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Tag: Halifax

Why young folk can’t buy homes

Why young folk can’t buy homes

My patience runs thin when listening to the reasons why young folk can’t buy homes. And today I’ve had to listen to and read various interpretations of why they can’t, prompted by the release of the interesting Halifax sponsored research “The Reality of Generation Rent: Perceptions of the first time buyer market”. Call me unnecessarily reductive, but there is one simple over-riding reason why young folk struggle to buy a home, so simple it seems to be the most often…

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Little comfort for house sellers in latest market data and none for those wanting more homes built

Little comfort for house sellers in latest market data and none for those wanting more homes built

For those hypersensitive to twitches in the housing market the latest batch of data will not be comforting. Today we see the housing survey results for April from the surveyors’ body RICS, which its economists interpret as revealing a broad-based improvement, albeit within a market that remains fragile.

House prices flatline in a fragile market, but what does this mean for construction?

House prices flatline in a fragile market, but what does this mean for construction?

As the various house price indicies trickle in with their indications of what happened to house prices and the housing market in February one thing remains certain – you’d be foolish to draw too many conclusions from them about the likely path ahead. Analysis of the December, January and February data has been clouded by the big freeze in December. And there remains considerable uncertainty over how much the big squeeze from public sector spending cuts has already hit demand…

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Future’s traders see long slump in house prices

Future’s traders see long slump in house prices

House prices will be lower than today at least until the end of 2014. That is the balance of the views of City folk who trade in residential derivatives. The index Future HPI, put together by Peter Sceats & Associates, provides an index of residential derivatives trades and it puts the average price of a house in December 2014 measured against the Halifax index at £157,224. That is about £6,000 less than the average non-seasonally adjusted price measured by Halifax in November….

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Halifax shows continued slide in house prices…but the real market test comes in the New Year

Halifax shows continued slide in house prices…but the real market test comes in the New Year

The Halifax house price index crept down today and appears to be on a path of slow decline, which is broadly in line with most other house price indicators. And as we can see from the graph transactions remain subdued and mortgage approvals are also on a gentle downward slide. But while the current slide in the market may be unsettling, it will be the next few months that will prove particularly nail biting for those whose fortunes are pinned…

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What house price falls might mean for future housing construction

What house price falls might mean for future housing construction

The Halifax index out today will provide a nasty kick in the stomach for those businesses reliant on stable or rising house prices to prosper. The monthly fall of 3.6% was the biggest I could find on the historic data spreadsheet that Lloyds Banking Group provides that goes back to the start of 1983. The previous worst monthly fall was 3.0% in September 1992. And however much we are advised to look at the quarterly figure and how ever much…

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A double-dip in house prices isn’t really the problem

A double-dip in house prices isn’t really the problem

The Nationwide house price survey showing a drop of 0.9% following a 0.5% drop in July adds yet more weight to the growing view that house prices are sagging and are set to sag further. The Halifax index peaked in March and fell monthly up to a minor rally in July. The Acadmetrics index has been heading south since March, although it similarly saw a gentle uplift of 0.1% in July. Hometrack went 0.1% negative in July and the drop…

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Nationwide joins other indexes to show house prices falling

Nationwide joins other indexes to show house prices falling

It came as little surprise that the Nationwide house price survey should show a fall in July. And it showed a pretty significant fall of 0.5% on its seasonally adjusted series. It had been for many months among the more bullish of the indexes measuring inflation in the UK housing market, at a time when others were showing the market sliding backwards. But like most of the indexes, the Nationwide has had to draw big conclusions from a rather thinner…

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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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The housing market stalls

The housing market stalls

As the latest round of monthly housing market indicators spills new insight into the pot of understanding the figures seem to support earlier suggestions that both activity and prices are stalling. The pattern is varied regionally and confused by the General Election, pre-Budget anticipation over the increases in Capital Gains Tax for second home owners, the suspension of Home Improvement Packs and the ripples generated by the changes to stamp duty. But the overall trend does now seems to suggest…

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