Title:
Mortgage And UK
Housing Markets Experience Fluctuations
Word Count:
609
Summary:
Mortgage lenders
and property agencies have just released their latest figures for the UK
housing market displaying some conflicting results but the overall mood from
analysts appears to be one of optimism for improvements in housing market
activity.
Property prices are on the rise again according to the latest survey by the
Rightmove property agency website. They reported the largest average monthly
house prices rise in two years during February to leave the average resid...
Keywords:
mortgage,
mortgages, financial comparisons, secured loans, loans, secured loan, secured
loans, perso
Article Body:
Mortgage lenders
and property agencies have just released their latest figures for the UK
housing market displaying some conflicting results but the overall mood from
analysts appears to be one of optimism for improvements in housing market
activity.
Property prices are on the rise again according to the latest survey by the
Rightmove property agency website. They reported the largest average monthly
house prices rise in two years during February to leave the average residential
house asking price in England and Wales at £201,600.
In their report, Rightmove put the record asking prices down to a shortage of
sellers and increasing demand, especially a return of buyers at the lower end
of the market which should have a knock on effect further up the property
ladder.
However Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director, sounded a note of
caution, “Sellers must not get too ambitious or the recovery could run out of
steam as affordability is over-stretched again”.
The Rightmove findings seems to stand in contrast to the figures recently
released in the FT House price index, which shows that the, “recovery of house
prices since the Autumn has been extremely muted and did not gather pace at the
start of 2006”. The FT also reported that two other separate sets of secured
loans data published about the same time, “showed mortgage lending for January
was down on the previous month but higher than the figure for January a year
ago.”
The FT house price index shows a subdued market rather than the more buoyant
figures from Rightmove, or the lenders, the Halifax and the Nationwide. The FT
believes that their figures based on Land Registry data provide an accurate
representation of the market, with the figures from the lenders’ bouncing
around, “in ways most unlikely to reflect reality.”
Many of those who are currently seeing a restrained increase in the market
figures are looking towards possible future Government action through the Bank
of England to increase sales. Howard Archer, the chief UK economist at
financial analyst Global Insight, feels that an interest rate cut is on the
cards in the early part of 2006. Mortgage comparison site Moneynet believes
that a widely expected Bank of England base interest rate cut will lead to the
housing market, “getting a shot in the arm with many people looking for the
right mortgage package to get them on the housing ladder.”
Independent mortgage adviser from John Charcol, Ray Boulger, feels that an
interest rate cut which will help the housing market is on the cards. "I
expect to see at least two quarter point reductions in base rate this year and
house prices to rise by about 5.5 per cent.”
The Council of Mortgage Lenders most recent figures indicate mixed results with
gross mortgage lending in January up by 32% to £23bn compared with the £17.4bn
recorded in January 2005, however this was down from December’s high of
£26.9bn.
Although the recent reports appear to show contradictory and inconclusive
results, Howard Archer commented that, “Although the British Banking
Association showed some slowdown underlying mortgage lending in January, this
followed a particularly strong performance in December. Overall the data
indicate the marked improvement in housing market activity - borne out by the
latest report from Rightmove.”
Disclaimer:
All information contained in this article, is for general information purposes
only and should not be construed as advice under the Financial Services Act
1986.
You are strongly advised to take appropriate professional and legal advice
before entering into any binding contracts.
Useful resources:
Financial Times house price index -
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1d089640-fb60-11d8-8ad5-00000e2511c8.html
Moneynet mortgage comparisons - http://www.moneynet.co.uk/mortgages/index.shtml