UK Markets Markets right to bet on interest rates peaking at 2.00% Our forecast that lingering price pressures will prompt the Bank of England to raise interest rates from 0.50% now to a peak of 2.00% next year suggests there is little scope for market interest rate... 24th February 2022 · 12 mins read
UK Housing Market Chart Pack Homeowners to keep on moving in 2022 Homeowners appear to be pressing ahead with plans to move house even though stamp duty is now fully reinstated. Transactions inevitably dipped last October as sales were rushed through in September to... 23rd February 2022 · 8 mins read
US Housing Market Data Response Case-Shiller/FHFA House Prices (Dec.) Annual house price growth held steady in December, with prices up 18.8% over 2021. But with mortgage rates now at their highest since July 2019, affordability constraints will soon cut the amount... 22nd February 2022 · 2 mins read
US Housing Market Data Response Existing Home Sales (Jan.) Existing home sales jumped 6.7% m/m in January, but that gain is likely to prove short-lived. Strong activity over the turn of the year is due to households rushing to buy to lock in a low mortgage... 18th February 2022 · 2 mins read
US Housing Market Update Shift to South helps homes get bigger Working from home has increased the demand for larger properties, and in response the median size of new homes started at the end of last year was the largest since the start of 2019. Supporting that... 18th February 2022 · 3 mins read
US Housing Market Data Response Housing Starts (Jan.) Single-family starts fell for the second month in a row in January, but a rise in building permits to a one-year high means they will soon resume their upward trend. New home sales will be supported... 17th February 2022 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi mortgage boom brings new risks Mortgage lending in Saudi Arabia has ramped up sharply in recent years as the government has tried to push up homeownership among Saudi nationals. This has not provided much of a boost to property... 15th February 2022 · 5 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Higher rates will leave homes overvalued Our new, higher interest rate forecast suggests that mortgage rates will climb to an eight-year high in 2023, making house prices look expensive by historical standards. But the overvaluation won’t be... 15th February 2022 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Rental growth on the launchpad We already expected that rental growth would surge to a decade-high this year. But the strength of leading indicators and the low level of rents relative to income by historical standards suggest... 11th February 2022 · 3 mins read
US Housing Market Update Do not conflate real assets with inflation hedges We believe the link between real estate cashflows and inflation to be overplayed, a view that is backed up by the evidence of the last 44 years. But there are exceptions. One of which is low vacancy... 10th February 2022 · 4 mins read
US Housing Market Update Ballooning mortgage size not a risk to the market The average home purchase mortgage size has ballooned over the past couple of years, but a concurrent rise in down payments will protect lenders from all but the most severe of house price shocks... 10th February 2022 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Data Response RICS Residential Market Survey (Jan.) The largest rise in new buyer enquiries for nine months and a reversal of the December dip in sales volumes confirmed that the housing market remained extremely tight at the start of the year. With no... 10th February 2022 · 2 mins read
US Housing Market Chart Pack House price and rental growth to ease in 2022 House prices and rents both boomed in 2021, but are set for a quieter 2022. Mortgage rates are now rising and we expect the 30-year rate will end the year at around 4%. Combined with the rise in house... 8th February 2022 · 9 mins read
UK Housing Market Data Response Halifax House Prices (Jan.) The smaller gain in house prices in January reported by Halifax is unlikely to mark the start of a sharp deceleration in house price growth. With the supply of homes for sale still very limited and... 7th February 2022 · 2 mins read
UK Housing Market Outlook House price gains have further to run It is likely to take longer than most expect for rising interest rates to cool the housing market. Mortgage rates have only just begun to rise from the record low reached in November, and limited... 4th February 2022 · 22 mins read
US Housing Household formation stalls as costs mount After seeing strong gains over most of 2021, household formation stalled in the final quarter. A lack of homes for sale and rent, and the soaring cost of both tenures, is constraining household... 3rd February 2022 · 3 mins read
