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☆ UK housing market challenging but rate pause offers hope -RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price balance, which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, edged down to -69 after August's sharp drop to -68. Echoing other gauges of British house prices, RICS' latest figure was the weakest since February 2009 and was below the median forecast of -63 in a Reuters poll of economists. Britain's housing market boomed during the coronavirus pandemic as demand for homes with more space surged, but it has been a victim of the BoE's run of 14 interest rate hikes, which began in December 2021. "Although the decision to pause monetary policy tightening a few weeks ago provided a glimmer of relief for the market, interest rates are likely now set to remain on hold for a prolonged period," Parsons said. The weak state of the housing market has hurt companies such as building materials supplier Travis Perkins (TPK.L), which on Wednesday downgraded its annual profit forecast by as much as 27%.

Persons: Henry Nicholls, RICS, Tarrant Parsons, Parsons, Travis Perkins, William Schomberg, Kylie MacLellan Organizations: REUTERS, Bank, Royal Institution, Chartered Surveyors, Thomson Locations: London, Britain

☆ UK buyers retreat from housing market, further slowdown seen - RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - Britain's housing market showed signs of a slowdown in June and property surveyors expect activity to remain subdued as higher borrowing costs hit new buyer enquiries, according to an industry survey on Thursday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said a net balance of -45 in a poll of its members reported a fall in new buyer enquiries last month, down from the -20 in May. Britain's housing market faces pressure from softer buyer demand and falling house prices against a backdrop of surging mortgage rates and the Bank of England's battle to tame stubborn inflation. Average two-year fixed mortgage rates hit a 15-year high earlier this week. British mortgage lender Halifax, last week said house prices fell by 2.6% year-on-year in June, the largest annual drop since 2011.

Persons: Liz Truss's, Simon Rubinsohn, Rubinsohn, Suban Abdulla, David Milliken Organizations: Royal Institution, Chartered Surveyors, Bank of, Financial, Halifax, Nationwide, Thomson

☆ UK housing market improves but slowdown seen as rates rise-RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

RICS' house price balance, which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, increased to -30 last month from -39 in April. However, analysts are forecasting another slowdown for the housing market with markets largely expecting the BoE's Bank Rate to peak at 5.5% later this year, up from 4.5% now. Britain's housing market staged a recovery earlier this year after former prime minister Liz Truss's "mini-budget" caused turmoil in financial markets in September and sent the cost of fixed mortgage rates sharply higher to above 6%. Britain's biggest mortgage lender, Halifax, on Wednesday said house prices dropped by 1.0% year-on-year in May, the first annual decline since 2012. Some mortgage lenders, including Halifax and Nationwide Building Society have ramped up their fixed mortgage rates in response to the rise in borrowing costs in financial markets.

Persons: RICS, Tarrant Parsons, Liz Truss's, BoE, Suban Abdulla, William Schomberg Organizations: Bank of England, Royal Institution, Chartered Surveyors, Nationwide, Nationwide Building Society, Thomson Locations: April's, Halifax

☆ British home-buyers, facing higher interest rates, retreat in April - RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - British property surveyors reported a drop in demand in April as new buyers turned more cautious ahead of the Bank of England's latest expected interest rate increase, an industry survey showed on Thursday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said its measure of new buyer enquiries fell to a net balance of -37 in last month from -30 in March, the lowest since January. Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said the survey pointed to challenges in terms of sales and lettings. The net balance of agreed house sales across Britain fell slightly but respondents noted a pick-up in the number of properties on the market. Data from mortgage lender Halifax published on Tuesday showed house prices grew at the slowest annual pace in more than 10 years in April.

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 (.FTSE) edged 0.1% lower, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) was flat as of 0814 GMT. "Gains in homebuilders is being counteracted by ex-dividend moves today," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group. Even as concerns over a potential U.S. recession have weighed on investor sentiment, defensive stocks such as pharmaceuticals as well as commodity-linked stocks have kept FTSE 100 afloat recently. Shares of Lloyds Group (LLOY.L), Unite Group (UTG.L) and Persimmon (PSN.L) among others were down between 1.7%-3% as the stocks traded ex-dividend. Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami and Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK housing market weakness continues, improvement on the horizon - RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

RICS's gauges of buyer demand, sales, new listings and house prices were all in negative territory last month. However, its indicators looking ahead pointed to hints of stability in Britain's housing market in the coming 12 months. The sales expectations balance for 12 months' time rose to +1, its highest since March 2022. Mortgage lender Nationwide reported a 3.1% drop in house prices in the year to March - the fastest annual fall since July 2009 - while rival Halifax said prices grew 1.6% year-on-year. Its non-seasonally adjusted monthly tenant demand growth indicator hit a five-month high, with a net balance of +46.

☆ UK house prices slide further but market pessimism eases: RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price balance, which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, fell to -48 in February from -46 the previous month - the lowest reading since April 2009. While Thursday's survey still showed the housing market firmly in decline, some measures indicated that a more stable picture was emerging in 2023, RICS said. Tarrant Parsons, senior economist at RICS, said he expected housing market activity to remain subdued over the coming months. "Given the ongoing weakness in demand, house prices remain on a downward trajectory, and are expected to see further falls through the first half of the year at least," Parsons said. In contrast, another lender, Nationwide, last week said house prices dropped by the most in more than 10 years in February.

☆ UK home prices to fall, but unlikely to come crashing down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jonathan Cable | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

After years of bumper price rises, the average cost of a home will fall 2.4% this year, according to the Feb. 15-27 poll of 19 housing market experts, shallower than the 4.7% fall predicted in a November poll. "House prices will fall in 2023, that is for sure. Because the number one variable for showing the direction of the housing market is employment - and that remains very, very good indeed." In November's poll, they were expected to fall 7.0% this year and flatline in 2024. (For other stories from the Reuters quarterly housing market polls:)Reporting by Jonathan Cable; polling by Aditi Verma and Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan; editing by Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK housing market hit by widest prices falls since 2009 - RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( William Schomberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price balance, which measures the gap between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, fell to -47, the lowest since April 2009, from -42 in December. Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said the overall mood of the market as measured by surveyors remained subdued. Other housing market measures have also recently shown a loss of momentum following the surge in demand seen during the coronavirus pandemic. A Reuters poll of economists and analysts in November predicted house prices would fall around 5% this year having surged by 28% since the start of the pandemic in 2020. RICS said the rental market continued to show strong interest from tenants with limited availability of stock.

☆ UK house prices end 2022 on a weaker note after pandemic boom
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Muvija M | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The lender also said that the final month of 2022 saw prices record their worst run since 2008 on a monthly basis, falling 0.1% compared with November in their fourth consecutive monthly price fall. In annual terms, house price growth slowed to 2.8% in December from 4.4% in November, Nationwide said, compared with the 2.3% growth forecast in a Reuters poll. That has marked a slowdown from last year when price growth reached multi-year highs due to strong demand as people desired bigger homes more suited for remote working during the health crisis. NEW YEAR ACTIVITYEarlier in December, a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed the most widespread house price falls in Britain since early in the pandemic last month. If sustained, this should feed through to mortgage rates and help improve the affordability position for potential buyers," he added.

☆ UK sees most widespread house price falls since May 2020: RICS
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said that its house price net balance - which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices - sank to -25 in November. Price falls were particularly common in southeast and southwest England, while prices continued to rise modestly in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The RICS survey matches other measures of house price weakness from British mortgage lenders. Halifax reported on Wednesday that house prices recorded their biggest monthly drop since 2008 in November, falling by 2.8%, while Nationwide measured its biggest fall since June 2020. A Reuters poll of economists and property market analysts last month forecast house prices would drop around 5% next year, having risen about 24% since early 2020, according to official data.

☆ UK property market at risk of major downturn as recession fears loom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesLONDON — The U.K. property market may be verging on a major downturn, with some market watchers warning of a collapse in prices of up to 30% as data points to the biggest slump in demand since the Global Financial Crisis. Meantime, the MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index, which tracks retail, office, industrial and residential property, slumped 4.3% in the three months to September, marking the sector's worst performance since 2009. The investment bank now sees U.K. property prices declining by around 10% by the second quarter of 2023. Rising interest rates, soaring inflation and the economic shock from Russia's war in Ukraine have weighed heavy on the global housing market. Indeed, according to Goldman Sachs' analysis, for every one percentage point increase in the U.K. unemployment rate, mortgage delinquency tends to rise by over 20 basis points after one year.

☆ UK house price growth slows to weakest since July 2020 - RICS
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( William Schomberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The RICS house price balance - measuring the difference between the percentage of surveyors reporting price rises and those seeing a fall - fell sharply to +32 in September from +51 in August, signalling a slowdown in price growth. "Looking further out, the picture portrayed by the RICS survey has clearly shifted in a negative direction," he added. After booming during and after the COVID-19 lockdowns as home-owners sought bigger properties, Britain's housing market has cooled recently. Rival lender Nationwide says British house prices failed to rise in monthly terms for the first time since July 2021 in September. A recent cut to Britain's stamp duty tax on property purchases, part of finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng's package of tax cuts, was set to be outweighed by the rise in mortgage costs, RICS said.

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