News Tag: housing market
March 18, 2010
According to The Times, the Land Registry is to axe a further 800 jobs, on top of the 1,500 job losses it announced last October.
The Registry, which has 20 offices across the country and covers England and Wales and records and guarantees the ownership of domestic and commercial property, said staff would fall further to 4,200 in ...
Hundreds more jobs set to go at the Land Registry
by Kay Murchie
March 15, 2010
Property website, Rightmove, has today reported the annual growth in asking prices for residential property in England and Wales for the four weeks to March 6 slowed for the first time in a year.
On an annual basis, growth slowed from 6.1% in February to 5.3% in March, while on a monthly basis, asking prices rose just 0.1% between the four ...
Asking prices up just 0.1% in March
by Kay Murchie
March 4, 2010
The latest publication of the US Federal Reserve’s influential Beige Book reported that the world’s largest economy has continued to grow this year but at a "modest" pace.
The Beige Book, which is compiled eight times a year, is based on reports and comments from businesses throughout the US.
It said despite a pick up in consumer spending, severe snowfall in ...
US Fed’s influential Beige Book sees modest growth
by Kay Murchie
February 26, 2010
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 ...
House prices dip 1% in February
by Gill Montia
February 25, 2010
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 ...
BoE policy maker cast doubt on house price recovery
by Gill Montia
January 29, 2010
The world’s largest economy is to report its economic growth figures today for the final three months of 2009.
Economists are forecasting growth of around 4.6% in the fourth quarter on an annualised basis, up from 2.2% in the previous quarter.
The US economy emerged from recession in the third quarter after enduring the longest and deepest downturn since the Great ...
US to report Q4 GDP figures today
by Kay Murchie
January 28, 2010
The Federal Reserve yesterday opted to keep US interest rates at the historically low level of between 0% and 0.25%, as widely expected.
Interest rates have been at the record low since December 2008. However, yesterday’s decision to hold the rate was not unanimous.
One committee member, Thomas Hoenig, said economic conditions had changed so a change could be made in ...
Fed leaves interest rates unchanged
by Kay Murchie
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 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
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
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
December 28, 2009
Hometack expects the housing market in England and Wales to feel the effects of rising unemployment in the months ahead.
The housing intelligence firm is predicting a 1% fall in the average cost of a home in 2010, despite a rise of 0.1% in December, which followed on from a 0.2% increase in November.
However, December also saw the number of potential ...
Rising unemployment to scupper house price growth
by Gill Montia
December 23, 2009
There were concerns over a recovery in the US housing market today after the Commerce Department revealed a fall in sales of new homes for the month of November.
According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales dived by 11.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 355,000 units, down from a revised 400,000 in the previous month and represented ...
US new home sales fall in November
by Kay Murchie
December 2, 2009
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said its Pending Home Sales Index rose to 114.1 in October - its ninth consecutive monthly rise.
The index is up 31.8% from this time last year - the biggest year-on-year gain since the series began in 2001.
However, many analysts believe that the US housing market is being propped up by the ...
US Pending Home Sales Index rises for ninth consecutive month
by Kay Murchie
December 1, 2009
Nationwide has published the first of the November 2009 house price surveys, claiming that the average cost of a UK home rose 0.5% during the month, to £162,764.
The seventh consecutive monthly increase follows an identical rise in October and takes annual house price inflation to 2.7%.
The building society remarks that the UK labour market has so far held up better than expected and ...
House prices up 0.5%
by Gill Montia
November 20, 2009
Britain’s largest building society, Nationwide, posted a slump in first half profits and provided a gloomy assessment of the housing market as it unveiled its results.
Nationwide said pre-tax profits for the six months to September 30 were £143 million, a fall of 62% compared with the £374 million posted a year earlier.
The company attributed the fall to the low ...
Nationwide posts 62% fall in H1 profits
by Kay Murchie
November 18, 2009
Wolseley, which is the world’s largest supplier of plumbing and heating equipment, today reported a 45% fall in underlying profits in the three months to the end of October.
The company has been badly hit by the housing market downturn and warned that its struggles continue after revenue slumped 13% to £3.4 billion in the three month period.
The plumbers’ merchant ...
Wolseley continues to struggle as profits slump
by Kay Murchie
November 10, 2009
In its latest survey of the housing market, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) concludes that UK house prices will continue to rise in the near term.
The balance of surveyors reporting rises rather than falls in house prices stood at a positive 34% in October 2009, up from 20% a month earlier and with the ratio at its ...
RICS: House prices will continue to rise
by Gill Montia
November 4, 2009
Taylor Wimpey has described UK housing market conditions as "significantly better" than a year ago.
In a trading update covering 1st July to 4th November, the group said a gradual improvement in mortgage availability and a recent increase in housing starts was contributing to positive sentiment.
The firm has not experience the usual seasonal slowdown over the summer months and sales rates have ...
Taylor Wimpey reports “solid” autumn sales
by Gill Montia
November 2, 2009
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said its Pending Home Sales Index rose to 110.1 in September - its eight consecutive monthly rise.
The index now stands at the highest level since December 2006 when it was 112.8.
The index is 21.2% higher than September last year when it was at the 90.9 mark and the annual gain is ...
US pending home sales index rises to 3-year high
by Kay Murchie
