As London house prices show signs of cooling, are fears of a bubble overplayed? August 12, 2014 Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Berenberg Bank, says Yes. Rapid rises in house prices would be a threat if they turned into an uncontrollable bubble accompanied by a rapid debt build-up. So it is good news that London house price inflation seems to be slowing down. And that slowdown has its roots in action [...]
Mortgage approvals for first-time buyers rise as UK house price growth slows August 11, 2014 Mortgage lending is still being dominated by customers looking to buy houses rather than remortgage, and first-time buyers are on the up. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) total gross lending for June was up six per cent on May and 20 per cent up on June 2013, totalling £17.9bn. £4.2bn of that [...]
As UK house prices soar, sales hit highs last seen in boom years August 8, 2014 Housing sales are back at levels last seen at the hight of the boom in 2007, LSL Property Services said today. Prices have been surging over the past two years, particularly in London. And the number of sales has now caught up with the booming demand for property. In July, 90,000 homes were sold in [...]
UK house prices up 10.2 per cent – five graphs that show the rise August 6, 2014 Are they up or are they down? Halifax has released its latest house price figures which show a 10.2 per cent annual change and a 1.4 per cent rise in the last month, beating expectations. There has been a lot of speculation that the market is slowing, in part due to measures to regulate mortgage [...]
Recovery at risk as London house price boom outstrips wage growth, warns Moody’s August 5, 2014 Britain’s banking recovery is at risk from a housing crash, analysts warned yesterday – and that could throw the whole economy off track. The 17 per cent boom in London house prices is far outstripping wage growth, credit ratings agency Moody’s warned, and could come grinding to a halt. Rising interest rates could hit some [...]
UK rental prices: Is it time to stop buying? August 3, 2014 House prices have been on a surge in the last 12 months and despite a recent slowing of the market many first time buyers are finding themselves priced out of the market. The ONS released figures on rental prices this week that make for interesting reading and imply that an answer to high house prices could be [...]
In graphs: UK house prices rise just 0.1 per cent in July July 31, 2014 First it was the Land Registry telling us and now it's Nationwide: the upward spiral of house prices is coming to an end, at least for now. The latest figures from Nationwide show that the average house price in the UK rose by just 0.1 per cent, below expectations of a 0.5 per cent increase [...]
CNBC Comment: Why UK banks aren’t riding the recovery July 28, 2014 THE TIES between Britain’s banks and its economy have always been close. But they have seemed even closer in the post-banking bailout era. On Friday, when RBS rushed out its second quarter results a week early (which was rather odd in itself – don’t companies usually only rush out results if they’re either worse than [...]
As Halifax reports buyer confidence slipping, is the housing market finally cooling down? July 28, 2014 Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Global Insight, says Yes. It’s not guaranteed that current signs that the housing market is cooling will prove lasting, but house price growth has likely peaked. The new regulations under the Mortgage Market Review have clearly had at least a temporary effect in taking some steam [...]
London house prices: Growth slumps July 25, 2014 The boom might be ending: London House Prices have stagnated in July, recording their first almost growth-free month since December 2012. According to data from Hometrack – which is a survey rather than indexed data – prices in the capital were unchanged at zero per cent for July, down from 0.5 per cent in June and 0.6 per cent [...]