Filtered by Subscriptions: UK Housing Use setting UK Housing
Mortgage approvals for house purchase jumped to an 18 month high in August. While low rates and rising incomes should support mortgage demand, the lack of homes being put up for sale may curb lending growth for some time yet. … Mortgage Lending …
29th September 2015
Monthly price growth moderated in August, following a strong showing in July. But the shortage of homes for sale persisted, helping to drive underlying price growth to a 10 month high. … Land Registry Repeat Sales Index …
28th September 2015
The government’s aspiration to see a million new homes by 2020 requires housing starts to be 45% higher than current levels. History suggests this is achievable. That said, while they have shown signs of improvement, the materials and labour shortages …
24th September 2015
Mortgage approvals for house purchase picked up again in August, supported by a solid economic backdrop and record low interest rates. There are signs that banks’ willingness to grow their mortgage books has increased, although the shortage of homes for …
Over the past year, falling mortgage interest rates appear to have reduced monthly mortgage payments by more than rising house prices have increased them. This may be one reason why prices have continued to grow faster than incomes. But with a rate rise …
18th September 2015
A number of recent developments suggest that, after a protracted period of uncertainty, confidence amongst mortgage lenders is starting to improve again. If this is sustained, the improvement in lending appetite should help to extend the recent upturn in …
17th September 2015
The Halifax reported a 2.7% m/m surge in house prices during August, more than reversing July’s dip. But with the price of a house growing at over three times faster than wages, we don’t think that this rapid rate of price rises can be sustained. … RICS …
10th September 2015
There are tentative signs that London house prices are approaching a plateau. Boroughs that have seen the biggest price increases since the crisis now report the most subdued rates of price growth and activity. While stamp duty changes and pre-election …
9th September 2015
Lenders are starting to adapt to new mortgage regulations, leading to a rise in both total lending and the proportion of higher loan-to-income ratio loans. But this didn’t distract banks’ attention from the buy-to-let sector. Unregulated lending grew by …
8th September 2015
The second estimate of GDP left Q2 growth unchanged at a respectable 0.7%. And whileemployment and wage figures disappointed, strong employment intentions and an upturn in businessinvestment suggest that the economic outlook is still healthy. … Imbalance …
4th September 2015
Mortgage lending rose in July, as low mortgage rates and a strengthening economy boosted housing demand. But there is still a long way to go before lending can be considered to have recovered fully from the 2008/09 correction. … Mortgage Lending …
1st September 2015
Even allowing for the usual monthly volatilty , this is a strong set of numbers from the Land Registy . A lack of homes for sale, coupled with rising demand, is driving prices higher. … Land Registry Repeat Sales Index …
28th August 2015
Nationwide reported a softening in house price growth for August, with the annual rate falling from 3.5% to 3.2%. But with supply conditions still tight, as well as economic and mortgage market conditions supporting demand, we think annual price growth …
27th August 2015
Record low interest rates have boosted house prices and cut returns on other assets. That in turn has encouraged homemovers to either rent out their old home, or just keep it empty. Alongside a greater share of first-time buyers and buy-to-let investors …
26th August 2015
Mortgage approvals for house purchase rose again in July, supported by low interest rates and rising credit availability. But while activity will continue tostrengthen, the pace of growth will be sluggish due to the shortage of homes forsale. … BBA …
Official statistics show that the real cost of constructing a home has essentially doubled over the past 10 years. That could indicate that homes are now much better quality than in the past, but it could also be a sign of inefficiencies in the …
21st August 2015
Housing starts fell sharply in Q2, reversing more than half of Q1’s gains. Production constraints related to labour and material shortages are still holding back activity. Over time, housing starts will trend upwards as these constraints ease, but it will …
20th August 2015
Today’s RICS data reports a mix of good and bad news. While growing active demand reflects a strengthening economy, the supply of homes for sale fell further this month. What the market needs to see is more homes for sale, so that increasing demand leads …
13th August 2015
Strong growth in household spending this year will give way to a weaker performance in 2016. But this slowdown will not be severe and the medium-term outlook is bright. … Recovery unlikely to slow sharply next …
11th August 2015
Mortgage lending for house purchase grew strongly in Q2, particularly in the buy-to-let sector. And despite signs that mortgage rates might be bottoming out, high levels of employment and rising real wages should ensure we see further gains in the second …
Housing market activity and prices will see further gains this year, as a sustained rise in wages and increased availability of mortgage lending tempt more buyers into the market. But a gradual rise in mortgage rates, combined with high house prices, will …
7th August 2015
After a strong June reading, the Halifax reported a 0.6% m/m fall in house prices during July. This brought underlying price growth down, although it remains at a respectable 2.4%. House price inflation is unlikely to slow sharply in H2, but may do so …
6th August 2015
At the national level, private rent payments as a share of earnings are currently slightly above their average since records began in 2005. But there are large regional differences. With the rent burden at record highs in London, but below average in the …
5th August 2015
According to Nationwide, house prices grew by 0.4% m/m in July. Annual price growth picked up to 3.5%, a signal that the slowdown in price growth seen over the past year is coming to an end. Prices will continue to rise over the remainder of 2015, driven …
4th August 2015
Mortgage approvals for house purchase rose in June, after suffering an unexpected fall during May. And while approvals still remain lower than in April, a strong economy and favourable mortgage market conditions mean that there is little to stop lending …
29th July 2015
According to the Land Registry, house prices rose 1.1% m/m in June, their largest monthly gain in nearly two years. With interest rates at record lows, a shortage of homes for sale on the market and lenders set to increase mortgage availability in Q3, the …
28th July 2015
Mortgage approvals for both house purchase and remortgaging grew in June,driven by low mortgage rates and a greater willingness to lend by banks. With active housing demand recovering and lending appetite set to grow further,mortgage volumes should …
24th July 2015
Housing demand is finally responding to a strong economic backdrop and record low mortgage interest rates. But with the numbers of homes for sale at historic lows, that increased demand is feeding through to higher prices rather than increased …
22nd July 2015
The rise in the owner-occupier (OO) vacancy rate following the financial crisis indicates significant numbers of people have been holding onto empty homes rather than trying to sell them. But that also implies there are plenty of homes waiting in the …
21st July 2015
Although external threats to the UK economy have multiplied this year, we do not think that they are likely to derail the recovery. Indeed, the resilience of the UK’s economic recovery has shocked many and we think that a better external performance could …
16th July 2015
Comparatively loose supply conditions appear to explain why house prices in Wales have underperformed the rest of the country over the past year or two. But there are signs that demand is now recovering fairly well, suggesting that this underperformance …
14th July 2015
The Credit Conditions Survey reported an uptick in secured residential credit availability in the second quarter, but that the availability of commercial lending was more-or-less unchanged. For the first time since new mortgage regulations came into …
13th July 2015
If giving automatic planning permission to brownfield land helps boost competition in the housebuilding sector, it has the potential to raise housing starts. But encouraging construction on brownfield sites has always proved challenging, so we doubt the …
10th July 2015
More stringent capital requirements on lenders will raise the cost of funding, which other things equal will be passed onto customers through higher mortgage interest rate spreads. But we estimate there is still scope for lenders to absorb at least the …
9th July 2015
The number of unsold homes has fallen to a record low in June, as sales continue to outpace the number of homes being listed for sale. Combined with signals that the economy is in good shape, we expect house price pressures to build in the second half of …
Cutting the amount of tax relief landlords can claim on their mortgage interest payments will reduce after-tax rental yields. We expect that to take the wind out of the BTL market’s sails, as landlords holdback from entering the market or expanding their …
8th July 2015
A strong rise in June has pushed house prices above their pre-crisis peak according to the Halifax. With demand up on the back of rising employment and wages, and the stock of homes for sale restricted, further gains can be expected. … Halifax House …
Housing market activity is starting to recover, reflecting rising earnings, an improving labour market and record low mortgage rates. While the latest figures show stagnant or falling house prices, all of the leading indicators are pointing to a …
3rd July 2015
The small dip in prices in June reported by the Nationwide is not a sign of a cooling market. On an underlying basis prices are still rising, and with active housing demand finally recovering annual house price gains have bottomed out. … Nationwide House …
2nd July 2015
The Bank of England reported a 4.7%m/m fall in approvals for house purchase in May. However, given the strong growth seen last month, we doubt this fall signals a downturn in lending. The demand for housing is improving and we expect approval numbers to …
29th June 2015
The record share of mortgage lending going to the non-regulated sector could be a sign that lenders are looking to get around rules designed to bolster financial stability by turning to the buy-to-let sector. While there are good reasons for buy-to-let …
26th June 2015
House prices held their ground in May according to the Land Registry, although the strong gain in April means they are still rising on the less volatile three-month on three-month measure. Nationally prices have almost regained their pre-crisis high, but …
Mortgage approvals have now increased every month since the start of the year, with remortgaging activity seeing a particularly strong rise. This improvement is set to continue, as rising earnings tempt more households into buying a home. … BBA Mortgage …
24th June 2015
At first glance, the strong link between housing starts and transactions suggests that a step shift in housing supply will only be possible if turnover in the wider market is raised sharply first. But transactions do not cause starts, and if housing …
23rd June 2015
The Help to Buy scheme was able to temporarily boost the availability of low deposit mortgages, helping a lucky few first-time buyers. But that improvement is proving to be temporary, as the resulting boost to house prices acts to lock other would-be …
15th June 2015
Rising consumer confidence has yet to entice higher numbers of existing homeowners to move, and consequently the number of homes for sale has dropped to its lowest level in over 35 years. With housing demand now also rising, house prices will see further …
11th June 2015
The introduction of new mortgage regulations depressed mortgage lending over the past year, and has incentivised lenders to turn to the non-regulated sector. Non-regulated loans, mainly buy-to-let, now make up 19% of all new mortgages. … Mortgage …
9th June 2015
With mortgage interest rates at record lows and wages finally starting to grow it is not surprising that housing market activity and house prices are now picking up. Those supports will remain in place, allowing for further gains in prices this year. … …
8th June 2015
The slight fall in house prices in May reported by the Halifax doesn’t alter the bigger picture that prices are under steady upwards pressure. With very few homes for sale and the mortgage market recovering, that pressure will continue. … Halifax House …
4th June 2015
Underlying house price growth picked-up in May according to the Nationwide, as a slow recovery in housing demand has run up against very low levels of homes for sale. We expect that demand will continue to recover, driving further modest price gains this …
3rd June 2015
