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 level for over two years, i.e. since 05th 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) the flow of mortgage lending by all UK-resident mortgage lenders fell in March – from £0.7 billion to £0.6 billion for net lending, and gross lending from £9.2 billion to £9.0 billion in the month.
Total mortgage approvals for house purchase remained static at £4.5 billion in February and March. Remortgaging saw a decrease, from £3.9 billion in February to £3.7 billion in March.
Source: Bank of England
Land Registry Average Property Prices in England and Wales
The Average Price of a property in England and Wales is now £160,996 as at the end of March 2011.
Source: Land Registry
Percentage Changes of Property Prices in England and Wales
The Monthly change in March in England and Wales was –1.1%.
The Annual change to March in England and Wales was –2.3%.
Source: Land Registry
RICS survey overview.
The RICS Housing Market Survey for March suggests that the housing market is still flat. Both supply and demand for property have stayed low. Every region of the UK except London has seen falling prices, with East Midlands and Yorkshire / Humberside seeing the largest falls. Scotland had the largest increase in both buyer enquiries and seller instructions.
Source: Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
New Mortgages granted – February
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that February’s figures for lending for house purchase and remortgages was £7.5 billion. This is made up of £4.6 billion for house purchase (32,300 loans) and £2.9 billion for remortgages (24,300 loans).
The house purchase loans are up by 8% in number and 5% in value from January 2011, but down 12% in both number and value from February 2010. Loans to first-time buyers numbered 12,400 loans, with a value of £1.4 billion, which is an increase of 13% in number and 8% in value from last month.
57% of all mortgages advanced in February were at a fixed rate of interest, contrasting with May 2010 when it was only 45%.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
New Mortgages granted – March estimates
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that March’s estimated figures for gross mortgage lending in the UK is £11.3 billion. This is a rise of 21% from February’s figure of £9.3 billion, but a fall of 2% since last March.
The first quarter’s gross lending total is therefore estimated to be £30.1 billion, which is 11% down from last quarter (Q4 of 2010), and a small increase (1%) from £29.7 billion in Q1 of 2010.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
Regional trends in Rightmove Estate Agents Asking House Prices in England and Wales.
The largest increase in April is in the South West for the second consecutive month, where the average asking price is up by 3.3% to £260,593. This is now 1.9% higher than April 2010.
The largest decrease in asking prices by Rightmove registered estate agents in April is the West Midlands region, where the average asking price is down by 1.5% to £184,648, and is now 4.1% lower than in April 2010.
Over the year to April 2011, the largest increase in house asking prices was in London and the South East, which have both seen asking house prices rise by 2.2% to £431,013 and £306,897 respectively.
The largest annual regional decrease is the East Midlands region, which has seen asking house prices fall by 4.2% since April 2011.
Source: Rightmove
Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of March 2011 was £162,912, according to the Halifax House Price Index. House prices in March were 0.1% higher than in February. The quarterly figure showed a 0.6% drop. The figures show that house prices are 2.9% lower than this time last year, measured by the average for the latest quarter against the same period a year earlier. This is the largest annual drop since October 2009.
Source: Halifax
Nationwide House Price Index figures
Seasonally adjusted figures published on 4th May showed that the average cost of a home in the UK was £165,609 during the month of April. This is a monthly fall of 0.2%, and the annual rate now stands at –1.3%. The quarterly figure, said to be a better indicator of trend, showed an increase of 0.6% against the previous 3 months’.
Source: Nationwide
Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s April survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 13th March to 9th April 2011 was £235,822, an increase of 1.7 % from the previous month. House asking prices are only 0.1% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove
Next Monthly Market Fact File due in early June.