London house prices: Can stamp duty save the capital from a demand crisis? January 14, 2015 Demand for houses has been falling in the housing market for six months, or eight if you live in London. It doesn’t feel so long ago we were talking about booms and whispering of bubbles, but that's gone for now. The latest figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors reveals that 10 per cent [...]
UK house prices: Total value of UK residential property hits £5.8tn January 12, 2015 The combined cost of all the homes in the UK has increased by almost a trillion in the last five years, according to data from the estate agent Savills. Adding the values of all the homes in Britain makes a heady total of £5.75 trillion, or 2.7 times the UK’s GDP. The region with by [...]
Taylor Wimpey says housing market is set for “lower rate of price of growth” January 12, 2015 House builder Taylor Wimpey reported this morning its total home completions rose six per cent to 12,454 in the year ended 31 December. The average selling price on private completions grew a hefty 11 per cent from £210,000 in 2013 to £234,000. The overall average selling price climbed 12 per cent to £213,000. The FTSE 100 [...]
Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Persimmon share prices among biggest FTSE fallers as Jefferies slashes ratings January 9, 2015 Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Persimmon were among the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 this morning, after broker Jefferies cut its rating across the sector. Shares in Taylor Wimpey – whose rating was cut to "hold" from "buy" – were down 4.9 per cent in lunchtime trading, while Barratt and Persimmon, which were both [...]
UK house prices: Mild respite for home buyers as market cools January 8, 2015 House price growth continued to slow in December, but still remained at elevated levels. The climb in house prices was 7.8 per cent year-on-year in December, figures released yesterday by Halifax revealed. It marks a cooling from the peak of the recent boom that, according to Halifax’s figures, saw prices rise 10.2 per cent year-on-year [...]
Mapped: The most unaffordable places to get a mortgage in the UK January 8, 2015 Last year the bar was raised for first-time buyers hoping to get a mortgage, as the Bank of England introduced new rules limiting the amount banks and building societies can lend. For the first time, the amount mortgage customers can borrow has been capped at 4.5 times their income. If you're looking to buy that [...]
UK house prices growing at the slowest rate since November 2012 January 8, 2015 House prices grew by 0.3 per cent in December, their slowest rate since the three months to November 2012, according to data released by Halifax. Today's data is further evidence of a sluggish housing market in the second half of the year, slowing from a peak of 3.5 per cent for the three months to [...]
UK house prices: Number of first-time buyers soar to highest level since the financial crash January 6, 2015 The number of first-time buyers soared to its highest level since 2007 last year, according to The Halifax. Last year the number of first-time buyers rose to 326,500, up 22 per cent on 2013, representing the highest number of first-time buyers since the financial crash of 2008. Halifax said the cost of putting down a [...]
Bank of England: Mortgage approvals fall to 17-month low January 2, 2015 The number of mortgages rubber-stamped by banks dropped again in November, although by less than analysts had expected. Nevertheless, the figure is a 17-month low, underlining the trajectory of the market. During the month, banks approved 59,029 mortgages, down from 59,511 in October, but above the 58,500 analyst consensus. The fall has been a [...]
UK house price growth slows again: Can stamp duty save the market in 2015? December 30, 2014 We know the drill by now – slowing house price growth in many areas as demand wanes and the murmurings about a base rate rise reflect the logic that no matter what, it’s getting closer. Why exactly demand is waning remains something of a mystery (more of that later). Nationwide’s figures this month [...]