Latest Property News
The latest property news, covering house prices, affordability, HIPs and other residential property news:
February 9, 2010
Enquiries from new home buyers dipped in January, for the first time in 14 months.
According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the winter freeze may have been responsible for the downturn with house sellers also affected and the number of homes being put up for sale falling for the first time in seven months.
Last ...
Spring bounce in housing market likely to be short lived
by Gill Montia
February 7, 2010
Property owners in danger of losing their homes as a result of consumer debt could soon be better protected.
The Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation on proposed new measures that would set a minimum level of such debt before a court can order the sale of a home.
Under the current system, a property owner who cannot pay ...
Protection for homeowners unable to pay credit card debt
by Gill Montia
February 4, 2010
Halifax has announced a 0.6% rise in UK house prices in January, compared to a month earlier.
The seventh successive monthly increase was more modest than the 1.1% average for the previous six months but nonetheless takes the price of a typical home to £169,777, or 3.6% more than at the start of 2009.
The annual rate of change (which is ...
House prices up 3.6% on January 2009
by Gill Montia
February 2, 2010
Hometrack has declared that the housing market in England and Wales has seen a "sluggish" start to the year, after an unexpectedly strong end to 2009.
In its January survey, the housing intelligence firm detected a 0.1% rise in the price of the average home, compared with December; however, the year-on-year rate of grow stood at a disappointing minus 0.1%.
Both the number of ...
Hometrack: house prices down year-on-year
by Gill Montia
House prices up 20% by 2013 CEBR predicts
by Gill Montia
January 29, 2010
In the first of the 2010 house price surveys, Nationwide has announced that the average price of a home rose by 1.2% in January, compared with a month earlier.
The ninth consecutive monthly increase puts the average value of a UK home at £163,481, showing a year-on-year gain of 8.6% (up from 5.9% in December 2009).
Furthermore, the building society's chief economist, Martin Gahbauer, ...
House prices up 8.6% year-on-year
by Gill Montia
January 27, 2010
The Commerce Department has today revealed a fall in sales of new homes in the US for the month of December - the second consecutive month that sales have fallen.
According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales dived by 7.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000 units, down from a revised 370,000 in the previous month.
Meanwhile, a ...
US new home sales in steep fall
by Kay Murchie
January 26, 2010
The US economy experienced two sets of positive economic data today. Firstly, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas rose for the sixth consecutive month in November.
According to the index, house prices were 0.2% higher compared with the October.
Meanwhile, on an annual basis, the 20-city index was 5.3% down compared with November 2008.
David Blitzer, chairman of ...
US house prices rise, consumer confidence up
by Kay Murchie
January 25, 2010
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has today revealed a sharp fall in sales of previously owned homes in the US for the month of December.
The industry body said sales fell 16.7% to an annual rate of 5.45 million units in December, down from 6.54 million the previous month. Analysts had expected a rate of 5.90 million units.
However, ...
US home sales in sharp decline in December
by Kay Murchie
Half-a-million affordable homes at risk
by Gill Montia
January 21, 2010
The Commerce Department has revealed a fall in housing starts for the month of December but building permits rose.
According to the Commerce Department, construction of new US homes fell 4% during the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 properties. The fall was primarily due to bad weather which hit most of the country.
Meanwhile, applications for ...
US housing starts fall, producer prices up
by Kay Murchie
January 20, 2010
Halifax has been looking back over the past 50 years to find that the average cost of a UK home has increased by 237% (in real terms) since 1959.
The typical yearly rate of return of 2.7% exceeded the average rise in real earnings over the period, although house prices recorded their biggest increase in the 2000s when they put ...
House prices rise 237% (over half a century)
by Gill Montia
Seller confidence and buyer interest return
by Gill Montia
January 15, 2010
A leading UK house builder has announced that its selling prices have risen by 4% to an average £167,000.
The trading update from Barratt Developments also revealed that net private reservations increased 8.9% over the past six months.
The group's forward sales surged 43% to £651.2 million, while first-half completions were in-line with expectations, at 5,028, comprising 4,381 private completions and ...
Barratt reports 4% rise in selling prices
by Gill Montia
January 13, 2010
New research from The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) claims that in November 2009, UK house prices were 0.6% higher than a year earlier, having leapt 1.7% since October.
Using the three-month-on-three-month measure, the value of a typical home increased by 3.5%, compared with 2.6% in the quarter to the end of August.
The average cost of a ...
Government figures put annual house price rise at 0.6%
by Gill Montia
January 12, 2010
UK house prices rose at a slower pace in December, as the gap between supply and demand narrowed.
A new survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveals that 30% more Chartered Surveyors reported a rise, rather than a fall, compared with 35% reporting a rise in November.
However, a significant majority of surveyors were still recording price increases in ...
House price rises slow in December
by Gill Montia
January 7, 2010
In its latest survey of the UK housing market, Halifax reports that in December house prices increased for the sixth consecutive month.
The rise took the value of a typical home to £169,042, up 9.4% (£14,552) on the low of April 2009, and 1.1% higher on an annual basis.
Taking the three-month-on-three-month measure, prices rose for the second successive quarter; ...
House prices gain 9.4% on April 2009 low
by Gill Montia
January 5, 2010
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) today said its Pending Home Sales Index fell sharply by 16% in November to 96.0 from 114.1 in October, ending a nine-month rise.
The NAR attributed the fall on the end of a rush to beat the original expiration of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. The tax credit had been due ...
US Pending Home Sales Index falls sharply in November
by Kay Murchie
December 31, 2009
In its latest housing market survey, Nationwide reports that the average price of a UK home rose by 0.4% in December, compared to a month earlier, to £162,103.
The increase takes the annual rate of gain to 5.9%, up from 2.7% in November.
However, the three-month-on-three-month rate of change, which is regarded as a smoother indicator of the near-term trend, fell from ...
House prices show 2009 gain of 5.9%
by Gill Montia
December 30, 2009
Land Registry data for November show the average house price in England and Wales rising for the sixth consecutive month, to £161,554.
The value of a typical home increased 0.9%, taking the annual decline to just 0.3%, or £8,800 above its April nadir.
Wales experienced the greatest monthly rise with a positive movement of 2.9%.
However, London continued to lead the way ...
Official: house prices rise for six consecutive months
by Gill Montia
