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Tag: Council of Mortgage Lenders

House building numbers more vulnerable than prices as the market turns

House building numbers more vulnerable than prices as the market turns

The latest monthly housing market survey from the surveyors’ body RICS will come as unwelcome, if expected, bad news to developers, estate agents and potential sellers. The survey shows the fastest increase in the number of agents seeing price falls since the ugly period that followed the credit crunch (see graph sourced from the RICS August survey) and the lowest reading since May 2009. Last month the survey showed the balance between agents seeing prices up and those seeing prices…

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Estate agents expect housing prices to fall

Estate agents expect housing prices to fall

The latest survey by the surveyors’ body RICS provides further evidence that the bounce back in house prices is petering out. The surveyors polled had, on balance, seen house prices rise in June, but when asked for their expectation for the three months coming the balance swayed narrowly towards a fall in house price. Not that the pattern is even across the UK, the markets in London and Scotland appear fairly buoyant. But in swathes of the north of England and in…

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Are we on the edge of a second house price crash?

Are we on the edge of a second house price crash?

The big question after today’s release of the Halifax house price index is whether the market is heading for a protracted decline or whether prices will stabilise and hold or continue to creep up from the trough of a year or so ago. It must be said that today’s figures, which show the third in a straight set of monthly declines, fit the pattern expected given the recent movement in what might be regarded as leading indicators for house prices….

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Stamp duty – a tax rise that looks set to win votes

Stamp duty – a tax rise that looks set to win votes

There is obvious glee within the housing market about the prospects of a two-year period free of stamp duty for those first-time buyers who purchase properties worth less than £250,000. The £250,000 threshold captures practically all of them, with significantly less than 10% of exceptions that will be mainly resident in London and the South East. And the cost of this “Budget giveaway” the Treasury puts at under £300 million annually at worst. This figure is of course a hypothetical resting on the…

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We are on a perilous road to the new normal – but at least it’s exciting

We are on a perilous road to the new normal – but at least it’s exciting

Yesterday I went to an excellent conference organised by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. I know it was good because I came away with a headache and a slightly befuddled mind, but invigorated nevertheless. What made it more interesting was that on the train into London I read Martin Wolf’s column in the Financial Times, which in retrospect provided a fitting overture to the day, despite the link in subject matter being a bit distant from the UK housing market. His…

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Was it just the cold or is it a relapse?

Was it just the cold or is it a relapse?

There are plenty of people, “experts” indeed, who fully expect a double-dip recession for both the economy and, for that matter, house prices. For them the data emerging for January’s performance appears to be, albeit gently, vindicating their position. They will no doubt seize with alacrity the retail figures from the British Retail Consortium showing the worst January sales data for 15 years. Those who take a different perspective will write the slump in sales off to the coldest January…

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The cruelty of breeding force-fed first-time buyers

The cruelty of breeding force-fed first-time buyers

Here’s a question that goes right to the heart of current housing policy: Should we be using incentives as readily as we are to encourage first-time buyers onto the property ladder? However iconoclastic or contrary this question may seem, it needs to be asked. There is so much at stake.

The stagnant housing market: More a problem of first-time movers than first-time buyers

The stagnant housing market: More a problem of first-time movers than first-time buyers

First-time buyers are increasingly becoming trapped in their first-time homes and unable to move on to homes that better suit their needs. That at least is the implication of some figures that caught my eye recently when I was looking though some data produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Consider this: the median income of a household taking out a mortgage to move is £47,328, or it was in August this year. In 2000 that figure would have been…

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House building figures show huge jump in starts and completions

House building figures show huge jump in starts and completions

There were two big boosts in the numbers released today for house builders. First, the latest Government data on homes built in England are by far the best for more than a year with a massive leap in the quarter to June. Second, gross mortgage lending in July was up 26% on June, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. These figures suggest a continued and reasonably strong improvement in both the housing market and in house building.

CML provides further evidence of the housing market becoming more buoyant

CML provides further evidence of the housing market becoming more buoyant

The Council of Mortgage Lenders today adds yet more weight to the view that the housing market is in a period of stability if not growth. Its June figures show a 23% increase in the number of home loans over the past month taking the total to a level not seen for about a year. The bounce back in loans to first time buyers will come as a welcome relief to house builders in particular. While numbers are still low…

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