House Prices in Limbo as Market Plays Waiting Game

The property market is in limbo as buyers, sellers and lenders wait and see what is going to happen with interest rates. All the market indicators point to house price falls bottoming out over recent months. House prices showed no change over the year ending April 30, 2011, according to the latest findings of the Communities and Local Government property survey. Some marginal movement of fractions of a percentage point were recorded. The average price of a home in England is £204,439, just a few pounds different for the same period last year. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has also released details of mortgage advances for April. Borrowing was £5.9 billion on 40,900 advances for home purchase in April - up 8% from March but down 2% on lending in April 2010. First time buyers accounted for 15,800 loans. The rest went to movers. First time buyers spend more of their income on purchasing a home than movers - their loans were at an average 80% loan-to-value at 13.3% of income compared with an average 69% of a home’s value taking 9.7% of income for movers. The number of remortgages plunged as homeowners reacted to signals from the Bank of England that interest rates are unlikely to rise before the end of the year. Remortgages collapsed 27% from 34,100 in March to 24,700 in April. Lending was also down 28% to £3 billion against £4.1 billion in March. Michael Coogan, CML director general said: "The market continues on a stable footing and the increase in house purchase lending is a good sign that the stability will continue throughout 2011. “The economic outlook, coupled with Bank of England subdued approvals data for April, suggests a muted summer for mortgage completions so we do not expect further increases in lending over the coming months."

Landlord blog

Jennifer Leonard

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