Nationwide
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Latest property news
Chancellor’s Stamp Duty giveaway only ‘modest’ boon for market, says Nationwide
The recent Stamp Duty changes announced in last week’s Autumn Budget will have only a modest impact on demand, lender the Nationwide has revealed. Commenting within its monthly house price index published today, it says that in “many regions, first time buyers already paid little or no stamp duty as the price of the typical first time buyer property was below the previous threshold of £125,000”. Nationwide also says the Stamp Duty will benefit mostly first time buyers in London and the South East, and help sure up values for existing home owners in these areas of the UK. Its figures bear this out (see box, left). The Stamp Duty changes mean that in London, for example, 11% of first time buyers who would have previously paid on average £13,102 when they bought a property will now pay no tax, while in the North almost all first time buyers will now pay no tax, although until now they were only paying on average £100 in Stamp Duty. “Despite the enthusiastic reception given to the cut in Stamp Duty for first-time buyers announced in last week’s Budget, it’s too early to detect its impact in the increasingly stagnant picture painted by the…
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Latest property news
London’s house prices drop for first time in EIGHT years
The once mighty London property market has been laid low and its house prices are now the weakest in the UK, the Nationwide has revealed. Its latest index reports that prices in the capital have fallen for the first time since 2005 and are currently down 0.6% year-on-year on a quarterly basis. Nevertheless the years of double-digit growth are still there to see. The average price in London is £471,761, more than twice the national average of £210,982. Softening prices “The softening of prices was initially led by the capital’s prime market, which was knocked sideways both by Brexit and in the wake of the introduction of higher rates of stamp duty for high-value homes,” says Nicholas Finn, Executive Director at Garrington Property Finders. “But it is now spreading from the central boroughs – which saw prices rise fastest during the boom – to other areas where the growth came later.” Despite London’s problems, across the UK average house prices are relatively stable, rising by two percent year-on-year and Nationwide says housing market activity overall – including mortgage approvals and housing transactions – has “strengthened a little”, it says. naea |propertymark agrees with this analysis, revealing in its latest figures published…
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Features
Property market – regional cities shine as London loses lustre
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the monthly property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “Birmingham leads cities like Cardiff, Liverpool, and Manchester in terms of house price growth.”
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