House prices rise again, according to ONS
13/08/2013
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has again reported a house price rise in the UK, as Government schemes continue to strengthen the property market.
This is backed up by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), which has said that prices are now rising at the fastest rate since their peak in 2006.
Average house prices rose by 0.4pc in June compared to the previous month, meaning the increase year-on-year is now 3.1pc, and for the third month in a row prices have increased faster than the headline rate of inflation across the whole economy.
Rics has said that a combination of Government initiatives, including Help to Buy and Funding for Lending, have helped the housing market to “turn a corner” since the recession severely damaged the whole economy.
Even though a recovery has been apparent for a while, Rics has said that July was a month where the performance of the market was particularly strong. The group said: “Since the start of the year buyers have been gradually returning to test the market – thanks in no small part to Government finance initiatives – yet the amount of would-be buyers seen in July saw a sizeable peak”.
Expectancy for the market and forecasts are now both being raised, as results continue to grow in strength.
“It is looking ever more likely that house prices will see marked increases over the rest of 2013 and 2014, with the result that we raised our house price forecasts”, said chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, Howard Archer.
Lenders are able to offer cheaper loans to potential buyers after Chancellor George Osborne launched schemes to boost the housing market. This has meant that an increasing amount of people are choosing to borrow money to buy property and the market is continuing to grow in strength.
Share this..
Related stories
Is the Bovis Homes and Barclays tie-up the way ahead?
Yesterday's announcement that housebuilder Bovis Homes has agreed a joint venture with Barclays which will see home buyers guaranteed a mortgage of up to 90% has set tongues wagging in the housebuilding arena. So is this the way ahead for the UK housebuilding sector? The structure of the deal between Bovis Homes and Barclays is such that Bovis Homes will put aside an agreed percentage of any pr...
Read MoreMortgage industry hits back at FSA
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has today hit back at new mortgage regulations proposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The CML believes that around half of mortgage arrangements approved between 2005 and 2009 would not have happened under the proposed new regulations even though the vast majority of the people in question have had no difficulty keeping up with their mortgage repa...
Read MoreGovernment to intervene to help first time buyers
First time buyers are expected to be among the chief beneficiaries of a government plan to intervene in the housing market. The plan will see the government take mortgage loans off lenders' balance sheets in a bid to reduce constraints on lending in the face of the credit crunch. In return, the mortgage providers have pledged to help borrowers who are struggling to find mortgage deals, including n...
Read MoreShould markets dictate financial regulations?
As the UK government looks to introduce, via the FSA, a limit on the loan to income ratio with regards to mortgages, there are concerns that overregulation will impact upon the ability of the UK financial markets to "move with the times". As we covered in one of the earlier post, there is a need to increase the regulatory framework and strengthen the regime in the UK but is it sensible to take awa...
Read MoreProperty downturn starts to hit the middle classes
While there has been no hiding place for any homeowners across the UK the middle class professionals markers is one which appeared to be less affected in the early months of the economic slowdown. However a poll today reveals that 2 out of 5 middle-class professionals are seriously concerned that they will fall behind on their mortgage payments in 2009. The fact that many of these high earners hav...
Read More