Mortgage approvals were up in May, for the fourth month in a row. There were 43,414 approvals in the month - however, this was up just 223 on April. Net lending for house buying by lenders grew by just £324m in May, the smallest increase on record.
In comparison to last May, lending is 35% lower. The market appears to have recovered from its slump, but activity still remains depressed compared with last year.
Building societies are also reporting that savers are wtihdrawing more money than they are depositing funds, for the thrid month in a row, which may limit how much banks and building societies can lend.
According to estate agents, the number of house buyers registering their interest is increasing, with an average of 299 potential buyers registered per agent in May, up from 265 in April. This is the highest level since Sept 2007 and up from the low in Nov 08 of 186.
With the shortage in supply of houses, this suggest that there is potentially 4 buyers per house available.
The big lenders have all been increasing the interest rate on the fixed rate mortgages this week, despite the record low level of base rates. They have blamed the the rise in swap rates.
This week, Abbey, the UK's second largest mortgage lender, increased its fixed-rate deals by between 0.25% and 0.5%. Lloyds Banking Group has also increased some of its fixed rate deals this week.
With base rates at an historic low, fixed rate deals have become very popular recently - during April, 69% of all new mortgage lending were at fixed rates. The expectation from mortgage experts, such as Savills, is that now is a good time to fix, with base rates only likely to rise from current levels.
Currently, the average 2 year fixed rate mortgage with a minimum 25% deposit is 4.28%.
Mortgage lending was up by 16% in April compared with March. Although this figure is down 28% on April 08, experts say it points to a sign of a spring bounce in the housing market and provides more evidence that the bottom of the market may have been reached.
48% of mortgages taken out in April were on fixed rate deals, with an average rate of 4.83%, the lowest since Jan 04.
New figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) shows that buy to let landlords are having their properties repossesed at a rate three times great than other homeowners.
1,700 buy to let properties were repossesed in the first quarter of 2009. 4,100 properties were lost when including case of lenders appointing a 'receiver of rent' (appointed by the mortgage lender when a landlord defaults on mortgage payments).
In the first quarter of 2008, just 300 receivers of rent were appointed - this figure was 2,400 in the same period of 2009.
Buy to let mortgage are now also much more difficult to obtain. At the peak of the boom in Sept 2007, there were 3,662 different buy to let mortgages available - now there are just 218! for those getting a mortgage, the deposit required is now usually 25%, up from the previous norm of 15%.
Many landlords are struggling from a flooded market, reduced rents that don't cover their mortgages, and falling prices which means they struggle to sell or certainly can't cover their mortgage if they do sell.
If you're a buy to let investor struggling to make your mortgage payments and needing to sell your property quickly, then call quickmovenow.com - we may be able to help you.
Are we seeing some signs of the housing market beginning to stabilise? This morning, RICs reports enquiries from new buyers increasing for the 7th month in a row in May, reaching their highest level since August 1999. The number of properties sold also continues to increase, with an average of 11.8 per agent in May, up from 10.6. RICS also shows the proportion of surveyors reporting price falls dropping from 58.7% to 44.1% in May. 40% of surveyors expect sales levels to rise over the next few months, the highest level in the quesiton was first asked in 1998.
A separate report from the local government office shows the average cost of a home rose by 1.1% in April, with house prices declining at a lower rate of 13%, down from 13.6% in March.
Some agents urge caution into reading too much into these reports, with lack of supply being highlighted as a critical support of house prices.
According to new figures from the Halifax, house prices rose by 2.6% in May, after 3 months of falling prices. As usual it's necessary to add the caveat that not too much should be read into one month's results.
However, figures based over 3 months months shows the rate of decline falling. There were consistently falls of between 5 - 6% experienced in the second half of 2008. By contrast, the figures for the quarter to May this year showed a fall of 3.1% so there is some hope that price falls are slowing.
The nunber of new mortgage approvals rose in April, for the 3rd month in a row. 43,210 new mortgages were approved.
Completed sales also rose in March and April, up 35% from February. Experts say that this is the start of a recovery in housing market activity, but doesn't necessairly herald an end to falling house prices.
They also point to the actual availability of funds available for lending still be limited by lenders, with 25% of new mortgage deals requiring a 40% deposit from borrrowers.
Land Registry figures show that house prices fell in April by 0.3%, with the annual rate of decline remaining at 16.2%, the same as March.
Although prices are still falling, the rate of decline has been firly staitc over the past couple of months. The average house price in England and Wales is now £152,898, down by £29,659 in the year.
The figures go on to show that the number of house sales between Nov 08 and Feb 09 averaged 31,315 per month, down by 42% on the same period 12 months previously.
According to david Smith, of Carter Jones, the figures herald the stabilising of the UK property market and that the bottom of the market has been reached. However, Howard Archer of Global Insight is sceptical that house prices have bottomed out.
Many people choose to buy a new home every year and there are many benefits in doing so. The market is dominated by large national and international new home builders who build the majority of private new homes.
When the market was good, house builders benefited from rising prices, profits and share prices. They also struggled to keep up with demand and government targets for new homes.
In 2007 the top 5 builders built 64,573 homes between them.
Since the well documented credit crunch and associated property crash the fortunes of builders has changed dramatically.
Builders have found the value of completed homes fall rapidly, which has eaten into precious margins. As the value of land has collapsed there have been huge write downs on land banks. Most of the big builders are listed on the stock market and share values have been hammered over the last 18 months.
Despite huge losses and write downs most of the builders have restructured their debts and are hanging on by the skin of their teeth.
The result of all this instability has been an 18.5% fall in homes completed in 2008 (52,665) by the top five builders.
This now make Barratt Homes the UK’s biggest builder by volume:
Overall there were 72,114 private sector builds started in 2008, showing a 56 per cent decrease on 2007 (163,535). The expectation is for even fewer properties to be completed in 2009.
What is the effect on the average house buyer? Property prices have fallen across the country making new build homes more affordable. However job security and difficulties obtaining mortgages are keeping many buyers out of the market, even though prices have fallen drastically.
Builders are desperate to complete and get cash and therefore are more flexible on sale price and are offering more incentives. Some very good deals are available if you are in strong position to negotiate.
Unless you are an investor or first time buyers the chances are you will have a house to sell. With such difficult market conditions this may be a big hurdle to buying a new home and getting a good deal.
One option which is often considered is part exchange. Certain developers will offer to buy your house in order for you to purchase their new home. However in the current market many part exchange schemes have been withdrawn or are severely limited. This leaves many people with no option other than to stay put.
Fortunately Quick Move Now’s part exchange service is independent of the builder and is still fully available. The service is flexible and allows you to sell your house and buy either a new or second-hand house.
*Data compiled from company annual reports/accounts for 2008.
Quick House Sale Calculator
Fall Through Index
Refer a Friend
T: 0800 068 3366 
Email Us 
Facebook