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 of over three years.
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 £5.1 billion in February to £6.1 billion in March. Remortgaging fell, from £3.5 billion in February to £3.2 billion in March.
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 £160,372 as at the end of March 2012.
The Monthly change in March in England and Wales was a fall of 0.6%.
The Annual change to March in England and Wales was also a fall of 0.6%.
Source: Land Registry
Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of March 2012 was £163,803, according to the Halifax House Price Index published 4th April 2012. House prices in March were 2.2% higher than in February, but the quarterly figure showed a 0.1% drop. The seasonally adjusted figures show that house prices are 0.6% 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 3rd May 2012 showed that the average cost of a home in the UK was £164,134 during the month of April. After seasonal adjustment, this is a 2% fall from March, and the annual rate is also down, by 0.9%.
Source: Nationwide
Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s March survey (published 16th April 2012) shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 11th March 2012 to 8th April 2012 was £243,737, an increase of 2.9% on the previous month. House asking prices are now 3.4% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove
RICS survey overview
The RICS Housing Market Survey for March says that there is a “firmer tone to price and activity data†and that “the better tone to the activity and confidence data remains largely intactâ€. The East Midlands and South West regions saw the largest falls in house prices in the quarter to March 2012, and only London saw prices rising.
In the month of March, Scotland and the North of England had the lowest level of newly agreed sales, whereas the North Midlands had the highest. The North-West had the highest level of new buyer enquiries in the month, while the North had the lowest. The highest level of new vendor instructions was in the North, and the lowest was in Yorkshire and Humberside.
Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
New Mortgages granted – February figures
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that in February 2012, 36,600 loans were made for house purchase, worth £5.4 billion. This is a little higher than January in number (4%), and in value (2%). However, these figures are 17% and 20% higher (respectively) than last February’s figures.
First-time buyer loans totalled 14,100, valued at £1.7 billion, which is up by 8% in number and 6% in value on last month. However, it is 18% higher in number and 21% in value than last February’s figures.
The number and value of remortgage loans rose slightly in the month – 22,500 loans worth £3.7 billion in February. These figures are 2% lower than last month’s in terms of volume, and 3% lower in value. However, they have increased by 16% in number and 19% by value since last February.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
New Mortgages granted – March estimates
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that March’s estimated figure for gross mortgage lending in the UK is £13.4 billion. This is 30% higher than February (£10.3 billion), and a 17% rise from last year’s £11.4 billion.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
Regional trends in Rightmove Estate Agents Asking House Prices in England and Wales.
Rightmove’s April survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 11th March 2012 to 8th April 2012 increased in all areas of England and Wales. The largest increase in asking prices by Rightmove registered estate agents in the period is in the South West, where the average asking price is up 5.8% to £270,735. Greater London had the largest annual increase – asking prices are now 7.9% higher than a year ago.
The smallest increase is 1.5%, which occurred in Wales. Annually, this region had the largest decrease, where the average asking price is down 1.5% on last year to £164,943.
Source: Rightmove
Regional Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales.
The Land Registry’s March survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per region as follows:
The largest monthly increase was in the North East, which saw an increase over the month of 5.6%, bringing the average house price in the region to £101,676. However, this is 2.8% down over the year.
Greater London continues to show an annual increase in house prices – at an average of £343,522, it is 0.7% higher than last year but this is 1.8% lower than last month.
The largest monthly decrease in price is Wales, where the average price is down 4.1% to £113,036, 5.5% lower than a year ago. This is the largest annual price decrease.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales by County/Unitary authority.
The Land Registry’s March survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per county or unitary authority as follows:
The highest monthly price increase is Anglesey, north-west Wales, where the average price is up by 4.9% to £133,628. This is a small rise of 0.7% over last year.
The next highest monthly increase is in north Lincolnshire, where prices increased by 4.3% to £107,543 this month.
The largest monthly decrease in price is also north-west Wales – Conwy – where prices fell by 4.9% to an average of £125,100. This same area saw an annual fall in prices to (5.4%).
The largest annual drop is in Hartlepool, which saw a fall of 13.8% on last year. The Ceredigion region of Wales had the next largest decrease – 11.8% drop over the year to an average of £152,433.
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 8th April 2012, the average change over all property types is an increase of 3.4%. Flats’ and apartments’ prices have not performed well, at a 0.5% decrease over the year. However, terraced properties showed a 1.3% annual increase, semi-detached property asking prices rose by 1.9% over the year, and detached properties did best with asking prices increasing by 3.1%.
Source: Rightmove
Land Registry’s Average Prices by Property Type
The Land Registry’s March average price figures analysed by property type show that the prices for all types of property have fallen by 0.6% in the year since March 2011. The average price is now £160,372.
Semi-detached properties were the only type to rise – by 0.4% to £153,080. Terraced properties fell by 0.4% over the year, to £122,075 and Flats & Maisonette properties fell by 0.6% to an average of £149,229. Detached properties fell by the largest amount – 2.2% to £251,112.
Source: Land Registry
Outstanding Mortgage Debt
The average outstanding mortgage for the 11.2m households who currently have mortgages is estimated at £111,358 in February 2012.
Total secured lending in the UK on dwellings was £1,249 billion at the end of February 2012. This is up from the previous February’s £1,241 billion.
Source: Credit Action
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.
April’s figures show that the average amount of time that a house is on the market has now dropped to 9.3 weeks (it was 9.7 in March). Regionally, this ranges from less than 6 weeks in London to nearly 13 weeks in the East Midlands and Wales.
On average, 93.1% of the asking price is achieved.
13.7% of postcode districts reported a price increase in April, compared to 14.7% in March, and 12.4% of them had a price decrease over the month, up from 9.2% last month.
Source: Hometrack
Latest Property Sales Volumes by price range
According to the Land Registry, in the year to January 2012, 42,511 sales transactions took place in England and Wales, including 6,253 in London. This represents a rise of 13% and 7% respectively since last January’s figures, (37,584 and 5,819 respectively).
The number of sales of properties in the price bracket between £1.5 and £2 million rose throughout the country – in London from 63 to 77 over the year (a 22% rise) and in England and Wales from 95 to 104 (a 9% rise).
However, in the price bracket £1 to £1.5 million, the number fell, both in London (by 6% from 171 to 161) and the rest of the country (by 6% from 285 to 268).
At the lower end of the scale, sales of properties up to £100k rose from last January, by 43% from 54 to 77 in London, and by 8.8% from 6,356 to 6,917 in the rest of England & Wales.
Source: Land Registry
Land Registry Quarterly Sales Volumes
In the quarter from October 2011 to January 2012 (the latest for which figures are available), the average number of house sales per month was 55,661. This is up on the same quarter a year ago, when the average was 52,363 sales per month.
Source: Land Registry
Next Monthly Market Fact File due in early June.