Thousands of families hit hard by the housing crash
Exclusive analysis for ITV News reveals that more than a hundred thousand families have lost a total of £3bn since the housing crash.
UK house prices set to fall in 2012
House prices are falling and more drops are expected in the coming months, surveyors have said.
Home repossessions 'up by 10%'
Home repossession figures are expected to show an increase today as the troubled economy starts to take its toll on households.
Live updates
Demand for homes hits three-year high
Demand for homes reached its highest level in more than three years last month as Government schemes to boost the market began to take effect, surveyors reported today.
New buyer enquiries were at their highest level since November 2009 and prices were also starting to rise, the figures suggested, in fresh signs of an upturn.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which published the figures, said 25% more surveyors reported that demand for property rose rather than fell.
It is the seventh positive result in the last eight months, following a positive 13% reading for March.
Chartered surveyors saw around 17 homes sold on average over the three months to April, maintaining a three-year high from March.
House price rises were reported most strongly in London, where 28% more said they were on the way up, with a figure of 11% in the South East.
Sales of £1 million-plus homes soar to new heights in UK
Sales of homes worth over £1 million have soared to their highest level since the height of the 2007 housing boom, a report found today.
Top-end property sales increased by 2% year-on-year in 2012, with Scotland, the East Midlands and London all seeing rises, Lloyds TSB found.
Million pound properties out-performed the rest of the market in 2012, as sales of homes below this price bracket dropped off by 3% year-on-year, the report said.
Across Britain, 7,397 homes with a price tag of over £1 million were snapped up last year, marking the highest number seen since 2007. Almost one quarter of all these sales took place in the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.
By contrast, just four sales of million pound homes took place across Wales during 2012 and nine were made in North East England.
Advertisement
Thousands of families hit hard by the housing crash
Exclusive analysis for ITV News reveals that more than a hundred thousand families have lost a total of £3bn since the housing crash.
Read the full storyNew figures show rising house prices in UK
House prices in the UK increased by 3.3% over a 12 month period up until December 2012, according to new figures released today by the Office for National Statistics.
The rise in property prices is up 2.2% from a 12 month window through to November last year.
House prices rose throughout most of the UK in 2012, but prices in Northern Ireland continued to fall.
The year-on-year housing price increase reflected growth of 3.4% in England, 2.4% in Wales and 3.1% in Scotland, which were offset by a decline of 5.7% in Northern Ireland.
House sales rise for fourth consecutive month
House sales have increased for four months in a row, in further signs that confidence in the market is picking up, surveyors reported.
An overall balance of 15% more surveyors said that sales rose rather than fell in January, continuing a general trend of sales increases seen for four consecutive months, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.
Sales are predicted to rise further as spring approaches but prices are expected to remain flat, the latest findings showed.
House prices have remained broadly stable, with 4% more surveyors saying that prices fell rather than increased last month.
Southend house prices see sharpest rise in 2012
House prices in Southend in Essex recorded the biggest rise among major UK towns and cities over the past year, according to research by Halifax.
The average selling price in the seaside resort was 14.8% higher than the previous year.
Basingstoke in Hampshire - and the London commuter towns of Rochester, St Albans and Dartford - made up the rest of the top five.
Craigavon in County Armagh recorded the largest drop - down by 18.4% - while nine of the bottom ten were all outside the South.
Advertisement
Government scheme to boost lending
The market will continue to be helped next year by a multi-billion pound Government scheme to boost lending to households and businesses, Rightmove have said.
The number of mortgages on the market has already increased by around a fifth following the scheme's introduction in August and a mortgage price war has broken out, with several lenders slashing their rates.
Further evidence that the market is strengthening has come from a shrinking gap between asking and selling prices, which narrowed to 3.7% this year, from 4.9% in each year between 2009 and 2011.
Meanwhile, the number of new sellers looks to remain constrained in 2013 with new listings likely to be around the 1.2 million level seen in each of the last three years, Rightmove said.
It said that many people who bought their first home at the top of the market will still be left unable to trade up next year, which will also keep the number of homes buyers have to choose from in short supply.
Buyers priced out of London housing market
- House price growth will become less skewed towards London, with stronger market conditions emerging in southern regions, Rightmove have said.
- Asking prices will grow across the English capital by around 3% over 2013, according to Rightmove.
- The "ripple effect" of higher prices in London will mean stronger growth in surrounding areas as buyers cast their nets outside the capital, Rightmove said.
- The South East, South West and East Anglia will also see asking prices grow by 3%, meaning the cooling off in London will be balanced out by a stronger South, the study predicts.
- Meanwhile, seller asking prices in the Midlands, the North of England and Wales are pencilled in for a 1% climb.
Housing market likely to improve in 2013
Further evidence that the market is strengthening has come from a shrinking gap between asking and selling prices, which narrowed to 3.7% this year, from 4.9% in each year between 2009 and 2011.
Meanwhile, the number of new sellers looks to remain constrained in 2013 with new listings likely to be around the 1.2 million level seen in each of the last three years, Rightmove said.
It said that many people who bought their first home at the top of the market will still be left unable to trade up next year, which will also keep the number of homes buyers have to choose from in short supply.
The London market has been boosted by wealthy overseas buyers seeking a safe haven for their cash amid the troubles of the eurozone, helping prices to increase by around 7% compared with a year ago.
But some analysts have said that a 7% stamp duty rate put on homes worth over £2 million in the Spring will hit London prices.
House prices slump in December
- Sellers have dropped their prices by 3.3% or £7,772 month-on-month, to reach £228,989 on average in December, Rightmove said
- However big asking price falls are expected at this time of year as people selling over Christmas often have a pressing reason to do so
- Prices are still 1.4% higher than they were a year ago, despite the recent big dip
- The East Midlands was the only region across England and Wales to see a month-on-month price increase in December, with a 0.8% rise taking typical prices to £158,480
- The South West saw the biggest monthly fall, with prices nose-diving by 5.3% to reach £240,438 on average