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Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Net Mortgage Lending Down Again

Net mortgage lending in April was down again, to its lowest level in 8 years.

While the number of mortgages approved for house purchases rose slightly (but still 15.5% lower than April 2008), the value of the lending was down to £2.7bn, down from £3.4bn in March.

According to the British Bankers Assoc (BBA), it is householders' continuing financial uncertainty that is holding back borrowing.

There also appears to be a decline in the number of people remortaging, perhaps waiting for better fixed rate deals. The number of remortgage approvals in April was 25,418, its lowest since December 1999.
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Friday, 15 May 2009

First Time Buyers Return to the Market

First time buyers look to be returning to the housing market, with them accounting for the highest proportion of those looking for homes in 4 years.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders also found that borrowers are paying the least amount on their monthly mortgages in a decade.

The CML found that first-time borrowers accounted for 40% of house buying lending, the highest proportion since 2005. However, levels are still very low with only 12,500 buyers compared with 17,800 in March last year.
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Reposessions up by 50%

The number of house repossesions in the UK has risen by 50% in one year, with 12,800 repossessions in the first quarter of 2009. This figure is up 23% on the previous quarter.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has previously predicted that 75,000 homes will be repossessed this year, but despite these figures released today, it has described this forecast as pessimistic and may revise its forecast in the summer.

The number of home loans in arrears of more than 2.5% was up by 12% in the first quarter to 205,300. This is up 62% on the first quarter of 2008.
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Thursday, 14 May 2009

Mortgage Lending Rises Sharply

The number of mortgage approvals rose sharply in March, with 31,000 new mortgages granted, up 29% on February. However, this figure is still 33% down on the previous year.

HM Revenue and Customs also reported that completed property sales rose by 40$ in February and March.

Depite these incerases, the property market still remains subdued with levels of sales and lending still far lower than last year.
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Wednesday, 6 May 2009

House Prices Continue to Fall

The Halifax house price survey published today shows another fall in house prices last month, with prices falling by 1.7% in April, rushing the annual rate of delcine to 17.7%. The average UK property is now worth £33,264 less than a year ago.

The Halifax goes on to warn that prices are likely to continue to fall over the coming months, which reflects our thoughts on house prices - see our thoughts on how long the property crash will last.

Looking for positive signs, Halifax does highlight that mortgage approvals are rising and estate agents have reported a rise in interest from potential buyers.
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How much longer will the property crash last?

Many property owners, buyers, sellers and investors are asking this question. Unfortunately the complex factors influencing the property market make it very difficult to predict the timing of any recovery.

After analysis of past slowdowns we believe that some of the trends identified during the property crash of the early 1990’s may well be repeated in the current cycle.

We have used the Nationwide Property Price Index to provide average property prices since 1998 and then based on this trend estimated what could happen during this boom/bust cycle.

The data shows that during the crash of the early 90’s the price boom was followed by a rapid fall in prices and then a more gradual long-term decline. It actually took 12 years for average house prices to recover to pre-1989 levels.

Over the last 2 years we have had a similar rate of decline as experienced in 1990. If history is repeated price falls may become less dramatic over coming months. Although still in their infancy this trend may be supported by recent statistics showing some improvements in the market.

Although the worst of the crash may be over, that doesn’t mean prices will immediately rebound. We are much more likely to witness continuing price falls, just at a slower rate, before any eventual recovery. Indeed we expect the bottom of the market is several years away, and we may not see average prices rebound until 2014.

Following the historic trend you could find that the value of a house bought at the peak of the market in 2007 may not recover to its original purchase level until 2021!



Click graph above to enlarge



Although these timescales and price fluctuations may seem extreme it is believed that the current economic conditions are worse than at any time since the great depression of the 1930’s.

Therefore the depth of the slowdown and the pace of any recovery may be worse than anything experienced by recent generations. Indeed without cheap, freely available and unregulated credit the booms experienced during previous cycles may not be as exaggerated in future.
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