Property Market Fact File – January 2013

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 since 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 in November remained at October’s level of £6.0 billion. Remortgaging fell from October’s £3.1 billion to £2.9 billion in November.
Source: Bank of England

ONS House Price Index figures.
Figures for the year to October 2012, published by the Office for National Statistics on 18th December 2012, show that house prices increased by 1.5%, to an average of £231k.
The average house price in England in October 2012 was £239k, £159k in Wales, £124k in Northern Ireland and £176k in Scotland. Yet again, London, the South East and the East of England were the only regions whose house prices were higher than the UK average.
Over the year, England’s rise was 1.8% and Wales’ was 2.8%. Scotland’s fell by 2.2% and Northern Ireland’s figure fell by 11.7% over the year.
Splitting England into regions, London’s prices rose over the year by 3.4%, followed closely by the Yorkshire & The Humber area which rose by 3.1%. However, prices in the West Midlands fell by 0.8%.
The average price paid for a new-build dwelling was £208k, which is 0.7% lower than last  year. The average price paid for pre-owned buildings was £232k, which is 1.5% higher than the previous year.
Source: ONS

Land Registry’s Property Prices in England and Wales
The Average price of a property in England and Wales is now £161,490 as at the end of November 2012, according to the report published on 2nd January 2013.
The Monthly change in November in England and Wales was a 0.3% rise.
The Annual change to November in England and Wales was a rise of 0.9%.
Source: Land Registry

Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of November 2012 was £160,879, according to the Halifax House Price Index published 6th December 2012. House prices in November were 1.0% higher than in October, but the quarterly figure was down by 0.7%. 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 3rd January 2013 showed that the average cost of a home in the UK was £162,262 during the month of December. After seasonal adjustment, this is a drop of only 0.1% from November, but the annual rate is down by 1.0%.
Source: Nationwide

Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s December survey (published 17th December 2012) shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 11th November to 8th December 2012was £228,989, a decrease of 3.3% on the previous month. However, house asking prices are still 1.4% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove

Acadametrics House Price Index figures
LSL Property Services/Acadametrics’  November figures, published 14th December, show that the average house price in England and Wales was £226,918 in November. This is a rise of 0.2% from October, but a 3.3% rise since last November.
Source: Acadametrics Ltd

RICS survey overview
The RICS Housing Market Survey for November 2012 (published 11th December 2012) says that the “new buyer enquiries rose for the third successive month”.
Once again, Wales saw the largest fall in house prices in the month. Only London saw prices rising.
In the month of November, Wales had the highest level of agreed sales, whereas East Anglia had the lowest.
The North had the highest level of new buyer enquiries in the month, while both East Anglia and the East Midlands fell.
The highest level of new vendor instructions was in Scotland, and the lowest was in East Anglia. The South West was the only other region to see a fall in new vendor instructions in the period..
Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

New Mortgages granted – October Actual Figures
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that 49,500 loans were made in October for house purchase, worth £7.3 billion. This is higher than September both in number (13.8%), and in value (10.6%). These figures are up 10.2% and 10.6% (respectively) than last October’s figures.
Of these, first-time buyer loans totalled 20,000, valued at £2.5 billion, which is up 14.3% in number and up by 13.6% in value on last month. This is 19% lower in number and in value, compared to last October’s figures.
Home movers’ loans totalled £4.8 billion, and numbered 29,400. These figures are 9.1% higher than September’s in terms of value, and 13.1% higher in number.  These figures are up 4.6% and 4.3% (respectively) on last October’s.
The number and value of remortgage loans also rose in the month – 26,900 loans worth £3.5 billion in October. These figures are 11.6% higher than last month’s in terms of volume, and 9.4% higher in value. However, they have decreased by 13.8% in number and 10.3% by value since last October.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders

New Mortgages granted – November Estimates
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that November’s estimated figure for gross mortgage lending in the UK was £12.9 billion. This is a rise of 1% on October’s £12.78 billion, and a drop of 3% from last November’s £13.25 billion.
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 11th November to 8th December 2012 decreased in nine of the ten identified areas of England and Wales – the exception was the East Midlands.
The only monthly increase was in the East Midlands region where asking prices rose by 0.8% over the month from £157,249 to £158,480. The annual increase there was 4.4%, joint second largest (with East Anglia) of the regional rises.
The South West’s monthly drop was the largest at 5.3%. Average prices there fell from £254,021 in November to £240,438 in December. The annual change there was a 3.0% drop. The second largest fall over the month was of 4.9% in theWest Midlands, from £183,010 to £174,098.
The largest annual increase was in Greater London, up 6.8% from £434,871 last December  to £464,398 in December this year. The monthly change there was a drop of 4.0%.
The largest annual decrease was in the North, down 3.1% from £141,555 in December 2011 to £137,108 in December this year. The monthly change there was a drop of 3.6%.
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 largest monthly increase was in the North East, which saw an increase over the month of 2.4%, bringing the average house price in the region to £98,304. However, this is 2.9% lower than this time last year – the largest annual regional drop.
The largest monthly decrease in price is Wales, where the average price fell 1.6% to £115,202, which is 0.9% lower than a year ago.
The highest annual increase was once again in London, which saw a 5.9% increase -London prices are 0.5% higher over the month.
Source: Land Registry

Analysis of Acadametrics HPI data by region
The November figures show 5 regions had an increase in house prices in the year to the end November 2012 – by far the largest was Greater London (8.4% to £430,646),
whereas Wales saw a fall of 2.9% (to £150,919).
Source: Acadametrics

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:
Only 3 counties and authorities saw no price movement in the month.
The greatest monthly price increase is in Blaenau Gwent, where the average price is up by 6.6% to £67,581. However, this is 4.9% down on last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price is Torfaen, where prices fell by 3.2% to an average of £98,449. This is 5.6% lower than last year.
The largest annual drop was in North East Lincolnshire, which saw a fall of 9.3% on last year, to £77,285 – there was a monthly drop of 0.9% here. Merthyr Tydfil saw the greatest annual increase – up 17.4%  to £72,153. The monthly change was a decrease of 0.7%.
Source: Land Registry

Analysis of Acadametrics HPI data by County/Unitary Authority
The area with the largest increase in house prices between October 2011 and October 2012 was Bath & North East Somerset, where the average house price rose by 12.2% to £305,869. Next was Reading, Berkshire which saw a rise of 7.9% to £235,138 in the same period.
The greatest decreases were Blaenau Gwent’s 10.4% drop (to £76,109), and Darlington’s drop of 8.5% (to £123,225).
Only Devon and West Yorkshire had statistically insignificant changes in average house prices over the year – average prices rose by £20 to £232,559 and £54 to £148,504 respectively since last October.
Source: Acadametrics

Rightmove’s analysis of asking prices by London Borough.
In the period from 11th November to 8th December 2012, the largest increase in asking prices was in Haringey, where they rose by 0.8%  to an average of £542,244. Richmond-on-Thames was the only other borough to see a rise this month – up 0.2% to £689,330.
In Tower Hamlets, asking prices fell by 6.5% in the month. The average house price there is now £424,948.
Annually, Camden saw the highest annual rise (16.6%) to an average of £963,421.
Newham saw the largest annual decrease, where average asking prices have fallen by 6.1% to £227,791 over the year. Only four other boroughs have experienced an annual drop – Barking & Dagenham (5.3%), Waltham Forest (3.4%), Havering (3.3%) and Redbridge (2.0%).
Source: Rightmove

Acadametrics data analysed by London Borough
Comparing October 2011 to October 2012, the City of Westminster had the greatest increase in house prices: up 29.4% to an average of £1,132,229. Kensington & Chelsea is still the most expensive borough at an average of £1,497,446.
Only three boroughs saw a decrease over the period – Havering by 1.8% to £240,153, Barnet by 3.0% to £433,350 and Richmond Upon Thames by 3.5% to £554,271. Barking & Dagenham remains the cheapest borough in terms of house prices at an average of £177,126.
Source: Acadametrics

Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in Greater London.
The Land Registry’s November survey shows the average prices of property per London Borough as follows:
Only Barnet and Hillingdon saw no price movement in the month.
The greatest monthly price increase is Brent, where the average price is up by 1.3% to £337,803. This is 5.7% higher than last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price is Kensington & Chelsea, where prices fell by 2.2% to an average of £1,063,596. However, this is 12.1% higher than last year.
The largest annual drop was in Redbridge, which saw a fall of only 0.1% on last year, to £294,103 – there was a monthly rise of 0.1% here. The City of Westminster saw the greatest annual increase – up 13.9% to £775,596. The monthly change here was a decrease of 0.8%.
Source: Land Registry

Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices by Metropolitan District.
The Land Registry’s November survey shows the average prices of property by Metropolitan District as follows:
Only St Helens and Wakefield saw no price movement in the month.
The greatest monthly price increase is North Tyneside, where the average price is up by 2.2% to £119,007. This is the same as last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price is in Calderdale, where prices fell by 2.1% to an average of £92,640. This is 5.0% lower than last year.
The largest annual drop was in Sunderland, which saw a fall of 9.3% on last year, to £84,105 – there was a monthly fall of 1.8% here. Salford saw the greatest annual increase – up 7.0% to £92,834. The monthly change here was an increase of 1.6%.
Source: Land Registry

Rightmove’s Asking Prices by Property Type
In the year to 8th December 2012, the average change over all property types was an increase of 1.4%. All types of property (which Rightmove classify) are up on last year. Flats’ and Apartments’ prices increased by 3.7%, while Terraced properties’ asking prices showed a 1.3% increase.
Semi-detached properties’ prices did slightly less well, but rose by 1.2%, whereas Detached property asking prices rose by only 0.7% since last year.
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 over all types of property rose by 0.9% in the year since November 2011. The average price is now £161,490.
Flats & Maisonette properties rose by 1.8% to £152,550 over the year, and semi-detached properties rose by 0.9% to an average of £153,437. Detached properties, however, rose by only 0.2% to £253,501, and Terraced properties rose by 0.8% to an average of £121,051.
Source: Land Registry

Latest Property Sales Volumes by price range
According to the Land Registry’s November Report, in September 2012, 50,517 sales transactions took place in England and Wales, and 7,464 in London. This represents a fall of 21% in England & Wales, and a fall of 14% in London since last September’s figures, (63,552 and 8,670 respectively). Every price bracket saw a fall in sales volume over the year.
Compared to last September, in the price bracket of over £1 million, the sales volume in London fell from 434 to 394 – a drop of 9%, and in England & Wales it fell from 753 to 613 – a drop of 19%.
At the other end of the market (below £250k), the volume fell by 22.6% from 46,889 to 36,286 in England & Wales, and by 21.1% from 3,485 to 2,748 in London.
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 (published 24th December) show that the average amount of time that a house is on the market has dropped very slightly to 9.7 weeks. Regionally, this ranges from 5.9 weeks in London to 13.0 weeks in the East Midlands.
On average, 93.2% of the asking price is achieved, ranging from 94.7% in London, down to 91.7% in the North East.
Only 2.9% of postcode districts reported a price increase in December, a fall from 5.3% in November and 5.7% in October.  27.4% had a price decrease over the month, down from 27.7% in November and down from 31.0% in October.
Source: Hometrack

Land Registry Quarterly Sales Volumes
In the quarter from July to September 2012 (the latest for which figures are available), the average number of house sales per month was 57,971. This is down on the same period in 2011, when the average was 62,006 sales per month.
Source: Land Registry

Analysis of Nationwide’s UK House Prices Index report for Q4 2012.
In Quarter 4 of 2012, the average UK house price has been calculated (after seasonal adjustment) as £162,924 by the Nationwide. This is 0.5% lower than Q3/12, and gives an figure of a 1.1% decrease since the same quarter last year. For the fifth successive quarter, the most expensive region in the UK to buy a property is, not surprisingly,London, and the least expensive region is once again Northern Ireland.
House prices in Northern Ireland are now 8.2% down on last year, and 1.4% down on last quarter, standing at an average of £104,282 with the City of Belfast once again seeing the highest prices, even though, at £149,604, this is 8% down on Q3.
On the other hand, London had an increase in house prices of 0.7% on last year, and a 0.7% increase on last quarter. The average price is £300,361. Westminster is still the most expensive borough, with average prices (£691,074) three and a half times the average price in the cheapest borough, Barking & Dagenham (£192,893).
House prices in England have risen a little over the quarter (0.4%), and dropped 0.4% over the year. The North is the cheapest place in England to buy a property at the moment. The average price in England is £186,390.
Wales’ quarterly change was a rise of 0.8%, but there was an annual decrease of 2.7%. The average price in Wales is now £131,630, and Cardiff remains the most expensive area with £202,189 the average house price.
Scotland’s house prices rose 0.2% on last quarter, but dropped 3.3% from last year, to an  average price of £131,795. Edinburgh City is currently the most expensive place to buy a house in Scotland- the average price here is £230,728.
Looking at towns and cities within England, Cambridge performed best, with house price increases of 6% since quarter four last year. The average price of a house in Cambridge is £336,667.
The worst performances in England were Manchester and Bradford, where prices dropped by 9% in the year. House prices here average £171,830 and £145,478 respectively.
Source: Nationwide

Outstanding Mortgage Debt
The average outstanding mortgage for the 11.3m households who currently have mortgages is estimated at £111,592 in October 2012.
Total secured lending in the UK on dwellings was £1,264 billion at the end of October 2012. This is up from the previous October’s £1,243 billion.
Source: Credit Action

Nationwide sub-regional analysis of average house prices over the last 10 years.
Analysing the price rises over Great Britain by region over the last ten years shows some major differences.
In the Aberdeen & Moray region of Scotland, house prices are now 116% higher than they were in 2002. At the other end of the scale, house prices in Swindon, Wiltshire, are only 16% higher than they were then, and only 22% higher in the City of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In London, house prices in the boroughs of Westminster and Hackney are both 86% higher than in 2002, whereas in Barking & Dagenham, prices have risen only by 25% in the same ten year period.
Source: Nationwide

Next Monthly Market Fact File due in early February.

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