Nottingham Letting Agent Property Blog

Apparently we're all feeling a bit more confident about the property market, as four out of five of us believe property prices won't fall in the next 12 months, and eight out of ten of us think house prices will either be the same or even slightly higher this time next year. Just over a third think property prices will be higher in 12 months’ time, and this is the most optimistic forecast for a year and a half. However one fifth think prices will have dropped in a years’ time, but this is the lowest percentage since the end of...

According to a report from the Nationwide last week, property prices fell by 0.2% in April, and it’s being predicted that they are likely to remain unchanged for the rest of the year due to continuing weak economic conditions. An average home costs £164,134, with prices 0.9% lower than a year ago, and property prices have fallen for four months out of the last five. Much of the recent price decline is likely to be down to the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March. Many people who would have otherwise delayed their property purchases until later...

UK house prices increased for the second consecutive month in April, according to Hometrack, but they are forecasting price declines during the second half of the year. Prices increased by 0.1% last month, following a 0.2% increase in March. As always, London saw the biggest price gains of 0.3%, while Southern England saw gains of 0.1%. In comparison price fell throughout the rest of the country. This means the annual rate of house price inflation is currently -0.9%, which is the best figure seen since October 2010.Over the last three months new buyer registrations have increased by 25%, which is partially...

The National Association of State Agents is hoping that today's budget will help first-time buyers by building more homes and overhauling the stamp duty tax system. According to the NAEA, the UK market is already overtaxed in comparison with other countries in Europe, and it thinks the government should be focusing its attention on revamping the stamp duty tax to help get the property market moving again. It feels the lack of housing and the tax burden on homeowners is preventing people from moving.It's widely expected the budget will be used to announce a major new house building programme to complement...

Property prices have risen by 4.9% since the beginning of the year, and according to Rightmove this is the largest Q1 increase since 2004. House prices increased by an average of 1.6% in March to reach £236,939. Prices rose in the majority of England and Wales, with East Anglia enjoying the largest monthly increase of 3.9%, while Yorkshire and Humberside saw prices increase by 3.3%. There was also a 16% increase in the number of people looking for a new property, and experts are hopeful this year could see a more robust property market.However there are still concerns that this jump...

The Nationwide announced property prices rose by 0.6% in February compared to January, marking the first monthly increase since November but warned this may only be temporary. It thinks the rise in house prices may be due to first-time buyers looking to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday before it expires on 24 March. If this is the case then house prices may hold up in the short-term before cooling again over the summer. The average home costs £162,712 which is an increase of £1,529 compared to a year ago, but is £6,019 less than the recent high which was...

The average cost of moving home is now £9,000, having increased by nearly 70% during the last decade. However those living in the south-east pay an average of around £16,500 while in London that figure is £19,500, according to a report from Lloyds TSB. When you combine these costs with the current demand for higher equity levels or large deposits by lenders, then it's easy to see why property sales are at record lows. However first-time buyers are currently paying considerably less at an average of £3,300 which is mainly due to lack of estate agents commission, lower solicitors fees and...

Although 2011 closed with more mortgage lending activity and a higher level of housing transactions, the Council of Mortgage Lenders points out this is coming from low levels, and cautions against reading too much into those recent figures from the Bank of England. Gross lending reached £13.2 billion in November which is 7% higher than in October and 15% more than November 2010. However the CML is estimating that gross lending will have dropped to £11.7 billion in December which is mainly due to the holiday season, but even so this figure would still be 12% higher than December 2010 and...

New mortgage application rules announced by the Financial Services Authority this week look set to make borrowing easier for thousands of people trapped in their homes by negative equity. These are the kind of borrowers the banks would normally be falling over themselves to lend to, and who are generally perceived as being a good risk. The banks current reluctance to lend to people who have fallen into negative equity has led to the housing market stagnating, and some firms are finding it difficult to recruit new employees from other areas.These new rules should allow homeowners to transfer their negative equity...

The concession on first-time buyer stamp duty is due to end next March, but the Council of mortgage lenders is asking the government to reconsider as data shows the previous concession on stamp duty caused a spike in sales followed by a slump. The CML is worried that ending this concession could prompt another slump which would obviously not be very good news given the fragile state of the market.HM Revenue & Customs is due to publish a report on the impact of this current concession, but it seems unlikely that the cost to the government has been very high due...

There has been a last minute rush to complete on properties over £1m before the stamp due rises to 5% on the 6th of April.Approximately £200 million of sales were completed last week.A lot of parties had specifically agreed that they must complete before the change....