UK Housing Market Update Little relief for property markets in the Pre-Budget Report The Pre-Budget Report (PBR) contained some good news for the commercial and residential property sectors but perhaps less than some might have been hoping for. The bottom line is that, to the extent... 24th November 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update What do new trackers tells us about the mortgage rate outlook? Although most of the biggest lenders have passed on last week’s 1.5% base rate cut to their standard variable mortgage rates many smaller lenders have not. And the early signs are that the interest... 14th November 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Mortgage interest rates heading to 3% Today’s interest rate cut, from 4.5% to 3%, marks only the early stages of a phase of aggressive monetary easing which will ultimately take base rates to an all-time low of 1%. Mortgage interest rates... 6th November 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Fireworks from the MPC, and much more to come A day late maybe, but the Monetary Policy Committee certainly delivered some spectacular fireworks today in the form of the 150bp cut in interest rates, the biggest move since 1992. But rates still... 6th November 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update One-in-five mortgage borrowers to be affected by negative equity According to Bank of England estimates, negative equity now affects roughly 3% of mortgage borrowers, or just over 350,000 households. Yet, if we are right and house prices still have at least another... 29th October 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Bank of England Financial Stability Report, October 2008 Unsurprisingly, there was little in the way of positive news in today’s Financial Stability Report (FSR) for the residential and commercial property markets. From a property perspective, the Bank... 28th October 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Has the housing market outlook changed? What a tumultuous few weeks! Policymakers around the world have stepped in to bail out the banking system, hopefully averting full-scale financial system meltdown, and UK interest rates have been cut... 16th October 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Finally, some light at the end of the mortgage market tunnel At last, some rare good news for the housing market. Together, the bank recapitalisation plan and the 0.5% cut in official policy rates suggest that policy makers have now realised that drastic action... 8th October 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Rental growth set to be slower than expected Surveys point to an easing in the supply/demand imbalance in the private rental market in recent months. Coupled with the likely severity of the economic downturn, this increases the chances that... 12th September 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Government housing measures contain no miracle cure The Government today announced a number of measures designed to “meet current challenges in the housing market”. While some of the measures will help to ease the hardship faced by a few of the... 2nd September 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Stamp duty – a case of words speaking louder than actions Rumours that the Government is preparing to take action on stamp duty are gathering ground, with a number of papers reporting the story today. But, while a fundamental reform of stamp duty would no... 6th August 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Large forecast house price falls not wildly out of line with the past While the 35% fall in nominal house prices that we expect over the next couple of years will be unprecedented, in real terms our forecast looks to be not wildly out of line with past experience. 30th July 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Crosby Review : No silver bullet to shorten the housing correction The key message from Sir James Crosby’s interim report on the state of UK mortgage finance is that the current squeeze on mortgage credit will be protracted. While he does not rule out the possibility... 29th July 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Diverging house price surveys reflect timing issues – little more All the major indices have now reported some falls in average house prices. But the scale of those falls varies wildly. Should we be concerned? At one extreme, the Halifax and Nationwide have reported... 15th July 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update UK heads towards recession We have been more concerned than most forecasters about the outlook for the UK economy and, in particular, the prospect of an abrupt unwinding of the various imbalances that have built up over the... 2nd July 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Slower rate cuts increase recession risks The recent dreadful news on inflation and the Bank of England’s hawkish Inflation Report suggest that interest rates will not fall as quickly this year as we had previously hoped – we have raised our... 15th May 2008 · 1 min read