News

UK house prices are expected to continue falling until the second half of 2025, according to Oxford Economics. The consultancy predicts that prices will plunge by 11% compared to their peak in 2022, making Britain's property market the longest in the West to experience a downturn. In contrast, other countries, including America, France, Germany, and Italy, are expected to see prices start rising again this year and throughout 2024.

The Sunday Telegraph (25/06/2023)  

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a deal to ease mortgage pressures on households affected by rising interest rates. The agreement will allow homeowners to have more flexibility over their repayments and discuss their financial situation with lenders without it impacting their credit score. Mortgage holders will be able to temporarily switch to an interest-only deal or extend their loans for up to six months. Banks will also have to wait 12 months after the first missed payment before ordering a repossession. Hunt said the new measures were "very important" for people "worried about their rates going up". 

Financial Times (24/06/2023)   The Daily Telegraph (24/06/2023)   The Guardian (24/06/2023)   The Times (24/06/2023)  

A survey by Saltus has found that 23% of parents with investable assets of £250,000 or more have helped their children to cover mortgage payments, with 20% covering their children's rent. Of those respondents with investable assets of £1m or more, 27% said that they were helping their children with mortgages and 22% covered rents. Mike Stimpson, a partner at Saltus, said: "Traditionally, parents have helped out their children with deposits on houses, and other investments that grow with them, but now we're increasingly seeing clients forced to bring those investments forward to help their children with everyday costs such as mortgages and household bills." 

The Times (24/06/2023)  

The average price of a house in the UK rose by 0.4% from March to April to £286,000, marking the first month-on-month rise since November, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS said the average UK house price in April 2023 was £9,000 higher than 12 months earlier. Average house prices increased over the 12 months to April 2023 to £306,000 in England (a 3.7% annual increase), £213,000 in Wales (2.0%), £187,000 in Scotland (2.0%) and £172,000 in Northern Ireland (5.0%). Meanwhile, the North East recorded the highest annual percentage change of all English regions in the 12 months to April 2023 (5.5%) while London recorded the lowest (2.4%), with an average price of £534,000. Gabriella Dickens, senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, a consultancy, said: "April's rise will prove to be a blip. We remain comfortable with our forecast for a peak-to-trough fall in the official measure of house prices of about 8%." 

The Independent (21/06/2023)   The Times (21/06/2023)  

Homebuyers could see their borrowing power drop by £77,000 if the bank rate reaches 6% by the end of the year, according to calculations commissioned by the Sunday Telegraph. Mortgage brokers have reported "disastrous" drops in the size of loans being offered, as rising rates mean borrowers are less able to pass lenders' "affordability". Chris Sykes, of London brokerage Private Finance, said that several of his clients had seen the maximum loan they could borrow falling by hundreds of thousands of pounds compared with 18 months ago. He said: "I've had to take a lot less for granted when it comes to affordability. Cases where you'd expect affordability to pass with flying colours now actually need some in-depth analysis to achieve what the borrowers would like." 

The Sunday Telegraph (18/06/2023)  

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has ruled out introducing major financial support for mortgage holders, stating that offering mortgage relief schemes would "make inflation worse, not better." Mr Hunt said: "Much as we sympathise with the difficulties and will do everything we can to help people seeing their mortgage costs go up, we won't do anything that would mean we prolong inflation." Instead, the Chancellor will meet with mortgage lenders on Friday to discuss what help they plan to give to those unable to keep up with higher mortgage payments, as well as what "flexibilities" they will offer to families in arrears. 

BBC News (20/06/2023)