Bank Lending Rate
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has confirmed that the Bank Base Rate is to remain at 0.5% for a further month. It has been at this very low level for five years – a record period.
Source: Bank of England
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HOUSE PRICE INDICES – some show actual prices and others show asking prices.
This month the average house price ranges from 169k (Land Registry) to 263k (Rightmove).
ONS House Price Index figures.
Figures for the year to February 2014, published by the Office for National Statistics on 15th April 2014, show that house prices increased by 9.1% over the year, to an average of £253k. This is a 1.9% rise over the month after seasonal adjustment. Excluding London and the South East, the average house price rose by 5.8%.
First-time buyers’ average house price paid in February was £192k. Over the year, this is an increase of 10.5%. Existing owners paid an average of £292k in February, an increase of 8.6% over the year.
The average price paid for a new-build dwelling was £245k in February, which is an increase of 6.0% from last February. The average price paid for a pre-owned building was £254k, which is 9.4% 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 £169,124 as at the end of March 2014, according to the report published on 30th April 2014.
The Monthly change in March in England and Wales was a 0.4% fall.
The Annual change to end of March in England and Wales was a rise of 5.6%.
Source: Land Registry
Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of March 2014 was £178,249, according to the Halifax House Price Index published 4th April 2014. House prices in March were 1.1% lower than in February, but the quarterly figure was up by 2.3%. The seasonally adjusted figures show that house prices are 8.7% higher 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 May 2014 showed that the average cost of a home in the UK, after seasonal adjustment, was £183,577 during the month of April. This is an increase from March of 1.2%, and an annual rise of 10.9%.
Source: Nationwide
Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s April survey (published 14th April 2014) shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 9th March to 5th April 2014 was £262,594, a rise of 2.6% on the previous month. House asking prices are 7.3% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove
Acadata House Price Index figures
LSL Property Services/Acadata March figures, published 11th April 2014, show that the average house price in England and Wales was £262,291 in the month. This is a 1.0% increase from February, but a 7.2% rise since last March.
Source: Acadata Ltd
Land Registry figures including Repossessions.
The headline figures in the March 2014 report are altered when repossession data is included – the average house price in March is then £167,830: 0.3% down on February but 6.3% up on March 2013.
In the quarter from October to January, the number of repossessions averaged 1,124 per month. In the same period last year, the average was 1,515 per month.
There was a total reduction in the number of repossession sales over the year to January 2014 of 31% – 1,420 to 979. Regional analysis shows that at the extremes, the North East had 42% fewer repossession sales compared to last January, whereas the North West had 20% less.
Source: Land Registry
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HOUSE PRICES ANALYSED REGIONALLY ACROSS ENGLAND AND WALES
Greater London and the South East consistently out-perform the other regions.
ONS House Price Index regional figures.
The average house price in England in February 2014 was £264k, £167k in Wales, £130k in Northern Ireland and £183k in Scotland.
Over the year to February 2014, England’s rise was 9.7% and Wales’ by 5.3%.
Northern Ireland’s rose by 2.8% and Scotland’s rose by 2.4%.
Splitting England into regions, London’s prices rose by 17.7% over the year, while the South East and the East of England rose by 8.0% and 7.7% respectively. The smallest rise was 2.9% in the North East.
Source: ONS
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 9th March to 5th April 2014 as £262,594.
The largest monthly increase was in the South West, where asking prices rose by 5.2% over the period from £258,799 to £272,321. The annual change there was a rise of 3.2%.
The only monthly decrease was in the West Midlands where average prices fell by 0.5%, from £195,204 to £194,175. The annual change there was a rise of 0.8%, which was the smallest of all the annual rises.
All regions saw a rise in the year, but the largest annual rise was Greater London, where prices rose by 15.9% over the year from £493,635 to an average of £572,348. The monthly increase was 3.6%.
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 increases were in the East and the North East, both of which saw an increase over the month of 1.1%, bringing the average house price in the regions to £184,980 and £99,313 respectively. These are 7.1% and 3.3% higher than this time last year.
The largest monthly decrease in price was in Wales, where the average price fell 4.2% to £113,275, which is 1.6% lower than a year ago – the only annual fall.
The largest annual rise was once again in London, where prices rose by 12.4% over the year to £414,490, but only 0.6% over the month.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Acadata HPI by region
The latest figures show that in February 2014, all of the ten regions specified had an increase in house prices both monthly and annually.
Figures for England and Wales overall show an average house price of £259,814, which is a 1.2% increase over the month and a 6.7% increase over the year.
The largest rise in the month was Greater London – up 1.9% to an average of £522,499. The annual rise here was 13.3%, which is the largest of all the annual rises.
East Anglia saw the smallest monthly rise – a 0.3% increase to £212,171. However, this is 1.6% higher than last year, which was the smallest of the annual rises.
Source: Acadata
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 greatest monthly price increase is in Blackpool, where the average price is up by 3.1% to £80,395. This is 7.9% higher than last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price was once again in Merthyr Tydfil, where prices fell by 9.8% to an average of £59,041, which is 9.5% lower than last year.
Annually, the same line-up as last month: Greater London saw the largest annual price rise – 12.4% up on last month to an average of £414,490. However, the monthly rise there was only 0.6%
The largest annual fall was in Blaenau Gwent, where prices fell by 15..7% to £61,860. This is 0.6% lower than February.
Three counties / authorities saw no price movement in the month – East Sussex, Southend-on-Sea and West Midlands.
Source: Land Registry
Analysis of Acadata HPI data by County/Unitary Authority
The unitary authority with the largest increase in house prices in February 2014 was Rutland, where average prices rose by 5.5% to £284,663. The annual change there was a rise of 0.8%.
Next is the Vale of Glamorgan, where prices rose by 2.9% in the month (5.4% annual rise) to an average of £218,804.
Merthyr Tydfil saw the largest decrease in average prices in the month – down 2.3% to £98,010. The annual change was a fall of 8.7% which was the largest decrease.
Over the past year, Poole saw the largest increase – up 14.2% to £307,344. Poole’s average house prices rose by 1.3% this month.
Source: Acadata
Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices by Metropolitan District.
The Land Registry’s March survey shows the average prices of property by Metropolitan District as follows:
The greatest monthly price increase was shared by Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Knowsley, where the average prices were up by 2.2% to £115,510 and £100,543 respectively. This is 3.3% higher and 2.1% lower – respectively – than last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price was in Wolverhampton, where prices fell by 3.4% to an average of £98,462. This is 0.3% higher than last year.
The largest annual rise is once again in Oldham, where prices rose by 11.3% to an average of £83,806. This is 1.7% higher than last month.
The largest annual fall was South Tyneside – average prices fell by 6.2% over the year to £92,202. This is 0.2% lower than last year.
Source: Land Registry
Rightmove’s analysis of asking prices by London Borough.
In the period from 9th March to 5th April 2014, the largest increase in asking prices was in Brent, where they rose by 7.9% to an average of £815,126. The annual rise was 17.8%.
The only decrease in asking prices was in Richmond, where they fell by 0.5% in the month to £817,202. However, they rose by 17.9% over the year.
Annually, the largest increase was in Tower Hamlets, where prices rose by 39.5% over the year, to an average of £595,280. The monthly increase here was 6.2%.
The largest decrease as in Kensington & Chelsea, where the average asking price fell by 5.3% over the year to £2,233,471.
Source: Rightmove
Acadata data analysed by London Borough
Over the month to February 2014, overall house prices in London increased by 1.9%. Over the year, the change is a 13.3% rise.
Lambeth had the largest monthly rise: up 6.2% to £551,662. The annual rise here was 31.5%. This is the largest annual rise.
At the other end of the scale, City of London saw the greatest fall in prices in the month: down 3.1% to £797,491. However, the annual change was a rise of 8.9%.
Hammersmith and Fulham was the only borough to experience no change this month.
The only borough to see a decrease in prices over the year was yet again the City of Westminster, where prices fell by 4.7% to £1,226,087. However this was a rise over the month of 3.5%.
The most expensive London borough to buy property is still Kensington and Chelsea, where the average price is £1,842,220 – 2.0% higher than last month and 19.1% higher that last year.
Barking & Dagenham remains the cheapest borough in terms of house prices at an average of £197,281. This is a drop of 0.1% since last month, but 8.1% higher than last year.
Source: Acadata
Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in Greater London.
The Land Registry’s March survey shows the average prices of property per London Borough as follows:
The greatest monthly price increase is Lambeth – the borough saw a rise of 3.3% in the month. The average price is now £462,684, which is 21.9% higher than last year.
Hackney saw the largest monthly fall – 0.8% to £525,022, although this is 19.0% higher than last March.
The biggest annual rise was in Waltham Forest, where prices rose by 23.5% to £315,102, which is 2.2% higher than last month.
Harrow saw the smallest annual rise of 4.4%, to £322,022. This borough saw a monthly rise of 0.7%.
Source: Land Registry
RICS Survey Overview.
The RICS Residential Market Survey for February 2014 (published 13th March 2014) says that “Price momentum remains strong across all UK regions.” and “Easier credit conditions are supporting this strengthening in activity”..
The South East saw the largest price rises over the month, and Wales saw the smallest.
The West Midlands had the highest level of agreed sales in February, with every area seeing a rise except the South East.
The North West had the highest level of new buyer enquiries in the month, followed closely by the North. All regions saw a rise in this indicator, but the South West’s was the smallest.
The highest levels of new vendor instructions were in the North. The South West and London saw the largest decreases in the month.
Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
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PROPERTY TYPES – The prices of all types of property are rising, with mixed results between the indices published. Detached properties are consistently higher than the average.
Rightmove’s Asking Prices by Property Type
In the year to 5th April 2014, the average change over all property types was an increase of 7.3%. All types of property (which Rightmove classify) are priced higher than last year.
- Flats’ and Apartments’ asking prices rose by 13.3% to £229,755.
- Terraced properties’ prices rose by 10.1% to £207,855.
- Detached property asking prices rose by 6.9% to £387,478.
- Semi-Detached properties’ prices rose by 5.9% to £217,831.
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 over all types of property rose by 5.6% in the year to end March 2014. The average price is now £169,124
- Flats & Maisonette properties rose by 8.1% to £163,437
- Terraced properties rose by 5.2% to £126,859
- Detached properties rose by 4.6% to £265,753
- Semi-detached properties rose by 4.9% to £159,684.
Source: Land Registry
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MORTGAGE FIGURES
New Mortgages granted – February Actual Figures
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that 48,400 loans were made in February for house purchase, worth £7.8 billion. This is very slightly higher than January’s in number by 0.0% and lower in value by 1.3%. However, these figures are up 32.6% and 47.2% (respectively) than last February’s figures.
Of these, first-time buyer loans totalled 22,200, valued at £3.1 billion, which is up by 2.3% in number and the same in value on last month. However, this is 41.0% higher in number and 55.0% higher in value, compared to last February’s figures.
Home movers’ loans totalled £4.7 billion, and numbered 26,200. These figures are 2.2% lower than January’s in terms of number, and down 4.1% in value. However, they are up 27.2% in number and 38.2% in value on last February.
The number and value of remortgage loans fell in the month – 23,800 loans worth £3.5 billion were made in February. These figures are 15.0% lower than last month’s in terms of volume and 16.7% lower in value. However, this was a rise of 17.2% in number, and a rise of 29.6% in value over the year.
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 £15.4 billion. This is 4% higher than February’s figure, and a rise of 33% on last March’s £11.6 billion.
This brings the estimated gross lending for Quarter 1 of 2014 to £46.3 billion, which is 10% down on the previous quarter, but 37% higher than the £33.8 billion of Q1 2013.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
Buy-to-Let Mortgages
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that during February 2014, the total advanced on buy-to-let mortgages was £1.9 billion (14,300 loans). This is lower than January by 8.9% in number and by 9.5% in value.
Less than half of the buy-to-let loans were for remortgage: 6,600 loans worth £1.0 billion – a decrease of 12.0% in number, and of 9.1% in value on the previous month.
Loans for house purchase totalled 7,500 loans worth £900 million, a fall of 7.4% in number but the same value as January.
Compared to February last year, both the number and value of all buy-to-let mortgages have risen considerably – the total number has risen by 38.8% in number and by 46.2% in value.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders
Mortgage Lending by the Major UK Lenders
According to the latest quarterly publication from the Bank of England, (Trends in Lending April 2014, covering the quarter to February 2014), the major UK lenders comprising Banco Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Royal Bank of Scotland, the number of mortgage approvals for house purchase was 71.7k in December, 76.8k in January and 70.3k in February . Remortgaging numbered 34.7k in December, 35.7k in January and 33.9k in February.
Source: Bank of England
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TRANSACTION VOLUMES & OTHER FIGURES
Latest Property Sales Volumes by price range
According to the Land Registry’s March Report, in January 2014, 63,123 sales transactions took place in England and Wales, and 9,322 in London. This represents a rise of 46% in England & Wales, and of 36% in London since last January’s figures, (43,373 and 6,850 respectively).
Compared to last January, in the price bracket of over £1 million, the sales volume in London increased from 426 to 712 – a rise of 67%, and in England & Wales it increased from 628 to 1,011 – a rise of 61%.
At the other end of the market (up to £250k), the volume rose by 42.0% in England & Wales (from 31,294 last January to 44,430 this January), and it rose by 9.6% in London (from 2,560 to 2,807 in the same period).
Source: Land Registry
Land Registry Quarterly Sales Volumes
In the quarter from October 2013 to January 2014 (the latest for which figures are available), the average number of property transactions per month was 74,941. This is up 34.2% on the same period a year ago, when the average was 55,824 sales per month.
Source: Land Registry
Hometrack Monthly House Price Survey Figures
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 survey (published 28th April 2014) shows that house prices increased by 0.6% in the month – this is the same as last month’s change.
The average amount of time that a house is on the market has fallen to 6.3 weeks. This is the lowest average since June 2007. Regionally, this ranges from 3.4 weeks in London to 9.4 weeks in Yorkshire & Humberside.
On average, 96.7% of the asking price is achieved, ranging from 99.0% in Greater London, down to 95.1% in the East Midlands. This is the highest proportion since September 2002.
50% of postcode districts reported a price increase in April, the same as in March. The number of postcodes reporting a decrease is so low as to be statistically insignificant.
Source: Hometrack
Analysis of Housing Transactions by Purchase Price.
LSL Acadata March report has analysed the number of housing transactions against the purchase price over the year 2013.
It shows the Mode (most frequent) purchase price was £125k, the Median (the middle) purchase price was £185k, and the arithmetic Mean purchase price was £246,825.
The number of transactions was 780,761, which ranged from one at £29,340,000 to 305 under £20,000.
The Land Registry, Halifax and Nationwide all have their average house prices in the £160k to £170k bracket, which is between the Mode and the Median prices.
However, Rightmove, LSL Acad and ONS all have their averages between £245k and £248k, similar to the Mean purchase price.
Source: Acadata Ltd
Next Monthly Market Fact File due in June 2014.