Bank Lending Rate
It has been confirmed that the Bank of England Monetary Committee have decided that the Bank Base Rate is to remain at 0.5% for a further month. It has been at this very low level for a record period, i.e. since 5th March, 2009.
Source: Bank of England
Mortgage Lending by the Major UK Lenders
According to initial data from the major UK lenders, (which comprises Banco Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Royal Bank of Scotland), total mortgage approvals for house purchase rose slightly, from £5.6 billion in October to £5.7 billion in November. Remortgaging also rose, from £3.7 billion in October to £3.8 billion in November.
Source: Bank of England
Land Registry’s Property Prices in England and Wales
The Average Price of a property in England and Wales is now £160,780 as at the end of November 2011.
The Monthly change in November in England and Wales was a rise of 0.3%.
The Annual change to November in England and Wales was a fall of 1.9%.
Source: Land Registry
Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of November 2011 was £161,731, according to the Halifax House Price Index. House prices in November were 0.9% lower than in October, and the quarterly figure showed a 0.6% drop. The seasonally adjusted figures show that house prices are 1.0% lower than at this time last year, measured by the average for the latest quarter against the same period a year earlier.
Source: Halifax
Nationwide House Price Index figures
Nationwide House Price Index figures published on 30th December showed that the average cost of a home in the UK was £163,822 during the month of December. After seasonal adjustment, this is a 0.2% drop from November, but the annual rate is up by 1.0%.
Source: Nationwide
Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s December survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 13th November to 10th December 2011 was £225,766, a decrease of 2.7% (£6,376) on the previous month. However, house asking prices are 1.5% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove
RICS survey overview
The RICS Housing Market Survey for November comments on a “modest pickup in sales activityâ€, demonstrated by the number of buyer enquiries going up for three months in a row. Prices have continued to fall in every region of the UK except London. Yorkshire & Humberside and the West Midlands saw the largest falls in house prices in the month, and the East Midlands had the lowest level of new buyer enquiries. The North of England had the highest level of newly agreed sales and the highest level of new buyer enquiries.
Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
New Mortgages granted – October figures
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that in October, 44,500 loans were made for house purchase, worth £6.5 billion. This is 8% lower than last month, both in terms of value and volume, and down 4% and 5% respectively on last October. First-time buyer loans totalled 16,400 (valued at £2 billion) and 28,900 remortgage loans were made, worth £3.6 billion. These figures are much lower than last month, but only 1% lower in volume than last October (no change by value).
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
New Mortgages granted – November estimates
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that November’s estimated figures for gross mortgage lending in the UK is £13.0 billion. This is 5% higher than October’s figure, and a rise of 13% since last November.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
Regional trends in Rightmove Estate Agents Asking House Prices in England and Wales.
Rightmove’s December survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 13th November to 10th December 2011 increased in only two areas – the South West (by 0.4%) and the North (by 0.9%). The largest decrease in asking prices by Rightmove registered estate agents in the period is the South East, where the average asking price is down 6.2% to £289,014, which is still 1.4% higher than a year ago.
Annually, the largest increase is again in Greater London, where asking prices have risen by 6.4% over the year, to an average of £434,871. Yorkshire & Humberside region had the largest decrease, where the average asking price is down 3.6% on last year to £144,767.
Source: Rightmove
Regional Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales.
The Land Registry’s November survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per region as follows:
The highest monthly price increase is 1.4% in the North West of England, where the average asking price is now £112,374. However, this is 4.8% lower than a year ago.
The largest monthly decrease in price is the East of England, where the average price is down 0.6% to £171,619, which is 2.3% lower than a year ago.
Greater London continues to be the only region to have an annual increase in house prices – at £342,749, it is 1.4% higher than a year ago.
Once again, the largest annual fall in price is the North East of England, which is down by 5.4% to £101,954.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales by County/Unitary authority.
The Land Registry’s November survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per county or unitary authority as follows:
The highest monthly price increase is 3.3% in Neath Port Talbot, South Wales, where the average asking price is now £85,992. However, this is 5.6% lower than a year ago.
The largest monthly decrease in price is also in South Wales – Methyr Tidfil - where the average price is down 5.9% to £66,699, which is 8.6% lower than a year ago
Poole experienced the largest annual increase in house prices – at £209,337, it is 3.1% higher than a year ago. The largest annual decrease is in Hartlepool, which has seen house prices fall by 19.8% over the year to £76,663.
The next poorest performer over the year was the City of Kingston Upon Hull (10.7% drop).
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Nationwide’s UK House Prices Index report for Q4 2011.
In Quarter 4 of 2011, the average UK house price has been calculated as £164,785 by the Nationwide. This is 0.3% higher than Q3, and gives an annual figure of 1.1% increase. The most expensive region in the UK to buy a property is, not surprisingly, London, and the least expensive region is Northern Ireland.
4 out of the 13 regions in the UK reported a decrease in house prices in 2011. These are Scotland, the North of England, the Northwest of England, and Northern Ireland.
House prices in Northern Ireland are now 8.9% down on last year, and 2.6% down on last quarter, standing at an average of £113,614.
On the other hand, London had an increase in house prices of 2.6% on last quarter, and a 5.4% increase on last year.
Scotland saw no change this quarter, and a decrease of 0.8% annually. Wales’ quarterly change was a drop of 0.9%, but an annual increase of 1.5%.
In terms of affordability (the house price to earnings ratio), the average across the UK is 5.2, whereas in London it is 7.4, and 4.1 in Northern Ireland.
Looking at towns and cities within England, Bradford performed best, even better than London, with a house price increase of 10% in 2011.
The worst performance was Carlisle, where prices dropped by 8% in the year.
Source: Nationwide
Rightmove’s Asking Prices by Property Type
Rightmove have published figures showing National Asking Prices analysed by property type.
In the year to 10th December 2011, the average change over all property types is an increase of 1.5%. Flats’ and apartments’ prices are still performing well, at a 3.6% increase over the year. At the other end of the scale, semi-detached properties increased by only 0.2% over the year. Detached properties’ asking prices increased by 2.9%, but terraced properties’ rose by just 0.9%.
Source: Rightmove
Land Registry’s Average Prices by Property Type
The Land Registry’s November average price figures analysed by property type show that the prices for all types of property have fallen by an average of 1.9% in the year since November 2010. The average price is now £160,780.
Terraced properties have once again fared worst, falling by 3.0% to £121,065. Semi-detached properties did better than the other types, falling by 1.3% to an average of £153,265. Flats & Maisonette properties fell by 1.7% to £149,661, and Detached properties were down by 1.5% to £254,770.
Source: Land Registry
Hometrack Monthly House Price Survey
Hometrack compile sample data monthly from thousands of Estate Agents in all 2,300 postcodes in England and Wales. The figures are weighted according to postcode, but not seasonally adjusted.
December’s figures show that the average amount of time that a house is on the market is still creeping up, and is now 10.1 weeks. Regionally, this ranges from 6.5 weeks in London to 13 weeks in the East Midlands. On average, 92.3% of the asking price is achieved.
Only 2.0% of postcode districts reported a price increase in December, and 33% of postcode districts had a price decrease over the month.
This month, as in November, there were fewer new buyers registering with estate agents, fewer sales agreed, and fewer homes listed with agents.
Hometrack predict that house prices will fall by 3% in 2012, whilst rental values will rise by 2%.
Source: Hometrack.co.uk
Outstanding Mortgage Debt
Average outstanding mortgage for the 11.2m households who currently have mortgages now stands at £110,587.
Total secured lending in the UK on dwellings stands at £1,243bn at the end of October 2011.
Source: Credit Action
Home Builders Federation figures
Home Builders Federation’s latest Housing Pipeline Report states that the number of new home planning permissions granted in England in the third quarter of 2011 was 32,928 residential units. This is 13% up on the previous quarter, but 10% down on last year.
The quarterly average number of approvals in 2011 is currently 33,280, compared to 38,528 last year, and 65,900 five years ago.
Source: House-builder.co.uk
Published 4th January 2012.
Next Monthly Market Fact File due in early February.