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☆ UK house sales rise since the Covid-19 boom as lower mortgage rates spur activity
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-03 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A pedestrians looks at residential properties displayed for sale in the window of an estate agents' in Windsor, west of London. LONDON — Lower mortgage rates are sparking an uptick in the U.K. housing market, following a surge in the pace of home sales last month, data showed. Shares of U.K. homebuilders Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments both rose more than 2.1% following the data release. Some rates for such products have dipped to 3.7%, well below the BoE's 5% key rate. Mortgage approvals rose in August to the highest level in two years in years, the Bank of England said Monday.

Persons: homebuilders Taylor Wimpey, Richard Donnell, Andrew Bailey Organizations: Barratt, Nationwide, Bank of England's, Bank of England, Bank Locations: Windsor, London, LONDON

☆ It's all about supply in the housing market, Zoopla's executive director says
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIt's all about supply in the housing market, Zoopla's executive director saysZoopla's Executive Director Richard Donnell joins Street Signs to discuss the state of the U.K. housing market after the new Labour Government unveiled plans to boost the sector.

Persons: Richard Donnell Organizations: Labour Government

☆ Stocks, property, bonds, the pound: Here’s what a new Labour government means for investing in the UK
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( Sophie Kiderlin | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The Labour party's pledge, for example, to increase taxes on the compensation that private equity fund managers received raised a few eyebrows, and led to questions on what this could mean more broadly. In a note Friday, analysts at Jefferies said, despite concerns raised by a strong showing for the right-wing Reform UK Party, the Labour Party's U.K. election win would help make the U.K. appear "relatively stable." "A widely predicted Labour win in the UK could usher in an era of greater stability for the UK … which should help bolster investor sentiment towards the UK," she said. "U.K. bank stocks in the end are one of the biggest proxies for U.K. economic growth," he said. If results are as expected, attention will shift away from the U.K. election quickly, Shreyas Gopal, strategist, and Sanjay Raja, senior economist at Deutsche Bank, said in a note published Wednesday.

Persons: Vuk Valcic, hasn't, Jefferies, James McManus, Susannah Streeter, Hargreaves Lansdown, McManus, Liz Truss, Streeter, Richard Donnell, Nutmeg's McManus, CNBC's Silvia Amaro Friday, Mark Fielding, Fielding, Shreyas Gopal, Sanjay Raja, BoE, Francesco Pesole, Pesole Organizations: City of, Labour Party, Conservatives, U.S ., Labour, CNBC, Stock, Reform UK Party, Hargreaves, Deutsche Bank, ING, Bank of England, ECB Locations: Bishopsgate, City, City of London, London, France

☆ UK home-buyer demand inches up as mortgage rates fall: Zoopla
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - More Britons made enquiries with estate agents about potential house purchases over the past four weeks as mortgage rates started to fall, breaking a downward trend which has been in place since April, property website Zoopla said on Thursday. "Better news on inflation and the end of base rate increases has provided scope for lenders to start reducing mortgage rates which has supported a modest uptick in demand for homes," Zoopla's executive director, Richard Donnell, said. Weekly mortgage data collated by property website Rightmove showed the average interest rate for a mortgage with a two-year fixed rate fell from an average of 6.41% in August to 6.07% this week. This still represents a sharp increase from 4.60% a year ago, when mortgage rates had already begun to climb after bond markets baulked at the then-Prime Minister Liz Truss' budget plans as well as BoE tightening. Mortgage lender Halifax said house prices in August were 4.6% lower than a year earlier, the sharpest drop in 14 years.

Persons: Phil Noble, Zoopla, Richard Donnell, Rightmove, Liz Truss, BoE, David Milliken, William James Our Organizations: REUTERS, Royal Institution, Chartered Surveyors, Thomson Locations: Knutsford, Britain, Halifax

☆ UK home sales set to hit their lowest since 2012 as mortgage sales plummet
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

That's the equivalent of each household moving once every 23 years, an increase of six years from 2021, the monthly report found. Demand for homes in the last four weeks is down 34% compared to the average of the last five years, as higher mortgage rates and cost-of-living pressures weigh on the market, Zoopla said. While house prices have seen a small uptick, sales numbers have been hit hardest by higher borrowing costs, Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla said in a press release. "Cash buyers are more immune and on track to account for more than one in three sales in 2023," Donnell said. Mortgage rates have started to come down but remain high, with the average rate for a 2-year fixed mortgage for a 95% loan at 6.7% for the week of Aug. 21, online real estate company Rightmove said last week.

Persons: Zoopla, Richard Donnell, Donnell, Rightmove Organizations: Office, National Statistics, Bank of England

☆ UK home sales on course to fall to lowest since 2012: Zoopla
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The number of house purchases in Britain this year is on course to drop by 21% to its lowest since 2012 as a result of rising borrowing costs, property website Zoopla forecast on Wednesday. "While UK house prices are 0.1% higher over the year, it is the number of sales that have been hit hardest by higher borrowing costs, especially amongst mortgage-reliant buyers," Zoopla's executive director, Richard Donnell, said. Zoopla forecast that house purchases funded by mortgages would drop 28% this year, while cash buyers would fall just 1% and account for more than a third of sales. The most recent official data showed that there were 22% fewer house purchases in the three months to the end of June than a year earlier. Zoopla provides property valuations and also advertises more than 1 million properties for sale or to rent.

Persons: Toby Melville, Richard Donnell, BoE, David Milliken, Alex Richardson Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Bristol, Britain

☆ Britain faces a mortgage crisis with renters and homeowners in the crossfire. Here's how to protect your money
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Sophie Kiderlin | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"Demand is being stoked by a strong jobs market, record immigration and rising mortgage rates," Donnell said. Mortgage crisisBritain's mortgage crisis has been brewing for months. Nicholas Mendes, a technical mortgage manager at mortgage broker and advisor John Charcol, told CNBC Make It that there are pros and cons to both. Prospective buyers may feel "trapped" in the rental market, which could deter them from trying to buy, they told CNBC Make It. Higher mortgage rates are prompting some of those who still have mortgages to pay off to pass on those additional costs to renters, he said.

Persons: Oliver Knight, Knight Frank, Oscar Wong, Ed Monk, Richard Donnell, Zoopla, Donnell, Monk, Nicholas Mendes, John Charcol, Mendes, Urvish Patel, Barry Naisbitt Organizations: Fidelity International, CNBC, Mortgage, Bank of, Bank of England, National Institute of Economic, Social Research Locations: Britain

☆ Squeeze on UK tenants tightens as rents outpace incomes, survey shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Asking and agreed rents continued to outpace incomes with tenants spending 28.3% of their pre-tax earnings on rent last month, above the 10-year average of 27%, Zoopla said. May's figures marked the 19th month in a row that rental price growth outstripped incomes. He expected affordability strains to slow the pace of rental growth in 2024. Inflation data for May is due to be published on Wednesday. Zoopla said 53% of renters it surveyed reported a rent rise in the six months to May, up from 35% six months earlier.

Persons: Toby Melville, Zoopla, Richard Donnell, Donnell, BoE, Moneyfacts, Liz Truss's, Zoopla's Donnell, Zoopla's, Suban Abdulla, Christina Fincher Organizations: REUTERS, Homeowners, Bank of, Nationwide, HSBC, Halifax, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, Bank of England

☆ Demand for rural homes in Britain drops as pandemic effect fades, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Demand for rural homes in Britain dropped as the pandemic trend of relocating to the countryside faded, according to real estate website Zoopla. In the wider Lake District national park area, demand dipped 5% compared to the same period, and in mid-Wales it fell 10%. In April 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, 46.6% of people in employment did some work from home, according to the Office for National Statistics. The U.K. mortgage market fell into crisis in September following drastic policy shifts by then-Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng. Some market watchers are now predicting a major downturn in the U.K. property market as a result of the country's weakened economy and sticky high inflation rate.

☆ UK housing market seen facing further 'mini-budget' fallout
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Property estate agent sales and letting signs are seen outside an apartment building in Lichfield, Britain, May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - British property market activity stalled in October and house price growth slowed to its lowest quarterly level since February 2020 due to a disastrous "mini-budget" and a cost-of-living crisis, a survey released on Monday showed. In annual terms, house price inflation slowed to 7.8%, with quarterly growth at 0.7%, the lowest rate since February 2020. Zoopla predicts British house price growth to head towards 0% and possibly enter negative territory next year. A separate survey published on Friday showed property demand has shifted from buying to renting amid financial uncertainty.

☆ UK property demand slides 44% after market-rocking mini-budget, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In the wake of the budget, a record number of mortgage deals were pulled and many lenders paused offerings as they assessed the volatility. Buyer demand fell 44% year-on-year in the four weeks to Nov. 20, according to property website Zoopla, while new property sales declined 28%. Although a fall in house prices is widely predicted, the company's predictions are less bearish than others. It puts U.K. house price growth at 7.8% year-on-year. We do not see any evidence of forced sales or the need for a large, double digit reset in U.K. house prices in 2023," its report said.

Fueled by a post-lockdown buying frenzy, the average UK house price hit a record £275,000 ($315,474) in December, a £27,000 increase on the previous year’s high. UK mortgage rates have been ticking upwards since spring, in line with rising interest rates. UK house prices fell 0.9% between September and October, the first decline in 15 months, according to data from Nationwide. A drop in buying power makes a significant drop in house prices inevitable, according to Andrew Wishart, a senior economist at Capital Economics. When house prices fall, homeowners feel less confident about their personal finances, causing them to cut back on spending and hold off on making additional investments.

☆ UK house prices could plunge 15% because of soaring mortgage rates
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN Business —House prices in the United Kingdom could plummet by as much as 15% if the country presses ahead with its tax-slashing economic gamble. Credit Suisse (AMJL) said on Tuesday that UK house prices could “easily” fall between 10% and 15% over the next 18 months if the Bank of England aggressively hikes interest rates to keep inflation in check. Some analysts now expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates to 6% next year, up from its current 2.25%, to prop up the ailing currency. Capital Economics, which likewise forecasts a drop in house prices of between 10% and 15%, warned the slump could be “devastating.”“The resulting drop in buying power makes a significant drop in house prices inevitable,” Andrew Wishart, senior economist at Capital Economics, said in a research note on Tuesday. “Mortgage arrears and default would rise just as house prices likely would be tumbling, placing huge strain on banks’ balance sheets,” Tombs said.

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