US Housing Market Chart Pack Worse than the Great Depression The sharp fall in house prices in the first quarter provided further confirmation that this housing crash has been larger and faster than the one during the Great Depression. On the Case-Shiller index... 15th June 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response RICS Housing Survey & CLG House Prices (May/Apr) The drop in completed sales in May could be a hangover from the disruption caused by this year’s late Easter and Royal Wedding celebrations. But it could also simply be further evidence of the fragile... 15th June 2011 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Focus House Price Indices - What to watch and why For anyone bamboozled by the abundance of house price indices, which can sometimes provide starkly different messages, we consider the Case-Shiller and CoreLogic indices to be the most useful and... 14th June 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Have borrowers benefited from lower advertised mortgage rates? According to the Bank of England, advertised tracker and two-year fixed mortgage interest rates hit an all-time low in May. Yet the growing gap between advertised rates and the average rates being... 14th June 2011 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Is housing really in short supply? Over the last ten years, the accumulation of excess new housing inventory, sharp increases in homeownership rates and rising rental vacancy rates have all coincided with a house price boom and a run... 14th June 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response RICS Lettings Survey (Apr.) It was hardly surprising that surveyors reported another increase in tenant demand in the three months to April. But the rise in the number of new lettings instructions adds to our belief that rental... 10th June 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Is London still a seller's market? The strength of demand from overseas buyers is often presented as a reason why London is, and is likely to remain, a seller’s market. But the RICS survey suggests that their influence may be waning... 9th June 2011 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Mortgage Applications (May) The fall in 30-year mortgage rates to a six-month low of 4.5% has not boosted mortgage applications for home purchase as more lenders are asking for a higher down payment at a time when more... 8th June 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Chart Pack Mortgage approvals slump in April Last month’s housing market news-flow may have been slightly more positive than of late, but it didn’t change the underlying picture of a market that remains severely depressed. And if unemployment... 7th June 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Halifax House Prices (May) The latest small rise in the Halifax house price index does little to change the bigger picture that prices on this measure are trending lower. Given the struggling economic recovery and the fact that... 7th June 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response Mortgage Lending (Apr.) The latest fall in the Bank of England mortgage approvals numbers was surely driven at least in part by April’s one-off events. But underlying demand is clearly still weak. 1st June 2011 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Case-Shiller House Prices (Q1) The further fall in house prices in the first quarter means that on the Case-Shiller index prices have now fallen by more than they did during the Great Depression. On that occasion, the peak in... 31st May 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response Land Registry Repeat Sales Index (Apr.) The small gain in house prices in January is unlikely to signal an end to the weakening trend in house prices. Indeed, if our economic forecasts are correct, the downward pressures on house prices are... 31st May 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Nationwide House Prices (May) December’s producer prices figures revealed that cost pressures in the manufacturing sector are continuing to intensify. But this should not prevent consumer price inflation from falling back in the... 27th May 2011 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response FHFA House Prices (Q1) The housing downturn has gone from bad to worse, with the FHFA index showing that prices in the first quarter fell at a faster rate than at any time since the height of the financial crisis in late... 25th May 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response BBA Mortgage Lending (Apr.) Although April’s late Easter and Royal Wedding celebrations may have depressed mortgage market activity, today’s weak figures are consistent with the struggling economic recovery. What’s more, the... 25th May 2011 · 1 min read
