Latest Property News

March 12, 2010

House sales plummet but prices recover to 2007 levels

by Gill Montia
Since the start of the year, house sales in England and Wales have fallen dramatically, the BBC reports. New data obtained by the BBC from research-based consultancy, Acadametrics, show January transaction levels down 52% on December, at 36,000. February looks little better with an estimated 40,000 completed sales, although seasonal trends, winter weather, and the end of stamp duty holiday ...

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March 9, 2010

House sale instructions outpace buyer interest

by Gill Montia
The UK housing market experienced a shift in the balance between supply and demand in February, with new instructions outpacing buyer interest for the second consecutive month. According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) latest housing market survey, a net balance of 15% of surveyors reported a rise, rather than a fall, in new instructions, compared with a negative balance ...

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March 5, 2010

US home sales in surprise fall in January

by Kay Murchie
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has revealed a fall in sales of previously owned homes in the US for the month of January, suggesting the extension of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers is having little appeal. The industry body said sales agreements fell 7.6% in January compared with December and the index that tracks sales agreements ...

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Tesco and Spicerhaart launch online estate agency

by Gill Montia
Tesco has joined forces with Spicerhaart to launch an online estate agency aimed at saving home-sellers money. iSold.com is so far only available in the Bristol area; the new service charges a flat fee of £999 in return for which properties are advertised on portals such as Rightmove. All contact with vendors and purchasers takes place either online or over the telephone. ...

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March 4, 2010

Homeowners to be replaced by tenants

by Gill Montia
Reporting on its recent "Future Housing" conference the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says it expects the UK to see a smaller proportion of homeowners and a higher proportion of tenants, mostly in the private sector, in the years ahead. Changing consumer preferences and affordability pressures will drive the trend. Examining the plight of first-time buyers, the CML’s head of research, Bob ...

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House prices down 1.5% in February

by Gill Montia
UK house prices fell by 1.5% in February when compared to January, according to Halifax. The lender's monthly index registered its first decline since June 2009, following seven consecutive monthly increases. However, at £166,587, the average price of a UK home came in 8% above the market trough of April 2009, and up 4.5% on an annual basis. In a three-month-on-three-month comparison, ...

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House sales soar in February

by Gill Montia
Agency Express has reported a surge in house sales between January and February, with three regions reporting their highest monthly sales since the market peak in 2007. According to the firm, which claims to be the UK’s largest "For Sale" board management contractor, every region except Central England saw substantial month-on-month increases, with star performers as follows: The North West a 152.4% rise in ...

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Persimmon reports strong forward sales book

by Gill Montia
Persimmon Homes managed 8,976 legal completions in 2009, compared with 10,202 in 2008, with an average selling price of £160,513 (down from £172,994 last year). However, Britain's largest house builder says it has a strong forward sales book of around £900 million, up 29% on 2008. Ninety new sites are scheduled to open in the first half of 2010, compared with 90 during ...

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March 2, 2010

Handful of countries see house price growth in 2009

by Kay Murchie
The Rics European Housing Review 2010 has revealed a mixed bag for European house prices. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found that only five countries reported growth in house prices - with the UK being one of them - rising by 1% in 2009. Norway led the way with a 12% gain during 2009, while Finland, Sweden and ...

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Buffett confident of US housing market recovery

by Kay Murchie
Respected US billionaire investor Warren Buffett has said the problems in the US property market will be over within a year. In his annual letter to shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway, the investment group controlled by Mr Buffett, he said prices will remain 'far below bubble levels' for the medium term. He added: "People thought it was good news a few years ...

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Hometrack puts February house prices 0.3% ahead

by Gill Montia
Hometrack has reported a 0.3% rise in house prices in February, compared to January. Southern England continued to see the greatest upward pressure on prices, with average values in London up by 0.7% in the month. According to the housing intelligence firm, February also saw the first year-on-year rise since March 2008, at 0.4%, and the survey shows prices rising across ...

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February 26, 2010

House prices dip 1% in February

by Gill Montia
In the first of the UK house price indices for February, Nationwide has reported a 1% drop in the average value of a home, compared to a month earlier. The decline ends nine consecutive monthly rises and the building society points out that bad weather and the end of the stamp duty holiday in January will have played their part. Using a quarter-on-quarter ...

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February 25, 2010

BoE policy maker cast doubt on house price recovery

by Gill Montia
A member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has cast doubt on the idea of a continued recovery of the UK housing market. Addressing the Treasury Select Committee earlier this week, Kate Barker stated a personal view that mortgage finance could be "quite restrained" in the months ahead, leading to the possibility of "adjustments in the ...

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February 24, 2010

US new home sales in third consecutive monthly fall

by Kay Murchie
The Commerce Department has today revealed a fall in sales of new homes in the US for the month of January - the third consecutive month that sales have fallen. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales dived by 11.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 306,000 units - the lowest since records commenced in 1963. The ...

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Federal Reserve chairman pledges low interest rates for long-term

by Kay Murchie
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke has today said US interest rates will need to stay low in order to keep the economic recovery on track. In a testimony before Congress, Bernanke said there was a "nascent economic recovery" and said long-term recovery will depend on private sector’s demand for goods and services. Bernanke, who was recently awarded ...

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February 19, 2010

Watchdog recommends “shake-up” of estate agency market

by Gill Montia
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is recommending a "shake-up" of the way in which most Britons sell their homes, including new legislation that encourages innovation in the estate agency market. Following a study of the home-buying and selling process, the watchdog concludes: "The housing market remains dominated by traditional estate agents with weak competition between them on price". It wants to ...

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February 17, 2010

US housing starts and industrial production rise

by Kay Murchie
The Commerce Department has today revealed US housing starts increased for the month of January but building permits were down. According to the Commerce Department, construction of new US homes rose 2.8% during the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000 properties. While this represented the highest level in six months, the figures are still far below the ...

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Official figures show 2.9% house price gain for 2009

by Gill Montia
Latest UK house price statistics from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) show the value of a typical home up 2.9% in December, compared to a year earlier. The month saw a 0.8% increase on November, taking the average house price to £200,307 and completing a 2.9% gain for the final quarter of 2009. However, the three-month ...

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February 16, 2010

Scottish house prices continue recovery

by Gill Montia
In its latest Scottish House Price Monitor, Lloyds TSB tracks the continued recovery of the region's housing market. Most areas of Scotland were showing price increases over the three months to the end of January 2010, with the average cost of a home up 5.9% on the previous quarter, to £160,074. Dundee and Edinburgh led the way with quarterly rises of 16.3% and ...

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Average asking price of a UK home up 3.2%

by Gill Montia
Rightmove has reported that a scarcity of new sellers bumped up asking prices by 3.2% in the four weeks to mid-February, taking the average asking price for a UK home to £229,298. The figure compares with £222,261 in January, which saw a monthly change of 0.4%. The leap set a new record for London at £427,987, and the property portal ...

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