Property Market Fact File – February 2012

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 from £5.7 billion in November to £6.3 billion in December. However, remortgaging fell from £3.8 billion in November to £3.2 billion in December.

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 £160,384 as at the end of December 2011.

The Monthly change in December in England and Wales was a fall of £396, which is statistically insignificant and effectively 0% change.

The Annual change to December in England and Wales was a fall of 1.3%.

Source: Land Registry

Halifax House Price Index figures.

The average price of a house by the end of December 2011 was £160,063, according to the Halifax House Price Index. House prices in December were 0.9% lower than in November, but the quarterly figure showed just a 0.1% drop. The seasonally adjusted figures show that house prices are 1.3% 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 1st February 2012 showed that the average cost of a home in the UK was £162,228 during the month of January.  After seasonal adjustment, this is a 0.2% drop from December, but the annual rate is up by 0.6%.

Source: Nationwide

Rightmove House Price Index figures

Rightmove’s January survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 11th December 2011 to 7th January 2012 was £224,060, a decrease of 0.8% (£1,706) on the previous month. However, house asking prices are 1.4% higher than a year ago.

Source: Rightmove

RICS survey overview

The RICS Housing Market Survey for December says that “sales activity ends the year on a relatively better note”, demonstrated by the number of buyer enquiries going up for four months in a row. Prices have continued to fall in every region of the UK except London. Yet again, 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. East Anglia had the highest level of new buyer enquiries and the highest level of new vendor instructions in December.

Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

New Mortgages granted – November figures

The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that in November, 47,000 loans were made for house purchase, worth £6.9 billion. First-time buyer loans totalled 17,300, valued at £2.1 billion.  Both of these are 4% higher than last month in number, and 5% higher in value.  House purchase loans increased by those same amounts from last year, whereas first-time buyer loans were up 3% and 5% respectively on last November.

31,200 remortgage loans were made in the month, worth £4 billion. These figures are 6% higher than last month in terms of volume, and 8% higher in value. This is an increase of 2% in number and 5% by value than last November.

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders

New Mortgages granted – December estimates

The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that December’s estimated figure for gross mortgage lending in the UK is £11.7 billion. This is 12% higher than last December, but a drop of 12% from November.

Lending in the last quarter of 2011 was an estimated £37.3 billion, down from the previous quarter’s £39.2 billion but 11% higher than the last quarter of 2010.

Overall, 2011’s estimated total lending was £140 billion, which is 3% higher than 2010 (£136 billion).

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders

Regional trends in Rightmove Estate Agents Asking House Prices in England and Wales.

Rightmove’s January survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 11th December 2011 to 7th January 2012 increased in only four areas – the North West (by 0.4%), London (by 0.8%), East Anglia (by 1.7%) and Yorkshire & Humberside (by 1.9%). The largest decrease in asking prices by Rightmove registered estate agents in the period is the South West, where the average asking price is down 3.5% to £239,156, which is 1.9% lower than a year ago.

Annually, the largest increase is again in Greater London, where asking prices have risen by 6.1% over the year, to an average of £438,324, followed closely by East Anglia with an annual increase of 6.0%. The West Midlands had the largest annual decrease, where the average asking price is down 7.9% on last year to £174,498.

Source: Rightmove

Regional Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales.

The Land Registry’s December survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per region as follows:

The highest monthly price increase is 1.5% in the North West of England, where the average asking price is now £113,204. However, this is 3.4% lower than a year ago.

The largest monthly decrease in price is the North-east of England, where the average price is down 1.9% to £99,464, which is 7.1% lower than a year ago. This is the largest drop annually.

Greater London continues to be the only region to have an annual increase in house prices – at £345,298, it is 2.8% higher than a year ago.

Source: Land Registry

Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales by County/Unitary authority.

The Land Registry’s December survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per county or unitary authority as follows:

The highest monthly price increase is 1.8% in Slough, Berkshire, where the average asking price is now £171,214. This is 0.2% higher than a year ago. Cheshire West and Chester had a rise of 1.4%, and the third highest monthly increase is also in Berkshire – 1.3% in Wokingham.

The largest monthly decrease in price is in Blaenau Gwent, Wales, where the average price is down 5.3% to £67,105, which is 4.2% lower than a year ago. Another Welsh place, Denbighshire, wasn’t far behind with a drop of 5.1%.

Once again, Poole experienced the largest annual increase in house prices – at £207,925, it is 4.3% higher than a year ago. Greater London and Windsor & Maidenhead in Berkshire both saw rises of 2.8%.

The largest annual decrease is still in Hartlepool, which has seen house prices fall by 17.5% over the year to £77,188.

Other poor performers over the year were Merthyr Tydfil with a 10.0% drop, and Middlesbrough and Carmarthenshire, both with a 9.9% drop.

Source: Land Registry

Rightmove’s Asking Prices by Property Type

Rightmove have published figures showing National Asking Prices analysed by property type.

In the year to 7th January 2012, the average change over all property types is an increase of 0.4%. Flats’ and apartments’ prices are still performing well, at a 3.3% increase over the year. At the other end of the scale, semi-detached property asking prices fell by 0.7% over the year. Detached properties’ asking prices increased by 1.0%, and terraced properties’ rose by just 0.4%.

Source: Rightmove

Land Registry’s Average Prices by Property Type

The Land Registry’s December average price figures analysed by property type show that the prices for all types of property have fallen by 1.3% in the year since December 2010. The average price is now £160,384.

Both Terraced and Detached properties fell by 1.7% over the year, to £121,406 and £252,118 respectively. Semi-detached properties did better than the other types, falling by only 0.8% to an average of £153,032. Flats & Maisonette properties fell by 1.6% to £149,026.

Source: Land Registry

Outstanding Mortgage Debt

The average outstanding mortgage for the 11.2m households who currently have mortgages was £110,608 at the end of November.

Total secured lending in the UK on dwellings was £1,244bn at the end of November 2011.

Source: Credit Action

Next Monthly Market Fact File due in early March.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *