UK House Prices Fall 0.7% in July – Nationwide

he latest report by Nationwide suggests that house prices in the UK have fallen by 0.7% in July. The year-on-year decline amounted to 2.6%, which is the most significant decrease registered since 2009.

The average house price in July was 164,389 pounds, which compares to 165,738 pounds a month earlier. House prices in the UK are currently 13% below their peak in 2007.

Commenting on the latest figures, Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said: "UK house prices declined for the fourth time in five months in July...The weaker price trend observed in recent quarters is unsurprising, given the disappointing performance of the wider economy. Indeed, the UK economy has contracted by 1.4 per cent over the past nine months, and is now 4.5 percentage points smaller than it was in Q1 2008."

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House prices fall at fastest pace for six months in April - RICS

House prices fell at their fastest pace for six months in April as a temporary boost from a tax holiday and unseasonally warm weather in March faded, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) seasonally adjusted house price balance fell to -19 from a slightly downwardly revised -11 in March, substantially undershooting economists' forecasts for a -10 reading.

London was again the only part of the country where house prices rose, albeit at the slowest rate since mid-2011.

And for the first time since September, home sales declined.

House prices had earlier been supported by an exemption for first-time buyers from a transaction tax on homes worth less than 250,000 pounds which expired in late March, as well as by unusually warm weather which boosted viewings.

Read More - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/08/uk-house-prices-idUKBRE8470B220120508

Property asking prices hit all-time high but soaring London masks misery elsewhere, says Rightmove

House sellers are asking more for their homes than at the peak of the housing market prior to the recession, Rightmove has claimed.

Average asking prices rose 2.9 per cent between March and April to £243,737, according to the Rightmove House Price Index. That is £1,327 more than the last peak in May 2008 when the average was £242,410.

The average is being skewed by London's irrepressible housing market. Since the last peak in 2008, London prices are 14.9 per cent higher, compared with a 4.3 per cent fall in that time for the rest of the country excluding the capital.

The only other region to have registered asking price rises in the period since May 2008 is the South West, where asking prices are 2.3 per cent higher. The South East and East Anglia are almost there, just £810 and £2,489 off their previous peaks.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove comments: 'It has taken four years for new sellers to pitch their asking prices above their previous record. However, this is not a universal signal of a housing market recovery. The richest seams of housing market activity are concentrated around those with access to cash and finance, with a strong bias to the south and London in particular.


Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2130391/UK-house-prices-Asking-prices-hit-time-high-says-Rightmove.html#ixzz1sCeJR9n0

Property transactions at 18-month high as stamp duty holiday ends

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says estate agents expect stronger activity to translate into higher prices.

Property transactions are at their highest level for 18 months as first-time buyers seek to complete home purchases before the stamp duty holiday expires at the end of March.
The latest snapshot of the residential property market from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed estate agents expecting stronger activity to translate into higher prices later this year.
For the first time in almost two years, Rics said its members were no longer expecting house prices to fall and were seeing transaction levels edge up.
Alan Collett, Rics's housing spokesman, said: "With the recent upturn in activity brought on by the end of the stamp duty holiday, it seems that a renewed sense of optimism may be slowly returning to the property market. Chartered surveyors' price predictions were more optimistic in almost every area of the country in February.
"However, with affordable mortgage finance still out of reach for many potential first-time buyers, it remains to be seen whether the more optimistic outlook for future sales can be sustained beyond the expiry of the stamp duty holiday."

Read More - http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/13/rics-property-stamp-duty-holiday-ends?newsfeed=true

House buyers return in record numbers

Buyer interest in the housing market has recorded its strongest growth in five years.

The number of buyers registering with estate agents grew by 18pc in February, the highest figure since a 23pc rise in February 2007, Hometrack said.

But much of this was an "artificial boost", brought about by first-time buyers trying to beat a stamp duty holiday, the study said.

Despite the "seasonal pick-up", house prices remained flat for the second month in a row, with Greater London the only region to record any increase, a 0.1pc rise.

Estate agents and lenders have reported increased interest from first-time buyers as they rush to complete deals before the two-year stamp duty holiday for this sector of the market ends in March.

The greatest increases in first-time buyer numbers were reported in the South East, where they were up by 28pc, and the South West, which recorded a 22pc rise.

Article source - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/9107765/House-buyers-return-in-record-numbers.html

2011 property sales will be lowest in 40 years

This year is set to register the lowest level of property sales in 40 years, according to Hometrack.

In its latest national housing survey, the firm says it forecasts 840,000 sales for 2011 and expects this trend of low transaction levels to continue into 2012.
The analysis shows that house prices fell slightly in November, by 0.2% compared to October, while the number of new buyers registering with estate agents decreased by 2.2%. Hometrack says demand from new buyers is likely to decline further in the run up to Christmas.
There was a 4.6% rise in the number of sales agreed, but the number of property listings fell by 0.8%, and the average time on the market rose slightly from 9.8 weeks to 9.9 weeks.
Hometrack says that low sales levels and increasing realism on pricing among sellers looking to move before Christmas are supporting headline indicators of housing market activity.

http://www.expertconveyancing.com

Read more - http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/housing-market/2011-property-sales-will-be-lowest-in-40-years/1042236.article