Filtered by Subscriptions: UK Housing Use setting UK Housing
Increased competition among lenders has caused mortgage interest rates to fall in recent months. But funding costs are set to remain pretty stable. That, combined with already tight interest margins and increased regulation, leaves limited scope for rates …
20th September 2019
Stamp duty changes previously hinted at by the Prime Minister could affect over half of all home buyers, with more expensive homes seeing substantial savings. While the effect on house prices would be minimal, it could provide a modest boost to …
19th September 2019
Housing demand stagnates once more Having seen a small improvement across June and July, housing demand lost all upward momentum in August. Looking ahead, given the high level of house prices and ongoing political uncertainty, a recovery in house price …
12th September 2019
Mortgage price war is making its mark Price cuts from lenders have helped to push up the share of high LTV loans and fixed-rate deals, suggesting that the mortgage price war is increasingly making its mark. But there is little sign that lenders have …
10th September 2019
After spending much of the last year as an outlier, IHS Markit has fixed the Halifax index. In line with the other main measures, the index is now recording sluggish house price growth. And with the usual month-on-month volatility now greatly reduced, the …
6th September 2019
Renewed Halifax Index broadly in line with other measures While the revamped Halifax House Price Index pointed to slightly faster annual house price growth in August, it is a far cry from the unusually strong rates shown by the old series. Nonetheless, …
July saw the second consecutive monthly rise in new buyer enquiries and house purchase mortgage approvals, as Brexit uncertainty briefly eased. (See Chart 1.) But with house prices very high and economic uncertainty set to intensify once more, we expect …
5th September 2019
Construction continues to contract The decline in the headline construction PMI in August provides further evidence that construction activity has failed to recover so far in Q3. With firms cautious about the outlook, commercial property construction …
3rd September 2019
Labour’s proposed Right to Buy scheme for private tenants could have severe unintended consequences. The supply of property available to rent would fall, pushing up rents across the board. Moreover, if rented homes could be bought for a discount, the …
2nd September 2019
Gentle rise in mortgage lending House purchase mortgage approvals saw a gentle recovery in July. But with uncertainty set to intensify in the coming months, the rise in lending probably won’t be sustained. According to the Bank of England, there were …
30th August 2019
Market still sluggish in August House price growth was sluggish in August. With Brexit-related uncertainty set to continue over the next few months, a recovery in house price growth this year is unlikely. The Nationwide recorded no monthly change in …
Mortgage approvals edge up The rise in mortgage approvals published by UK Finance should be interpreted with care. It probably reflects lenders competing for market share, rather than a market-wide recovery in lending. According to UK Finance, among the …
27th August 2019
Accelerating wage growth has lowered the house price to earnings ratio, even as house prices themselves have continued to climb. Indeed, London has already seen an 11% drop in earnings-adjusted prices. Looking ahead, we expect wage growth to drive a …
22nd August 2019
The era of sustained, rapid house price growth appears to be over. But even so, the cost of owning a home is still favourable compared to renting and is likely to stay that way. That suggests that households’ strong preference for owner occupation will be …
19th August 2019
London’s rental market is shifting to a new phase of adjustment. Low returns and tax changes are driving landlords from the market, while rising wages and low unemployment are supporting tenant demand. As a result, fresh imbalances between rental supply …
13th August 2019
Market struggles to gather momentum The latest RICS survey showed a housing market struggling to gather any upward momentum. With Brexit uncertainty poised to intensify in the coming months, we expect house prices and transactions to see little or no …
8th August 2019
Housing demand improved in June for the first time in over two years. But with the rise driven heavily by regions with the most expensive prices, and another Brexit deadline looming, that doesn’t signal an imminent housing market rebound. Indeed, we think …
7th August 2019
Another unusually strong result from the Halifax House price growth on the Halifax index once again outpaced the other main indices. But we wouldn’t put too much weight on that result. With house prices very high relative to incomes and the likelihood of …
Data from the English Housing Survey suggest that rising tenant demand has come from newly formed households. That could reflect more young adults moving out of their parents’ homes, and supports our view that rental growth will rise to 3.5% y/y by 2021. …
1st August 2019
No sign of a recovery in house price growth There was no sign of a recovery in house price growth in July, and we expect the market to stay that way in 2019, regardless of the Brexit outcome. Data released this morning by the Nationwide showed the average …
31st July 2019
No rebound in mortgage lending While there is evidence of lenders successfully taking market share, overall growth in house purchase mortgage lending is muted. Looking ahead, with Brexit uncertainty likely to pick up again later this year, lending is more …
29th July 2019
Transactions fell sharply in June, but leading indicators suggest that the decline probably won’t be sustained. Indeed, assuming a no deal Brexit is avoided, we think housing transactions will fall by only 1% this year, before seeing a modest rise out to …
25th July 2019
Small rise in mortgage approvals According to UK Finance, house purchase mortgage approvals saw a small increase in June. But even assuming a Brexit deal is agreed, we don’t expect to see a sustained recovery in mortgage approvals until 2020. There were …
24th July 2019
Overview – Regardless of the Brexit outcome, we don’t expect a rebound in either house prices or transactions in 2019. Rather, there is hope of a modest improvement in housing market activity in both 2020 and 2021, assuming a no-deal Brexit is avoided in …
22nd July 2019
Credit availability eases in Q2 Lenders reported a drop in mortgage availability in Q2. And while that decline is expected to reverse in Q3, we doubt that will translate into a rebound in mortgage lending. Meanwhile, credit conditions for commercial real …
18th July 2019
Overview – As Brexit could dramatically alter the near-term outlook for the economy, we are continuing to publish three sets of forecasts based on different Brexit outcomes (deal, no deal and more delays). But there are three common themes to this …
16th July 2019
Surveyors report rise in buyer enquiries New buyer enquiries saw its first meaningful rise in over two years, but it’s too soon to call a housing market recovery. Indeed, the pick-up was partly driven by London and the South of England, where house prices …
11th July 2019
House prices fall as construction slows While house prices edged down in June, the Halifax index is still an outlier compared to the other main indices. Meanwhile, housing starts cooled in Q1. Looking ahead we expect the market to stay weak, with house …
5th July 2019
The construction PMI fell sharply in June, but we doubt that housing starts will see a comparable decline. However, with Help-to-Buy due to be pared back, we do expect a small fall in housebuilding out to 2021. June’s CIPS/IHS Markit construction PMI …
3rd July 2019
Weak house price growth in June According to the Nationwide, house price growth was very subdued June. And while the Brexit outcome is as uncertain as ever, the already high level of house prices suggests a rebound in the housing market is unlikely over …
2nd July 2019
Lending slips in May With house purchase lending falling gently in May, there is no sign of a rebound in the housing market. Indeed, with renewed Brexit uncertainty likely in the coming months, we expect house purchase mortgage approvals to end 2019 down …
1st July 2019
Mortgage approvals still at higher than expected levels Loans for house purchase eased slightly in May, but were still higher than at any other point since April 2017. There was a fall back in loans extended for re-mortgaging and we expect loans for house …
26th June 2019
London’s owner occupier housing market performed poorly, as prices fell and transactions stayed in reverse gear. With house prices high and uncertainty continuing to bite, a recovery in prices and transactions looks a long way off. That said, the …
20th June 2019
A high house price to rent ratio disadvantages the development of build-to-rent, relative to build-to-sell. And with capital values unlikely to grow as quickly as they have done in the past, total returns on residential property will not return to past …
17th June 2019
Despite its flaws, Help-to-Buy has been effective in supporting housing construction. As a result, when the time comes, the government may have little choice but to renew the scheme again. … Could HTB be renewed once …
14th June 2019
The RICS measure of new buyer enquires was broadly flat in May, breaking the 9-month run of declining demand. That said, it is still far too soon to call a housing market recovery. … RICS Residential Market Survey …
13th June 2019
Reflecting changes to the composition of their balance sheets, banks are increasingly pricing their loans off deposit funds, rather than short-term wholesale debt. That suggests there is a downside risk to our forecast for mortgage interest rates, albeit …
11th June 2019
High LTI and LTV lending saw little movement in Q1, despite competitive pressures on lenders, suggesting that mortgage lending is primarily constrained by demand. With uncertainty set to persist for at least several months more, we think a rebound in …
Despite an improvement in mortgage approvals, the housing market has struggled to gather any upward momentum. Indeed, with buyer confidence still weak and house prices still high relative to incomes, we expect house price growth to stay below 2% y/y out …
7th June 2019
The faster rate of house price growth recorded by the Halifax is an outlier, and should largely be discounted. Indeed, the other main indices report house prices rising by less than 2% per year – a trend which we expect to persist until 2021. … Halifax …
Recent housing proposals from Labour, if enacted, could have major consequences for the housing market. On the plus side, abolishing stamp duty could help to unclog housing transactions. But proposals to empower public sector housing development, combined …
4th June 2019
April’s strong rise in house purchase mortgage approvals more than reversed March’s fall. But we doubt that signals the start of a sustained recovery in lending. … Mortgage Lending …
31st May 2019
Uncertainty and the already high level of prices kept house price inflation subdued in May. Looking ahead, we expect these factors to keep price growth weak to the end of 2019 – at just 1% y/y. … Nationwide House Prices …
Mortgage approvals for house purchase saw a surprisingly large rise in April, but we doubt that signals the start of a sustained rebound in lending. Indeed, with all other signs consistent with softening housing market activity, the latest surge in …
28th May 2019
Rather than scale back their borrowing, buyers in London have taken advantage of falling house prices by purchasing better homes. But much of that reflects the continued ultra-low interest rate environment, which we think will start to unwind across our …
23rd May 2019
Labour intends to end Permitted Development Rights (PDRs) for office to residential conversions. This is a further blow to this scheme, which was already losing momentum, though it is unlikely to make a major difference to housing supply longer-term. … …
14th May 2019
Housing market conditions were weak in April, as the delay to Brexit did little to rebuild confidence in among buyers and sellers. Looking ahead, we expect uncertainty and high house prices to further hold back activity, driving a small fall in mortgage …
10th May 2019
Falling buyer enquiries and sales instructions point to further housing market weakness. And the rental market data also suggest that landlord instructions weakened. That supports our view that rental growth will accelerate over the next few years. … RICS …
9th May 2019
The sharp rise in Halifax house price growth stands in contrast to the other housing market data and should be interpreted with care. Indeed, our outlook for house price growth is much weaker, with prices set to grow by just 1% y/y in 2019, and by 2% y/y …
8th May 2019
Housing market uncertainty may soon start to ease. But a recovery in mortgage approvals or transactions is still unlikely this year. Indeed, given the high level of house prices relative to earnings, we expect to see only a modest rise in mortgage lending …
3rd May 2019
