News & Events
56.
House prices up slightly in June
A housing market body has said there is a "loophole" in the Home Information Pack (HIP) rules which could mean sellers escape having a pack.
House prices rose slightly across the UK last month, according to the latest survey from the Halifax bank.
It says prices rose by 0.4% in June, pushing up the annual rate of house price inflation from 10.6% to 10.7%.
The average UK house now costs £197,461, with prices currently rising fastest in Northern Ireland.
Although prices are still going up, despite higher borrowing costs, the Halifax says the recent pace of growth has been slowing down.
And the lender expects the four rises in interest rates since the summer of last year to restrain house price inflation even further.
"House prices increased by 0.4% in June, marking the second successive monthly rise of less than 0.5%," said the Halifax's chief economist Martin Ellis.
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"Overall, prices increased by 2.0% in 2007 Quarter Two, less than the 3.0% increase in 2007 Quarter One and well below the 4.2% rise in 2006 Quarter Four.
"These figures indicate that house price inflation is slowing," he said.
Falling prices
The trend is not uniform across the country. Prices in Northern Ireland are still shooting up, rising by 8.5% in the past three months alone.
London prices are still rising briskly, up by 4.9% in the same period.
But on the Halifax's calculations, prices have actually fallen slightly in the past three months in the South West, West Midlands and also Wales, where they have gone down by nearly 3%.
Some UK provincial cities are seeing signs of over-supply in the property market, estate agent Savills said in a trading update released on Wednesday.
And the string of interest rate rises was beginning to lead to a cooling of demand, the firm added.
Super-rich
However, markets in London and the South East remained "strong", Savills said, with super-rich international investors driving demand for top-end homes.
This may increase the likelihood of the Bank of England raising interest rates this week, analysts said.
BBC business editor Robert Peston said the comments were fresh evidence of "a decoupling between Britain's two economies - the super-rich and the majority of Britons".
"What the Bank of England has almost zero influence over is what Savills calls the 'super-prime markets', or homes selling for many, many millions of pounds each," he said.
"These are still soaring in value, due in large part to 'interest from international purchasers' - the Russians, the Chinese, Arabs, the non-British partners in hedge funds and private equity."
Extra cash
Meanwhile homeowners are continuing to cash in on the increased value of their homes to expand their mortgages and spend the money on things other than their houses.
The Bank of England's latest figures on housing equity withdrawal show that a further £13.2bn was taken out by homeowners in the first three months of this year. That boosted their take-home incomes by 6.1%
The extra money taken out was a similar to that in the last three months of 2006.
The fresh borrowing means that UK householders have borrowed an extra £277bn by this method since the start of the decade.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
55. Home info packs delayed to August
A housing market body has said there is a "loophole" in the Home Information Pack (HIP) rules which could mean sellers escape having a pack.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said the rules allowed for sellers merely to have ordered a home pack when exchanging contracts.
As a result, sellers, if they sold quickly, could do so without having a pack in place, RICS added.
But the government said the claim of a loophole was "nonsense".
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We have been forced to tell them (the government) that to the best of our knowledge, selling a house without a HIP would not be illegal Jeremy Leaf, RICS |
RICS said HIP rules required that only an energy performance certificate - a component of a HIP - be in place by the exchange of contracts, but not a full home pack.
The full pack would only have to be on order.
If the property is taken off the market before a HIP can be produced, the seller may never need to pay
for it, RICS added.
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PACKS WILL INCLUDE Evidence of title Copies of planning, listed building or building regulations consents A local search Guarantees for any work on the property An energy performance certificate |
In theory, this could mean that sellers could by-pass supplying the buyer with the title deed and local searches, key components of a home pack.
"We have been forced to tell them (the government) that to the best of our knowledge, selling a house without a HIP would not be illegal," Jeremy Leaf, RICS spokesman said.
"Unless the government can show us the regulation that says a property cannot be sold without a HIP, consumers and industry will be left to draw their own conclusions," he added.
In response, a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government denied there was a loophole.
"We set out...that people could begin marketing their properties provided they had commissioned their
HIP," he said.
"A HIP includes documents such as searches and evidence of title which are required before a sale can
take place," the spokesman added.
Postponement
Recently the introduction of HIPs was postponed from 1 June to 1 August.
In addition, the government announced that only properties with four bedrooms or more would need a
HIP after 1 August.
Ultimately, though, the plan is that all homes put up for sale should have a HIP.
HIPs have been controversial, with many housing industry groups calling for the idea to be shelved on
the grounds that they are expensive and unnecessary.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
54. Home info packs delayed to August
Critics say Home Information Packs will add to the cost of selling |
The introduction of Home Information Packs is to be delayed until August - when they will be brought in for sales of four-bedroom properties.
The packs were due to become compulsory for all home sales from 1 June.
But Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly told MPs the packs would now be phased in, starting with sales of large homes.
She also said that initially sellers would only have to have commissioned a pack, rather than have a completed one, before marketing their property.
The delay comes after a judge, ruling on a legal challenge from surveyors, said the energy performance
certificates should be left out of the packs "for the time being".
Ministers have increasingly used the energy certificates to justify the packs, as criticism mounted that
they could cost sellers a lot, but not help buyers.
Ms Kelly said the delay meant the packs would be able to include the energy element, which would help
to cut carbon emissions by highlighting areas where energy efficiency in a property could be improved.
The legal challenge from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors was based on what they said
was a lack of proper consultation on the packs.
PACKS WILL INCLUDE Evidence of title Copies of planning, listed building or building regulations consents A local search Guarantees for any work on the property An energy performance certificate. |
There have also been concerns that there are not enough people trained to carry out the environmental checks on properties.
Ms Kelly confirmed that shortage when she told MPs there were not going to be enough inspectors trained and accredited for the planned 1 June start date.
The idea had been that homes put up for sale in England and Wales would have to have a completed pack, costing at least £300, with title deeds and an energy performance certificate, from next month.
Energy performance certificates would give sellers and would-be buyers information on the property's energy efficiency, as well as tips on how the energy efficiency of the home could be improved.
They would also ensure that the UK complies with an EU directive which comes into force in 2009.
Lords
Shadow housing minister Michael Gove said: "The government's plans for HIPs are unravelling. Ministers
must now acknowledge that they have botched this from beginning to end.
"Now is the time to work with us in the interests of the housing market and combating climate change."
The Lords are also due to debate the packs on Tuesday. A select committee has already urged the
government to "seriously" consider the criticism it described as "striking" and "widespread".
HAVE YOUR SAY We have put our house on the market a month early simply to avoid the cost of these packs Laura Berbank, Medway |
Jeremy Leaf from RICS said last week the packs would make it "more expensive and more difficult" for people to put their homes on the market, as well as being less "green" than they could be.
Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth called the energy performance certificates "a crucial measure that will help householders tackle climate change and cut energy bills".
Any delay to HIPs would "inevitably" delay the introduction of energy certificates, a spokesman said.
Liberal Democrat local government spokesman Andrew Stunell said "government incompetence...had botched" the packs' introduction, but his party, like the Conservatives, still support the energy certificates.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
53. Mortgage lending jumps in August
Mortgage lending is still booming, according to figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
In August, total new lending hit a fresh record of £32.7bn, 7% up on July and 21% higher than a year ago.
The British Bankers Association (BBA) also reported a record £6.2bn rise in net mortgage lending, which reflects the impact of repayments by borrowers.
At the same time, consumers seem to be using credit cards less, with card lending down £399m in August.
August was the fourth month in a row that UK consumers had registered a net repayment on their credit cards.
"We have not seen contraction of borrowing on cards on this scale before," said David Dooks, director of statistics at the BBA.
Mr Dooks explained that the drop may be due to increased competition as foreign card issuers enter the UK market, and may signal that consumers are becoming more careful in managing their finances.
The BBA figures also showed that personal loan lending and overdrafts increased by £186m in August, a weaker than usual rise.
House market
Wednesday's mortgage announcement seems to underpin recent data from major lenders and from the Bank of England, suggesting that the UK housing market is strong despite a recent rise in interest rates.
"In the coming months we expect to see a very similar picture, as demand remains strong and house prices continue to rise," said Michael Coogan of the CML.
However, he warned that financial markets are expecting an increase in interest rates sometime between now and the middle of next year, a move that is likely to cool house price growth.
"We forecast that house price growth and strength of demand will moderate as consumers anticipate higher rates," Mr Coogan said.
According to the Halifax and Nationwide, house prices are now between 7% and 8% higher than a year ago.
And the Bank of England last month reported that mortgage approvals, a very good indicator of near term trends, were at their highest level of the year so far and 24% higher than at the same time a year earlier.
Link1 : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5362908.stm
Last modified: 20/09/2006
52. House price rise defies rate hike
Houses prices are rising at their fastest pace since May 2004 despite August's rate rise, a survey suggests.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said 35% more of its members said prices rose rather then fell in August.
House prices are now rising in all parts of the UK, led by Scotland, the north of England and London.
RICS' findings mirror those of other housing market surveys, all of which suggest prices are rising sharply.
Buyers encouraged
On Monday, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said prices rose by 6.0% in the year to July, up from 5.2% in the year to June.
The average UK property now costs £194,454, the DCLG added.
Likewise, the Halifax and Nationwide have both said house prices are rising at a far faster rate than they had expected.
RICS cited "above trend economic growth and a firm labour market" for encouraging new buyers to take the property plunge.
This is despite the Bank of England's decision to increase the rate of borrowing by a quarter point to 4.75% last month.
RICS members said that this had had little impact on the market and that buyer enquiries had risen for the fifteenth month in a row.
Link1 : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5344702.stm
Last modified: 19/09/2006
51. Home prices 'to rise 50% by 2011'
Average house prices in England could rise from £195,000 to nearly £290,000 by 2011, research from Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF) has said.
Under-supply of new housing will fuel house price inflation, the OEF added.
Getting on the housing ladder will become even harder, it said, as house prices rise from eight times average salaries to 9.2 times in 2011.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said there was a "crisis" of affordability.
"High house prices are already having a disastrous effect on local communities. People are unable to find a home in the area they grew up," Mr Orr said.
"Over the next five years we'll see home ownership being pushed further out of the reach of middle earners and even those on relatively high incomes," he added.
The Federation, which sponsored the OEF report, added that about 80,000 extra new homes needed to be built each year to boost supply and avert a dramatic rise in house prices.
However, the OEF's prediction goes against many other housing market forecasts.
The Halifax and Nationwide have both said that house price growth will be modest over the medium term, while research group Capital Economics has said that it expects prices to fall later in 2006.
From the BBC website.
Link1 : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5187398.stm
Last modified: 18/07/2006
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