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Sunday 12th of October 2008

Latest Property News

The latest property news, covering house prices, affordability, HIPs and other residential property news:

September 8, 2008

Housing market recovery 18 months away

by Gill Montia
Housing market recovery 18 months away
The chief executive of HBOS, which owns Halifax, the UK's largest mortgage lender, has warned that house prices are unlikely to begin a recovery before 2010. According to Andy Hornby, confidence in Britain's housing market will not return until banks can raise significant sums on the wholesale financial markets. In addition, house price deflation could be stronger than that seen in the early ...



September 5, 2008

For sale for three months and more

by Gill Montia
For sale for three months and more
Property search engine, Globrix, has reported that the majority of homes for sale in the UK have now been on the market for over 90 days. The company's research has revealed that the proportion of properties unsold after 90 days has risen from 25% at the beginning of the year, to 53% in August. The trend is likely to continue as ...



September 4, 2008

Halifax tracks 10.9% annual fall in house prices

by Gill Montia
Halifax tracks 10.9% annual fall in house prices
Halifax has reported that UK house prices fell by 1.8% in August, compared to July, taking the annual decline to 10.9%. The annual figure is based on a three month average; the actual difference in prices between August 2007 and 2008 was -12.7%. According to the lender, the average cost of a UK home is now down to £174,178 having registered ...



September 3, 2008

Law Society warns on shared equity rescue scheme

by Gill Montia
Law Society warns on shared equity rescue scheme
Government proposals to kick-start the housing market have prompted a warning from the Law Society. The measures announced this week include help for families who are struggling with their mortgage repayments. Those facing repossession may be eligible for a shared equity or shared ownership scheme, which would allow people to remain in their homes by selling part of their property and ...



September 2, 2008

Stamp Duty suspended for purchases under £175,000

by Gill Montia
Stamp Duty suspended for purchases under £175,000
The Government has announced that stamp duty is to be suspended on homes sold for below £175,000. The move, which raises the threshold at which 1% stamp duty is paid from £125,000, could save homebuyers up to £1,750. The concession comes alongside measures to help first-time buyers and homeowners struggling with mortgage repayments, unveiled earlier today. The change is effective on residential ...



Government offers “free” loans to first-time buyers

by Gill Montia
Government offers
The Government is today unveiling a number of measures to help kick-start the UK housing market by offering relief to homeowners in financial difficulties and first-time buyers. Households in England earning less than £60,000 per annum will be helped into home ownership with a loan of up to 30% of a property's value. The loan will be offered free of charge for ...



September 1, 2008

Homes sell at 10% below asking prices

by Gill Montia
Homes sell at 10% below asking prices
Hometrack has reported that home sellers are accepting offers almost 10% below asking prices, to secure a sale. According to the housing intelligence firm, sellers achieved an average 90.7% of their asking prices in August, down from 90.9% in July. The figure is at its lowest since Hometrack began recording the proportion of asking price achieved, in 2001, and the firm ...



August 29, 2008

Rightmove gains as home sellers gravitate to the net

by Gill Montia
Rightmove gains as home sellers gravitate to the net
The housing market slowdown has hardly been good news for property portal, Rightmove, as its share price reflects. However, the company has just reported a 63% rise in pre-tax profit in the six months to the end of June, to £19.8 million. Revenues for the period increased 49%, to £37.8 million, with both sales to new members and revenue per ...



August 28, 2008

Taylor Wimpey house sales plummet by one-third

by Gill Montia
Taylor Wimpey house sales plummet by one-third
Taylor Wimpey, the UK's biggest housebuilder, has reported a catastrophic slide in sales during the first half of the year. Sales of the group's homes fell nearly 31%, to 8,494, during the six month to the end of June. According to a report in The Times, the level of sales equates to half-a-house per week across the developer's sites. At the same ...



House prices down 10.5%

by Gill Montia
House prices down 10.5%
Nationwide is the first lender to publish figures for the UK's housing market in August. The building society has reported a 1.9% drop in prices during the month, taking the annual fall to 10.5%. The average price of a home now stands at £164,654, or £19,000 less than in August 2007. The lender says that the cost of a home has now fallen for 10 ...



August 27, 2008

Slow house sales put Hip searches out of date

by Gill Montia
Slow house sales put Hips searches out of date
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is demanding a review of Home Information Packs (Hips) because the slowdown in the housing market means that some of the packs are out of date before a property is sold. The packs were intended to simplify and speed up the house selling process but the majority of estate agents opposed ...



August 26, 2008

House prices in US continue to fall

by Kay Murchie
House prices in US continue to fall
According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller survey of US national home prices, property prices in the US were down a record 15.4% in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the same quarter in 2007. According to the report, the decline in house prices were nationwide indicating that the housing market downturn is continuing in America. However, even though house prices are still ...



Fraudsters infiltrate housing associations

by Gill Montia
Fraudsters infiltrate housing associations
Accountancy firm, BDO Stoy Hayward, has revealed the extent to which criminals are targeting housing associations in scams that are costing the sector up to £400 million a year. BDO head of fraud services, Simon Bevan, believes that fraudsters are attracted to social landlords because they make easier prey than the banks. Last year the firm was instructed in four investigations relating to housing associations ...



Halifax Estate Agents to close 53 branches

by Gill Montia
Halifax Estate Agents to close 53 branches
HBOS is closing 53 branches of it Halifax estate agency. The banking group, which owns leading UK mortgage lender, Halifax, recently reported a 72% fall in first-half profit and has also been embarrassed by its £4 billion fundraising, which attracted the support of only 8% of shareholders. It is now in the process of reviewing its business, no doubt taking into account ...



August 21, 2008

Persimmon’s sales plummet amid stamp duty confusion

by Gill Montia
Persimmon's sales plummet amid stamp duty confusion
Housing developer, Persimmon, has reported a 30% fall in sales of new homes in the six months to the end of June. The company sold 5,501 new homes during the period, down from 8,002 in the first half of 2007. Blaming the UK's shrinking mortgage market for plummeting sales, Persimmon has also revealed that the average selling price of one of its ...



HMRC admits to error in UK house sales figures

by Gill Montia
HMRC admits to error in UK house sales figures
Monthly residential property statistics published by the Government will not be appearing in August because errors have come to light. Under stamp duty requirements, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is advised of completed UK property transactions where values are £40,000 and above. The latest update on house sales was scheduled to be published on 21st August but according to a ...



August 20, 2008

Estate Agents launch property website

by Gill Montia
Estate Agents launch property website
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is launching a website that will allow its 10,000 members to advertise properties at no charge. The site should be up and running in October and aims to bring solace to a profession that has been hard hit by the credit crisis. It may also provide strong competition for Rightmove, which charges customers up to £495 a ...



August 15, 2008

Simplyzigzag.com expands into US market

by Kay Murchie
Simplyzigzag.com expands into US market
Premium online property group, Simplyzigzag.com, has announced its expansion into the US market. Simplyzigzag, which was launched in June this year, is to expand through two local partnerships in California and Florida - areas which are traditionally investment destinations for Britons seeking property overseas. The group has formed a partnership with a leading independent real estate company, offering coastal properties in Orange County, Los ...



August 14, 2008

Bellway adds more gloom to property market

by Kay Murchie
Bellway adds more gloom to property market
The doom and gloom continues in the housing market today as housebuilder Bellway reported a 45% fall in reservations of its homes in the second half of the financial year, compared with the same period last year. Bellway added that completed sales had dropped by 14% compared with last year as the mortgage squeeze meant that prospective buyers were unable ...



August 12, 2008

Flats contribute to housing slowdown

by Kay Murchie
Flats contribute to housing slowdown
Official figures show that a decline in the prices of flats has become a major factor in the housing market slowdown. Between May and June, a 3.6% fall in the price of flats contributed to the price of the average home falling from £216,625 to £215,029, according to the Department for Local Government and Communities (DCLG). Despite the slowdown in the housing market, ...