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A shortage of homes propped up the housing market in August, despite Brexit worries putting the brakes on sales according to Halifax. Figures from the lender showed that house prices edged up by 0.3% last month, compared to July. However, when compared to the same month last year, prices only rose by 1.8% - compared to a 3.4% increase expected by analysts. Halifax said the average house price was £233,541, compared to £229,317 a year ago.
BBC News (06/09/2019) Daily Mail (06/09/2019)
Halifax has followed other lenders, such as Barclays and Lloyds Bank, in offering 100% mortgages loans to customers who have parental support. It has launched a new mortgage which does not require prospective first-time buyers to have a deposit of their own. Instead, parents are asked to save the equivalent of a 10% deposit in cash with the bank. By saving in this linked account, their children will be eligible for a Halifax Family Boost mortgage, a three-year fixed-rate deal at 2.9% that comes with cashback and no fees.
The Daily Telegraph (12/09/2019)
Average house prices remained flat month on month in August, the latest Nationwide’s House Price Index shows, though the annual rate of property price growth nudged up to 0.6%, compared with 0.3% in July. It is the ninth month in a row that annual house price inflation has remained below 1%. The average UK house now costs £216,096, according to Nationwide, £1,567 less than a month ago. The building society warned that Brexit uncertainty is weighing the market down. “In the near term, healthy labour market conditions and low borrowing costs will provide underlying support, though uncertainty is likely to continue to exert a drag on sentiment and activity,” Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said.
City AM (30/08/2019) The Daily Telegraph (30/08/2019)
London home buyers are prepared to pay a 9.4% premium on a house located no more than 500 metres away from a station, according to Nationwide. That amounts to approximately £42,900 based on average London house prices. In comparison, a premium for a property half a kilometre from a station in Manchester stands at 7.8%, and falls to 3.8% in Glasgow. Nationwide suggests that “this probably reflects the greater reliance on public transport in the capital.” Average house prices in London are most expensive near the Circle line (£801,000), while TfL rail serves the least costly homes (£359,000).
City AM (32/08/3029)
Mortgage approvals for July hit a two-year high, according to the latest Bank of England data. Lenders approved 67,306 mortgages last month, up from 66,506 in June, while net mortgage lending rose by £4.6bn, or 1.2%, the largest increase since March 2016. So far this year more than 461,000 mortgages have been approved for movers. However Hansen Lu at Capital Economics warned that transactions this year would fall by 1% if the UK struck a deal to leave the EU – and by as much as 10% in a no-deal Brexit scenario. “We think the mid-year recovery in lending will be cut short,” he said.
City AM (30/08/2019) The Daily Telegraph (30/08/2019) Daily Mail (30/08/2019)
The average house deposit jumped by 22% to £105,260 over the past five years, according to research by Lloyds Bank. The average price paid by those moving home also went up, by 32%, to £329,648. The largest deposit was paid by people in London (£213,907); the smallest in Northern Ireland (£56,763). Lloyds said a total of 160,540 people used a mortgage to move house in the first half of 2019, an annual rise of 1%.
The Sunday Times (01/09/2019)