Average price of property drops by 2.6% year on year in June as mortgage rates climb
UK house prices experienced their biggest annual fall in 12 years, according to Halifax, the latest sign that soaring interest rates on mortgages is bringing a halt to the housing boom.
The average price of a UK home tumbled 2.6% year on year last month, the largest annual decrease the lender has reported since June 2011, a significant acceleration from the 1.1% decline record in May.
Continue reading...But property website warns that rebound in activity could be hit by rising mortgage rates
More prospective house sellers are returning to the UK’s property market, pushing agreed home sales to their highest point of the year in May, according to Zoopla, although it warned that the rebound in activity could be knocked by rising mortgage rates.
House prices have fallen by 1.3% nationally over the past six months, the property website found, but the speed of price falls has been decreasing as buyer confidence slowly improves.
Continue reading...Labour leader accuses Conservative government of killing the dream of home ownership
House prices need to fall in relation to people’s incomes, Keir Starmer has said, in a sign the Labour leader is willing to take on the objections of existing homeowners to get more people onto the property ladder.
Starmer told the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference on Wednesday that he believed prices should come down to make homes more affordable as he accused the Conservatives of killing the dream of home ownership.
Continue reading...A large majority of those returning to the roost – or who never left it – are men, census data reveals
It is enough to make parents wonder: whatever happened to the bachelor pad?
At least 620,000 more grown-up children are now living with their parents than a decade ago – and most of those doing so are young men, census figures reveal.
Continue reading...Nationwide expert hails ‘tentative signs of a recovery’ as buyers’ confidence improves
UK house prices rose by 0.5% in April after seven months of declines, according to Nationwide building society.
The modest increase took the average price of a home to £260,441 last month, from £257,122 in March. Compared with April last year, prices were down 2.7%, after a 3.1% annual decline in March.
Continue reading...Average of £224,963 for homes with one or two bedrooms is 2% higher than a year ago, says Rightmove
Those people hoping to get on to the UK housing ladder are facing record asking prices, as calm returns to the sector after last autumn’s mini-budget spooked the markets.
Rightmove, the property portal, reports that the average asking price of properties popular with first-time buyers – those with one or two bedrooms – has hit a record price of £224,963 in the last month. That is 2% higher than a year ago, even though higher mortgage rates have made homes less affordable.
Continue reading...Rics monthly poll shows new buyer inquiries in UK are flat as volume of agreed sales falls further
UK house prices are expected to continue to fall despite surveyors’ expectations that the housing market will stabilise over the next 12 months, a study has shown.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (Rics) monthly survey, which measures the proportion of surveyors reporting new buyer inquiries against those saying they fell, found the net balance was -29% in March, almost flat on the -30% recorded in February.
Continue reading...Average monthly cost of owning 3-bed home is £500 a year less than renting, but the gap is narrowing
Homeowners in the UK are nearly £500 better off a year than renters, according to new research from Halifax.
The average monthly cost of owning a three-bed home for first-time buyers is now £971, which is £42 lower than the average cost of renting an equivalent property, the mortgage lender said. Renters pay on average £1,013 each month – 4% more.
Continue reading...Rics data for February shows improvement in new buyer inquiries and sales
The UK housing market remains in decline but there are some signs of stabilisation, with an improvement in new buyer inquiries and sales last month, according to surveyors.
Many told the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) that a return of optimism, and lower than expected interest rates, had given the housing market some hope for the coming months after a sluggish start to the year.
Continue reading...Further slowdown likely amid interest rate rise and cost of living crisis, says surveyors’ body Rics
Property sales and house prices continued to decline across the UK in January, while new buyer demand and fresh listings were also down, surveyors have reported.
A net balance of -47% for new buyer inquiries was reported, down from -40% in December, according to the latest monthly snapshot from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). The January return marked the ninth successive negative monthly reading for new buyer inquiries.
Continue reading...Figure of £281,272 comes as property values drop by 1.5% in December, after 2.4% decline in November
The average UK house price fell for the fourth month in a row in December, according to Halifax, with experts expecting a further slowdown amid a long recession.
Property values decreased by 1.5% in December, the lender’s monthly index revealed, after a 2.4% drop in November, a 0.4% decrease in October and a 0.1% dip in September.
Continue reading...Annual growth rate cools in December and average price of property drops to £262,068, says Nationwide
Property prices in the UK fell for the fourth month in a row in December, the longest run of declines since 2008, according to Nationwide.
Annual house price growth also slowed sharply as the year drew to a close, to the lowest rate since mid-2020, with all regions of the country affected, according to the building society’s monthly survey.
Continue reading...PwC predicts increase in divorces, slide in house prices and drop in happiness index
British wages next year will fall back to 2006 levels, while 2023 will also bring a slide in house prices and an increase in divorces, according to a forecast that finds the UK is on course to be a less happy place to live.
The consultancy firm PwC said a look ahead to 2023 showed there were few positive indicators, with most measures of the UK’s economic and social performance going into reverse.
Continue reading...Nationwide warns inflation and rising interest rates will weigh down housing market
UK house prices have fallen at their fastest rate for two and a half years as the fallout from Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget put buyers off according to Nationwide, which warned inflation and rising interest rates would weigh on the market in the coming months.
The price of an average home dropped 1.4% to £263,788 in November, according to the lender’s house price index, accelerating a slowdown that saw prices fall 0.9% in October. It was the third monthly fall in a row, and the biggest drop since June 2020.
Continue reading...Hike in mortgage costs after mini-budget cuts 20% off buyer demand in October
First-time buyers pulled back most from purchasing a home after the increase in mortgage costs following the mini-budget, according to a report showing a widespread slowdown in the property market.
Figures from the property platform Rightmove show buyer demand fell 20% in October compared with a year ago, as house-hunters put their property searches on hold in response to soaring borrowing costs and rising economic uncertainty.
Continue reading...Halifax reports steepest monthly drop since February 2021 amid interest rate rises
UK house prices fell by 0.4% in October after Liz Truss’s mini-budget drove a sudden rise in mortgage rates, the lender Halifax said.
The decline in the average price to £292,598 was the third in the past four months and the steepest since February 2021. The annual rate of growth in house prices slowed to 8.3% in October from 9.8% in September.
Continue reading...Increase adds up to a £26bn rise for homeowners, says Resolution Foundation thinktank
More than five million families could see their annual mortgage payments rise by an average of £5,100 between now and the end of 2024, heaping fresh pain on households already struggling with higher food and energy bills.
The increase adds up to a £26bn mortgage rise for homeowners, according to the analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank which said nearly a fifth of British households would have to spend more on their housing costs by the end of 2024.
Continue reading...RICS report says rise in repossessions will add to supply while soaring interest rates price buyers out of market
Homeowners will struggle to make mortgage repayments and repossessions will rise next year as soaring interest rates and falling prices mark the end of the UK’s 13-year housing market boom, according to a sobering report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The number of inquiries from potential homebuyers fell for a fifth month in a row in September, while sales fell to the lowest level since May 2020 when the housing market all but ground to a halt during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, it said.
Continue reading...Cautious welcome for idea to tackle housing crisis but experts warn of risks to those inheriting
Downing Street is exploring the idea of trying to tackle the housing crisis with ultra-long mortgages of up to 50 years that could pass between generations, allowing more people to build up equity rather than pay rent.
Mortgage experts said the idea could bring some benefits but flagged problems, including the potential to saddle children with debt, and the fact it would not tackle the fundamental issue of housing supply.
Continue reading...Weakening economy, cost-of-living squeeze and rising interest rates are cooling market, index shows
Annual house price gains across the UK have slowed for a third month as the weakening economy, cost of living squeeze and rising interest rates started to have an impact on the property market.
The average UK house price hit a new record high of £271,613, but there are “tentative signs of a slowdown,” Nationwide building society said.
Continue reading...