March house prices reverse February's dip

The price of a typical UK property rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.7 per cent month-on-month in March, largely reversing the 0.8 per cent fall measured in February.


The smoothed three month on three month rate of inflation edged down further from 1.8 per cent in February to 1.6 per cent in March. At GBP 164,519, the average price of a typical property is nine per cent higher than a year earlier.

Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's chief economist, said: “The last two months are consistent with a relatively flat profile for house prices, and in line with the recent drops seen in buyer enquiries and house sales. Preliminary figures show that the number of loans taken out for house purchases failed to recover from January’s large dip, suggesting that weakness in house sales at the start of the year may
have been due to more than just the snowy weather.”

Nationwide said the budget announcement on Stamp Duty that for the next two years, the nil Stamp Duty threshold will be raised from GBP 125,000 to GBP 250,000 for first-time buyers is likely to save GBP 1,368 for the average new buyer.

At a national level, the vast majority of first-time buyers should benefit from the holiday, though with the average London house price at GBP 243,163 for first-time purchasers, a significant number of new buyers in the capital will miss out on the savings, said Nationwide.

However, the mutual said the positive effect of the last Stamp Duty holiday on the housing market is still not clear cut. Other factors like low interest rates played a part, said Gahbauer, and the only exception to this was the last month of the holiday, when buyers standing to benefit from the exemption rushed to complete their purchase before the end of the year.

David Smith, senior partner, property consultancy Carter Jonas, said the volatility in the property market is likely to continue and agreed the Stamp Duty changes will have little impact.

"Over the past month, buyer enquiries have fallen and stock levels have risen and so next month we may well see another fall in house prices, once again reinforcing the volatility in the market at present.

"Whatever the statistics may say, what is very clear is that good properties that are sensibly priced continue to sell very quickly."


http://firsttimebuyersupermarket.co.uk/