With the recent release from the UK's biggest mortgage lender, the Halifax, of its latest house price report for May 2005, showing that prices fell by 0.6% last month, and prices falling just 0.1% since the start of the year, the bank said that the market is broadly flat. Nationwide however released its survey last week, showing a 0.3% rise in May. Commenting on the figures for March, Nationwide confirmed that the 0.6% fall in property values was the steepest monthly fall they had seen for nearly 10 years, however, just a few days after the Nationwide released its survey, the Halifax reported a 0.5% rise in March prices. Mortgage comparison site Moneynet reported a slight increase in March, primarily for the high income homeowners. The diversity of house price surveys dilutes consumer recognition of trustworthy media; were should you look for accurate and up to date information?
Land registry reports (http://www.landreg.gov.uk/propertyprice/interactive/ )
All property sales from England and Wales are logged by the Land Registry, and so this report provides an extremely comprehensive source for residential property sales. The land registry reports can provide useful information for both for national and local comparisons. One drawback however is that the report is only compiled every three months, making the figures out of date even before they are released. For a small fee, a similar survey is available for properties within Scotland at the Registers of Scotland Executive Agency (http://www.ros.gov.uk/index.html)
Government house price index
This is a recently launched government survey into the house price index, reported on a monthly basis. Using lending information from about 50 lenders, this includes a first-time buyers index, as well as former owner occupiers, regional, and UK indices. Unfortunately, like the Land Registry reports, there is at least a two month arrears in the statistics being released. While the government is trying to improve this survey, it is hampered by limits on the information provided by the lenders, and has been described to the BBC by a government spokesperson as "The slightly less than definitive index". The implementation of the National Property Database, which is currently under development, should help to provide better information about property types, and expansion on the information available for geographic areas such as commuter belts.
Mortgage lenders
Mortgage lending companies such as the Nationwide http://www.nationwide.co.uk/default.htm ) or Halifax (http://www.halifax.co.uk/home/index.shtml ) provide regular surveys covering the entire UK rather than just England and Wales. These are usually available monthly, and are based on the final price agreed by their mortgage customers, thereby ignoring other lenders figures, and the 25% of cash transaction house sales. Useful in giving snapshots of the property market, although frequently different lenders figures contradict each others trends.
Price comparison sites
Comparison websites, such as Moneynet (http://www.moneynet.co.uk/mortgage-research/index.shtml ), provide an impartial analysis of mortgage deals, alongside an analysis of what people are buying and borrowing in terms of property. The information provided by these sites can become slightly distorted by speculative enquiries where purchases are never intended to be completed, and no track record is kept on actual house purchase amounts.
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (http://www.rics.org/default/ )
A survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, based on responses from a small number of the institute’s members in England and Wales, shows the surveyors’ confidence in house market prices (rising or falling), rather than what is actually happening.
Property websites
Rightmove (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/ ) use data collected from about 35% of the homes for sale on their website to compile the sample for their survey. As over half of all the UK's estate agent chains list their available properties on the Rightmove site, the sample size is sufficient to provide extensive representative information.
Overall the different measures can all provide potentially useful information for consumers, but there is currently no definitively accurate guide to the UK house price market. Different studies cover different areas of the housing market, and often provide contradictory results. Predicted future trends are always subject to possible inaccuracy, and therefore should not be relied upon for complete accuracy. Buyer and seller beware.
Five Credit Card Billing Problems and How to Fix Them
It goes without saying that your first and best defense against paying fraudulent or unfair charges on your credit card is knowing what your bill says! When you receive your credit card statement each month, sit down with it and check each item to make sure that you actually DID purchase it. If you do run into inaccuracies or problems, there are procedures to follow to report and deal with the . . .
Return to Index
UK
Financial Services
Sub-categories: Accounting
| Banks
| Building
Societies | Corporate
Finance | Credit
Services | Currency
Services | Debt
Collection | Directories
| Factoring
| Financial
Consultants | Fund
Management | Independent
Financial Advisors | Information
Services | Insurance
| Leasing
| Merchant
Services | Offshore
Services | Organisations
| Personal
Finance | Publications
| Regulation
| Socially
Responsible Investment | Stockbrokers
| Taxation
Article Index: 1
- 2 - 3
- 4 - 5
- 6 - 7
- 8
World
Financial Services
Sub-categories: Associations
| Automobile
Buying and Financing | Banking
Services | By
Region | Cash
Flow | College
Financing | Commercial
Lending | Computer
Financing | Cooperatives
| Credit
and Collection | Directories
| Education
and Training | Employment
| Field
Service Companies | Financial
Consultants | Financial
Planning | Freelancer-Contractor
Services | Holding
Companies | Information
Services | Insurance
| Investment
Banks | Investment
Services | Leasing
Services | Loans
| Marketing
and Advertising | Medical
Billing | Merchant
Services | Mortgages
| News
and Media | Offshore
Services | Payroll
Services | Surety
Bonds | US
Government Financial Sites | Venture
Capital | World
War II Dormant Accounts
Get "IN TO" Vicky's
"rr-tit-calls" (Vicky's a Yorkshire Lass)
Latest News & Previews
Another day, another dinner to prepare. Are you having a
difficult time finding easy to prepare meals that can satisfy your growing
family? You want to give your family the best, but time is in short supply and
preparing a healthy meal has become a chore. Too often take out or frozen
dinners have to do. Is there a way to combine healthy eating with
convenience?Healthy Family Meals - Better for Children, Easier for YouYes!
Quick and easy recipe, new methods of cooking and easy to prepare staples can
change your eating habits and lead to a better eating style for your family.
According to the. . .
Restyling
and Upgrading Your Car Made Easy at Auto Parts ...
Because of their affordability, passenger cars are so popular
and this means you see so many of them on the road or in a parking lot. For
those who are passionate about cars and want to drive a unique vehicle, owning
a passenger car may sound unfortunate. But try to look at it from a positive
point of view, you would think otherwise. It gives you better opportunity to
customize your vehicle and express your personality.You surely don’t want
your car to look alike other vehicles but in reality, this is barely possible
because your car is not the sole model produced by its particular car manu. .
.
Save
Money On Furniture
Buying furniture can be very expensive. After all, next to
your house and your car, furniture is one of the priciest things in your home.
So any time you can save money, you should! Here are some tips to buying
furniture inexpensively.Look in the Yellow Pages for a furniture wholesaler or
a liquidation or discount store. Often, their furniture is as good as the kind
you will get in a retail outlet, but usually cheaper because of a minor flaw
(and usually you won't notice that flaw!).You can also buy from a furniture
warehouse where the salespeople are paid by commission. Using a number of p. .
.
|
