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 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 fell from £6.3 billion in December to £5.3 billion in January. However, remortgaging rose from £3.2 billion in December to £4.0 billion in January.
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 £161,545 as at the end of January 2012.
The Monthly change in January in England and Wales was a rise of £1,161, which is a 1.1% change.
The Annual change to January in England and Wales was a fall of 1.0%.
Source: Land Registry
Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of January 2012 was £160,907, according to the Halifax House Price Index. House prices in January were 0.6% higher than in December, but the quarterly figure showed a 0.9% drop. The seasonally adjusted figures show that house prices are 1.8% 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 March 2012 showed that the average cost of a home in the UK was £162,712 during the month of February. After seasonal adjustment, this is a 0.6% rise from January, and the annual rate is up by 0.9%.
Source: Nationwide
Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s February survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 8th January 2012 to 11th February 2012 was £233,252, a increase of 4.1% on the previous month. House asking prices are now 1.4% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove
RICS survey overview
The RICS Housing Market Survey for January states that demand has been boosted by the imminent expiry of the stamp duty holiday for properties under £250,000. Whilst the West Midlands and Wales saw the largest falls in house prices in the quarter to January 2012, only London and the North saw prices rising. The West Midlands had the highest level of newly agreed sales whereas the North-West had the lowest. However, the North-West had the highest level of new buyer enquiries. East Anglia had both the lowest level of new buyer enquiries this month and the lowest level of new vendor instructions. The highest level of new vendor instructions was in the North.
Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
New Mortgages granted – December figures
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that in December 2011, 47,400 loans were made for house purchase, worth £6.9 billion. This is a little higher than November in number (1%), but about the same in value. However, these figures are 7% and 8% higher (respectively) than last December’s figures. First-time buyer loans totalled 18,700, valued at £2.3 billion, which is up by 7% in number and 10% in value on last month, but 14% and 21% higher (respectively) than last year’s figures.
The number and value of remortgage loans fell in the month – 28,100 loans worth £3.6 billion in December. These figures are 15% lower than last month’s in terms of volume, and 14% lower in value. However, they have increased by 10% in number and 16% by value since last December.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
New Mortgages granted – January estimates
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that January’s estimated figure for gross mortgage lending in the UK is £10.5 billion. This is 10% higher than last January (£9.5 billion), but a drop of 14% from December’s £12.2 billion.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
Regional trends in Rightmove Estate Agents Asking House Prices in England and Wales.
Rightmove’s February survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 8th January 2012 to 11th February 2012 increased in all areas of England and Wales. The largest increase in asking prices by Rightmove registered estate agents in the period is the South East, where the average asking price is up 6.9% to £303,263, which is 3.1% higher than a year ago.
The smallest increase is 1.1%, which occurred in two regions – the Yorkshire & Humberside region, and East Anglia. Annually, the largest increase is once again in Greater London, where asking prices have risen by 4.3% over the year, to an average of £449,252. The West Midlands had the largest annual decrease, where the average asking price is down 2.8% on last year to £181,477.
Source: Rightmove
Regional Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales.
The Land Registry’s January survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per region as follows:
Greater London continues to show an increase in house prices – at an average of £351,305, it is 2.5% higher than last month and 2.9% higher than a year ago. The only other region to have an annual price rise is the South East, which rose by 0.5% to £207,761 over the year.
The largest monthly decrease in price is the North West of England, where the average price is down 2.1% to £109,866, which is 4.2% lower than a year ago.
The largest annual price decrease is 4.5% in the North East of England, where the average asking price is now £102,066. However, this is 2.2% higher than last month.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales by County/Unitary authority.
The Land Registry’s January survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per county or unitary authority as follows:
The highest monthly price increase is 2.5% in Greater London, where the average asking price is now £351,305. The next highest was Slough with a rise of 2.2%, and the third highest monthly increase was 2.1% in Blackpool.
The largest monthly decrease in price is in Merthyr Tidfil, Wales, where the average price is down 6.6% to £56,996. The second highest monthly drop is also in Wales – Blaenau Gwent saw a fall of 3.4% on last month.
Yet again, Poole experienced the largest annual increase in house prices – at £205,278, it is 3.0% higher than a year ago. Greater London and Slough in Berkshire both saw rises of 2.9% over the year, and Bracknell Forest had a rise of 2.6%.
The largest annual decrease is in Merthyr Tidfil, (which also had the largest monthly decrease), where house prices were 16.8% lower than a year ago. Hartlepool is second with a 16.6% drop, which brings house prices to £78,623.
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 11th February 2012, the average change over all property types is an increase of 1.4%. Flats’ and apartments’ prices continue to perform well, at a 4.5% increase over the year. At the other end of the scale, semi-detached property asking prices fell by 0.2% over the year, and terraced properties’ fell by 0.1%. Detached properties’ asking prices increased by 0.6%.
Source: Rightmove
Land Registry’s Average Prices by Property Type
The Land Registry’s January average price figures analysed by property type show that the prices for all types of property have fallen by 1.0% in the year since January 2011. The average price is now £161,545.
Terraced properties fell by 2.2% over the year, to £121,860. Semi-detached properties did better than the other types, falling by only 0.2% to an average of £153,729. Flats & Maisonette properties fell by 0.5% to £152,013, and Detached properties fell by 1.2% to £254,943.
Source: Land Registry
Outstanding Mortgage Debt
The average outstanding mortgage for the 11.2m households who currently have mortgages was £110,703 in December 2011.
Total secured lending in the UK on dwellings was £1,245 billion at the end of December 2011. This is up from the previous December’s £1,238 billion.
Source: Credit Action
Mortgage Arrears and Homes Repossessions
The number of house repossessions in 2011 totalled 36,200, which is the lowest number since 2007. 5,900 of these were on Buy-to-Let properties. The overall repossession rate for 2011 was 0.32%, compared to 0.33% in 2010.
At the end of 2011, the number of households with arrears of more than 2.5% in their mortgages was 159,400. This is 7.5% lower than at the end of 2010.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
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.
February’s figures show that the average amount of time that a house is on the market is now 9.9 weeks. Regionally, this ranges from 6.1 weeks in London, and 7.6 weeks in the rest of the South East, to 13.1 weeks in the East Midlands. On average, 92.9% of the asking price is achieved – ranging from 91.2% in the North West up to 94.1% in Greater London.
7.7% of postcode districts reported a price increase in February, (compared to 3.4% in January), and 19% of them had a price decrease over the month.
In a complete turnaround from the previous two months, in February there were 18.1% more new buyers registering with estate agents, 15% more homes listed with agents, and 35.7% more sales agreed.
Source: Hometrack
Latest Property Sales Volumes by price range
According to the Land Registry, in the year to November 2011, 57,967 sales transactions took place in England and Wales, plus 7,572 in London. This represents a 3% rise and a 1% fall respectively since last November, (56,312 and 7,636 respectively).
The number of sales of properties in the price bracket over £1 million rose in London from 308 to 335 over the year, whereas over the rest of the country, this price bracket saw a fall from 548 to 524. At the lower end of the scale, sales of properties up to £200k rose 10%, from 1544 to 1587 in London, and 5% from 32,636 to 34,282 in the rest of England & Wales.
The price range £600k to £800k saw a fall in both areas – from 1,178 to 1,062 in England & Wales, and from 468 to 398 in London.
Source: Land Registry
Next Monthly Market Fact File due in early April.