The Land Registry has become the latest contributor to depressing statistics on the UK housing market. The body, which reports one month behind other house price commentators, calculates that in January house prices in England and Wales were 15.1% lower than a year earlier. The average value of a home fell 0.8% on December, marking [...]
Nationwide has reported a 1.8% fall in UK house prices, in February. The lender’s monthly index puts the average cost of home at £147,746, or 17.6% less than a year ago (£179,358). The building society’s chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, suggests that a combination of falling prices and interest rates could mean that when confidence returns [...]
The desperate need for increased mortgage lending has been highlighted by a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), which is predicting that UK house prices could fall by a further 25% in 2009. Taking into account last year’s 16% decline, the forecast gives a peak-to-trough fall of 40%. The independent consultancy [...]
Nationwide’s latest house price survey offers little cheer to homeowners. According to the building society, house prices continued to fall in January, dropping 1.3% on a month earlier and shaving £2,500 off the value of the average home. The decline was slightly less than December’s, when Nationwide recorded a slide of 2.5%. The annual rate [...]
Housing intelligence firm, Hometrack, has reported a 1% fall in UK property prices during January. The sixteenth consecutive month of decline takes the annual drop to 9.4%. The company expects values to fall a further 10% during 2009, with the decline continuing in 2010 but slowing to 3% over the year. According to the survey, [...]
The Chesterton House Price Poll of Polls, which is conducted in conjunction with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), shows that in December, house prices in England and Wales averaged a year-on-year decline of 12.8%. Prices fell in all regions of the UK save Scotland where marginal growth was recorded. The fall is [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has published the results of its December survey, showing a continued fall in the number of homes sold, despite a rise in buyer inquiries. In the final quarter of 2008 Rics members sold an average 10.1 properties per estate agency, compared with 10.6 during the previous three months [...]
The latest house price figures from the Nationwide show the average cost of a UK home falling by an annual 15.9%, in December. During the month values took another 2.5% dip, taking the average cost of a property down to £153,048, or £29,000 less than a year earlier. According to the building society’s index, prices [...]
The Halifax house price index shows the average cost of a UK home sliding a further 2.2% in December. The annual decline now stands at 16.2% taking the average price of a property down to £159,896, compared with £197,074 at the beginning of 2008. The analysis is based on three-month figures but a month-on-month comparison [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) is predicting that UK house prices will fall by around 10% during 2009, although the reduction could be greater if the number of people out of work reaches three million. Such a decline would result in a drop of at least 25% from the peak of the market [...]
Hometrack is predicting that UK house prices will fall by a further 10% during 2009, with the decline continuing in 2010 but slowing to three per cent over the year. The property intelligence website estimates that the average cost of a home has fallen by a modest 9% this year, compared with Nationwide at minus [...]
While Nationwide and Halifax are apparently too coy to give any house price forecasts for 2009, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has stunned the market by predicting that prices will not recover to their 2007 peak for at least a decade. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the fund manager’s economist, Tim Drayson, says he [...]
Such is the state of the UK housing market and economy that Halifax and Nationwide are opting out of making house price forecasts for 2009, although Halifax blames its merger with Lloyds TSB for its abstinence. Both lenders will continue to publish their monthly indices, which in the case of Halifax showed a 14.9% annual [...]
House prices continued to plummet in November, although the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) sees a flicker of hope amidst the gloomy statistics. The average price of a detached property fell from £291,592 in October to £287,922 by the end of November. Semi-detached properties dropped from £199,905 to £192,042, whilst flats fell from £118,334 [...]
Official figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) show that in October, the average cost of a UK home had fallen 7.4% from a year earlier. The monthly fall stood at 2.5% taking the average cost of a property to £203,539; London remained the UK’s most expensive city with an average house [...]
The chief executive of Nationwide Building Society, Graham Beale, is predicting that house prices will continue to fall during 2008/09 and possibly into 2010. Mr Beale is expecting a peak to trough decline of 25%, after which improved affordability ratios will encourage first-time buyers back into the market. The comments came as the UK’s largest [...]
The FT House Price Index for August shows a 1.3% fall in the average price of a home in England and Wales. The decline has now entered its sixth successive month, with Wales seeing the sharpest average fall in August, at 3.8%. While the downturn was the most marked since October 1992, the research (which [...]
Housing minister, Caroline Flint, has unwittingly publicised the Government’s fears for the UK housing market by allowing onlookers sight of a confidential cabinet document. The paper was being carried by Ms Flint in such a way that it could be photographed and the text revealed. The document suggests that the Government is expecting house prices [...]
The latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) shows a marked increase in the number of number estate agents reporting a fall, rather than a rise, in house prices. In April, 95.1% more surveyors saw house prices fall than rise. This compares with 79.4% reporting a fall in March and represents the [...]
A recent survey conducted for the BBC’s “Truth About Property” programme has found that more Britons want house prices to fall than to rise. The survey was undertaken by ICM and involved 1,005 respondents. Its findings challenge the widely held assumption that house price falls are overwhelmingly unpopular. Of those questioned, 28% were happy to [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
