UK Housing Market Update Interest rate hold won’t provide immediate relief Despite ending the interest rate hiking cycle today, the Monetary Policy Committee succeeded in convincing financial markets that interest rates will remain high for some time. As market interest rate... 21st September 2023 · 3 mins read
Climate Economics Update Rishi Sunak draws his UK climate battle lines The news that UK Prime Minster Sunak is set to further dilute the government’s climate policies demonstrates that when the political going gets tough, climate policies are the first to fall by the... 20th September 2023 · 4 mins read
UK Housing Market Update RICS Residential Market Survey (Aug.) Depressed activity remains consistent with falling house prices. The further deterioration of the RICS survey figures in August suggest the peak in mortgage rates seen in July are continuing to... 13th September 2023 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Update High rates restrain lending and push up arrears The Q2 Mortgage Lenders and Administrators statistics from the Bank of England showed that higher rates are limiting lending and making it more difficult than ever for single-income households to get... 12th September 2023 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Real house prices hit seven-year low According to Halifax, house prices are up by 20% compared to 2019 even after their recent falls. But adjusted for inflation they slipped to a seven-year low in August. High mortgage rates point to a... 7th September 2023 · 2 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Pandemic trends are approaching their end The adoption of remote work meant central London was left out of the COVID-19 house price boom. But with house prices in outlying towns and rural areas around the capital starting to stagnate too... 5th September 2023 · 4 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Flat prices likely to outperform Having risen in value by much less than houses over the past three years, flats were selling at the biggest discount to houses on record at the beginning of the year. But higher mortgage costs are... 24th August 2023 · 2 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Arrears edge higher as BTL mortgage rates hit 6% Mortgage arrears were still low in Q2, but the number of Buy-to-Let (BTL) mortgages in early arrears increased at an alarming pace. We suspect that will continue in Q3. A growing number of landlords... 17th August 2023 · 4 mins read
UK Housing Market Update RICS Residential Market Survey (Jul.) Given the recent rise in average mortgage rates to their highest level since 2008, we are not surprised by the further deterioration in the RICS headline survey figures. And as we do not expect market... 10th August 2023 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Boost to newbuild volumes over New home construction has been surprisingly resilient to weaker demand so far this year. But that partly reflects activity being brought forward before building standards were tightened in June. With... 24th July 2023 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Mortgage rates will plateau rather than fall The lower-than-expected CPI inflation data for June probably signals the end of the upward march in mortgage rates. But mortgage rates are likely to plateau rather than fall as the Bank of England... 19th July 2023 · 2 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Revisiting our estimates of lossmaking rental properties Mortgage rates have risen to a level that could cause costs on a fifth of rental homes to exceed the rent. That is likely to lead to a significant number of forced rental property sales, which will... 19th July 2023 · 4 mins read
UK Commercial Property Update Credit Conditions Survey (Q2 2023) The narrowing in interest margins reported by mortgage lenders in the Credit Conditions Survey suggests that mortgage rates won’t fall significantly anytime soon. Meanwhile, it became more difficult... 13th July 2023 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Update RICS Residential Market Survey (Jun. 23) As we expected, the rise in the average quoted mortgage rate from 4.4% in May to 5.1% in June caused agreed sales and new buyer enquiries to slump. The deterioration in market conditions has left... 13th July 2023 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Update An uneven hit from higher mortgage rates The shift to fixed mortgage rates and the rise in the number of homes owned outright means that while some borrowers face a sharp rise in mortgage payments other homeowners will sit out this interest... 6th July 2023 · 5 mins read
Climate Economics Update Key questions from our Climate Drop-In We recently held a Drop-in titled “Industry’s decarbonisation challenge – From aviation to property”, which you can view on-demand here. This Update addresses some of the questions we received during... 3rd July 2023 · 7 mins read