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 December rose from November’s £6.0 billion to £6.6 billion. Remortgaging fell slightly from November’s £2.9 billion to £2.8 billion in December.
Source: Bank of England
ONS House Price Index figures.
Figures for the year to November 2012, published by the Office for National Statistics on 15th January 2013, show that house prices increased by 2.1%, to an average of £232k.
The average house price in England in November 2012 was £241k, £157k in Wales, £128k in Northern Ireland and £178k in Scotland.
Over the year to November 2012, England’s rise was 2.5% and Wales’ was 0.8%. Scotland’s fell by 1.1% and Northern Ireland’s figure fell by 8.5% over the year.
Splitting England into regions, London’s prices rose over the year by 5%, followed closely by the South East which rose by 3.0%. However, prices in the North East fell by 2.4% to £142k – the only region in England to see falling house prices.
The average price paid for a new-build dwelling was £213k, which is 1.5% higher than last November. The average price paid for pre-owned buildings was £233k, 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 £162,080 as at the end of December 2012, according to the report published on 29th January 2013.
The Monthly change in December in England and Wales was a 0.8% rise.
The Annual change to December in England and Wales was a rise of 1.7%.
Source: Land Registry
Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of December 2012 was £163,845, according to the Halifax House Price Index published 7th January 2013. House prices in December were 1.3% higher than in November, and the quarterly figure was up by 0.6%. The seasonally adjusted figures show that house prices are 0.3% 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 31st January 2013 showed that the average cost of a home in the UK was £162,245 during the month of January. After seasonal adjustment, this is a rise of only 0.5% from December, but the annual rate is zero change.
Source: Nationwide
Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s December survey (published 21st January 2013) shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 9th December 2012 to 12th January 2013 was £229,429, an increase of 0.2% on the previous month. However, house asking prices are still 2.4% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove
Acadametrics House Price Index figures
LSL Property Services/Acadametrics’ December figures, published 11th January 2013, show that the average house price in England and Wales was £227,026 in December. This is no significant change from November, but a 3.2% rise since last December.
Source: Acadametrics Ltd
RICS survey overview
The RICS Housing Market Survey for December 2012 (published 15th January 2013) says that “Expectations highlight risks to activityâ€, but that “Price balance indicates stable picture”.
The North of England saw the largest fall in house prices in the month. Only London and the South East saw prices rising.
However, the North had the highest level of agreed sales, whereas East Anglia once again had the lowest.
The South West had the highest level of new buyer enquiries in the month, while East Anglia, Yorkshire & Humberside and the North West levels fell.
Once again, the highest level of new vendor instructions was in Scotland, and the lowest was in East Anglia.
Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
New Mortgages granted – November Actual Figures
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that 52,700 loans were made in November for house purchase, worth £7.7 billion. This is higher than October both in number (6.3%), and in value (4.1%). These figures are up 12.6% and 10.0% (respectively) than last November’s figures.
Of these, first-time buyer loans totalled 21,700, valued at £2.7 billion, which is up 8.0% in both number and value on last month. This is 24.0% higher in number and 22.7% higher in value, compared to last November’s figures.
Home movers’ loans totalled £5 billion, and numbered 31,100. These figures are 4.2% higher than October’s in terms of value, and 5.4% higher in number. These figures are up 4.2% and 6.1% (respectively) on last November’s.
However, the number and value of remortgage loans fell in the month – 24,300 loans worth £3.2 billion in November. These figures are 9.7% lower than last month’s in terms of volume, and 8.6% lower in value. This is a decrease of 26.4% in number and 25.6% by value over the year.
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 was £11.7 billion. This is a fall of 7.8% on November’s £12.695 billion, and a drop of 4.5% from last December’s £12.245 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 9th December 2012 to 12th January 2013 increased in five of the ten identified areas of England and Wales.
The largest monthly increase was in the Greater London area where asking prices rose by 3.6% over the month from £464,398 to £480,890. The annual increase there was 9.7% (from £438,324), the largest of the annual rises.
Wales had the largest monthly drop of 3.5%. Average prices there fell from £159,216 in December to £153,649 in January. The annual change there was a 2.5% drop.
As stated above, the largest annual increase was in Greater London. The second largest annual increase was in the East Midlands, where prices rose 4.8% from £152,127 to £158,342 over the year to January.
The largest annual decrease was in the North West, down 3.7% from £151,819 in January 2012 to £149,032 in January this year. The monthly change there was a drop of 1.8%.
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 largest monthly increase was in London, which saw an increase over the month of 3.1%, bringing the average house price in the region to £371,223. This is 8.4% higher than this time last year – the largest annual regional rise.
The largest monthly decrease in price is the North West, where the average price fell 0.9% to £108,257, which is 3.5% lower than a year ago. This is the largest annual regional drop.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Acadametrics HPI data by region
The December figures show that of the ten regions specified, eight had an increase in house prices in the year to the end December 2012 – by far the largest was Greater London (9.9% to £430,120),
Wales saw a fall of 1.6% (to £152,083).
Source: Acadametrics
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:
Only 6 counties and authorities saw no price movement in the month.
The greatest monthly price increase is in Greater London, where the average price is up by 3.1% to £371,223. This is 8.4% up on last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price is Hartlepool, where prices fell by 6.8% to an average of £74,702. This is 4.7% lower than last year.
The largest annual drop was in North East Lincolnshire, which saw a fall of 9.5% on last year, to £75,775 – there was a monthly drop of 2.0% here. Merthyr Tydfil saw the greatest annual increase – up 20.3% to £73,662. The monthly change was an increase of 2.8%.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Acadametrics HPI data by County/Unitary Authority
The area with the largest increase in house prices between November 2011 and November 2012 was Hartlepool, where the average house price rose by 11.5% to £122,499. Next (after Greater London’s 9.9%) was Bath & North East Somerset which saw a rise of 9.0% to £301,572 in the same period.
The greatest decreases were Darlington’s 9.9% drop (to £123,724), and Neath Port Talbot’s drop of 8.1% (to £100,201).
Seeing very little change, Portsmouth and Dorset both had a very small drop in average house prices over the year – average prices fell by 0.1% in both areas, to £164,256 and to £257,425 respectively since last November. Devon’s average prices rose by 0.1% to £233,113 in the year.
Source: Acadametrics
Rightmove’s analysis of asking prices by London Borough.
In the period from 9th December 2012 to 12th January 2013, the largest increase in asking prices was in Hammersmith and Fulham, where they rose by 7.2% to an average of £949,619. Next highest, Haringey and Southwark boroughs both saw rises this month of 5.8%.
In Islington, asking prices fell by 3.6% in the month. The average house price there is now £622,826.
Annually, Haringey saw the highest annual rise (20.5%) to an average of £573,904.
Newham saw the largest annual decrease, where average asking prices have fallen by 1.2% to £237,166 over the year. Barking & Dagenham was the only other borough to experience a fall – 0.2% to an average of £215,500.
Source: Rightmove
Acadametrics data analysed by London Borough
Comparing November 2011 to November 2012, the City of Westminster had the greatest increase in house prices - 38.2% to an average of £1,197,770. Kensington & Chelsea is still the most expensive borough at an average of £1,510,751.
Only two boroughs saw a decrease over the period – Barnet by 4.1% to £428,510 and Sutton by 0.5% to £262,014. Barking & Dagenham remains the cheapest borough in terms of house prices at an average of £180,868.
Source: Acadametrics
Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in Greater London.
The Land Registry’s December survey shows the average prices of property per London Borough as follows:
The greatest monthly price increase is Richmond upon Thames, where the average price is up by 1.2% to £483,664. This is 7.0% higher than last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price is Barking & Dagenham, where prices fell by 1.3% to an average of £210,944. This is 0.1% higher than last year.
The only annual drop was in Redbridge, which saw a fall of 0.2% on last year, to £291,113 – there was a monthly fall of 0.8% here. Kensington & Chelsea saw the greatest annual increase – up 13.4% to £1,080,479. The monthly change here was a rise of 0.5%.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices by Metropolitan District.
The Land Registry’s December survey shows the average prices of property by Metropolitan District as follows:
Only Wigan and South Tyneside saw no price movement in the month.
The greatest monthly price increase is in Doncaster, where the average price is up by 1.8% to £95,377. This is 3.1% lower than last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price is in St Helens, where prices fell by 3.7% to an average of £91,678. This is 7.8% lower than last year – the largest annual fall.
Salford saw the greatest annual increase – up 6.8% to £91,508. The monthly change here was a decrease of 0.5%.
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 12th January 2013, the average change over all property types was an increase of 2.4%. All types of property (which Rightmove classify) are up on last year. Terraced properties’ asking prices showed a 4.2% increase, while Semi-Detached properties’ prices increased by 4.1% in the year.
Flats’ and Apartments’ prices did slightly less well, rising by 3.4%, whereas Detached property asking prices rose by only 0.2% since last year.
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 over all types of property rose by 1.7% in the year since December 2011. The average price is now £162,080.
Flats & Maisonette properties rose by 2.8% to £152,971 over the year, terraced properties rose by 1.7% to an average of £122,939, and semi-detached properties rose by 1.6% to an average of £154,072. Detached properties rose by only 0.8% to £253,352.
Source: Land Registry
Latest Property Sales Volumes by price range
According to the Land Registry’s December Report, in October 2012, 56,337 sales transactions took place in England and Wales, and 7,635 in London. This represents a fall of 3% in both regions since last September’s figures, (57,988 and 7,833 respectively).
Compared to last October, in the price bracket of over £1 million, the sales volume in London increased from 337 to 420 – a rise of 25%, and in England & Wales it increased from 548 to 623 – a rise of 14%.
At the other end of the market (below £250k), the volume fell by 5% from 43,271 to 40,967 in England & Wales, and by 12% from 3,253 to 2,864 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.
January’s figures (published 28th January) show that the average amount of time that a house is on the market has risen very slightly to 9.9 weeks. Regionally, this ranges from 6.3 weeks in London to 13.7 weeks in the East Midlands.
On average, 93.1% of the asking price is achieved, ranging from 94.5% in London, down to 91.9% in the North East.
Only 5.4% of postcode districts reported a price increase in January, a rise from 2.9% in December. 16.1% had a price decrease over the month, down from 27.4% in December.
Source: Hometrack
Land Registry Quarterly Sales Volumes
In the quarter from July to October 2012 (the latest for which figures are available), the average number of house sales per month was 57,661. This is down on the same period in 2011, when the average was 62,073 sales per month.
Source: Land Registry
Outstanding Mortgage Debt
The average outstanding mortgage for the 11.3m households who currently have mortgages is estimated at £111,534 in November 2012.
Total secured lending in the UK on dwellings was £1,264 billion at the end of November 2012. This is up from the previous November’s £1,244 billion.
Source: Credit Action
Nationwide comparison of statistics for First Time Buyers.
Comparing Q3 2007 (the peak) with Q3 2012. The number of loans made to first time buyers in Q3 ’07 was 97,600, 35% of all the loans made for property purchase. By Q3 ’12, the number had dropped to 57,000, but this was 39% of the total number. The median age of first time buyers is still 29, but the median “loan to value” ratio has dropped from 90% to 80%. Mortgage payments as a percentage of income for first time buyers has also dropped from 24% to 20% over the 5 year period.
Source: Nationwide
Land Registry figures including Repossessions.
The headline figures in the December 2012 report are altered when repossession data is included – the average house price is then £160,760: 1.2% up on November and 2.1% up on December 2011.
In the months from July to October, the number of repossessions averaged 1,523 per month. In the same period last year, the average was 1,864 per month.
There was a total reduction in the number of repossessions over the year to October 2012 of 16%. Regional analysis shows the North East had 35% fewer repossessions than last October, whereas the South East had only 8% fewer.
Source: Land Registry
Next Monthly Market Fact File due in early March.