March 2008:
House prices continuing to slow

House prices are continuing to slow down, says the Halifax, the UK's biggest mortgage lender.

According to its latest monthly survey, prices across the UK fell by 0.3% in February, taking the annual rate of inflation down from 4.5% to 4.2%.

That means the average UK home now costs £196,649, according to the lender's calculations.

The Halifax said prices would be flat over the coming year if the economy and employment continued to grow.

"House prices fell by 0.3% in February. Prices in the three months to February, however, were marginally (0.2%) higher than in the previous quarter," said Martin Ellis, the Halifax's chief economist.

"Whilst the housing market has slowed over the past six months, it is supported by sound economic fundamentals.

"Interest rate cuts by the Bank of England are also helping to underpin house prices," he added.

Sourced from BBC News

January 2008:
House Prices Continue to Fall

House prices fell for the third month running in January, the UK's biggest building society said today, with the average price of a home 0.1% lower than the previous month.

The fall reduced the annual rate of price inflation to 4.2%, down from 4.8% in December and the lowest figure since December 2005.

The average price of a property in the UK now stands at £180,473, the lender said, £7,249 more than in January 2007.

Although prices are still up year-on-year, there are clear signs of a slowdown with the three-month figures showing a fall of 0.3%, compared with a 0.9% rise the previous month.

Sourced from The Guardian

June 2007
House Price Growth Slows
The price of homes grew by 0.6% last month in comparison to a rise of 0.7% throughout April. As interest rates continue to rise, demand has begun to fall resulting in a slowdown in the volume of sales, along with an increase in market supply. London, however, has seen the largest increase in new properties coming to the market over the month at an increase of 8.8%.

Sourced from HomeTrack

April 2007
March Price Fluctuations
Prices of homes in London rose by 1.8% in March, their biggest monthly increase for four years, says Hometrack, a consultancy analysing data from 4,000 estate agents in England and Wales. Average prices rose in more than 80% of the capital’s postcodes. “The robust London housing market appears to be largely disconnected from the rest of the country,” says Richard Donnell, research director of Hometrack.

Sourced from HomeTrack

March 2007
House Price Growth Tailing Off

House price inflation has fallen back below 10% this month, the Nationwide reports today in the latest sign that cracks may be starting to appear in the country's long-running housing boom.

The lender, Britain's biggest building society, said house prices rose 0.4% in March following a downwardly revised 0.6% increase in February.

As a result, the annual pace of increase fell to 9.3% from 10.2% last month.

The Land Registry also reports today that prices in February rose 1% from January - a bit stronger than the Nationwide's number but not as steamy as the 1.8% surge reported by the Halifax.

Exchanges of property between connected persons will no longer be treated as linked transactions in determining the rate of stamp duty land tax, the Budget notes have revealed.

The government has announced it will introduce legislation in the Finance Bill to amend the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) treatment of exchanges of property so where an exchange takes place between “connected persons” the two legs will not be treated as “linked” with each other for determining the rate of SDLT.

This is likely to affect individuals who exchange property, especially those who are married or related to eachother.

Sourced from ifaonline