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Halifax announced a 1% rise in house prices this June despite a drop in the market in the 3 months prior to June 2012.

House prices have been fluctuating throughout the first half of the year with four monthly rises and two monthy drops. April was the worst month with a drop of 2.3%, possibly due to the end in the stamp duty holiday, which would have distorted figures around that time.

Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist, commented “There has been a marked improvement in the annual rate of change over the past 12 months. A year ago, in May 2011, house prices were falling at an annual rate of 4.2%”.

Halifax are reporting that house prices are roughly 0.5% lower than at this time last year, making the average property price £162,417. Obviously there are wide variations between different regions with the London market remaining buoyant, but other areas slipping back.

By contrast Nationwide reported a 1.5% drop in the market for June. However this could be because of the different methods each lender uses to calculate their figure. Halifax uses a 3 month period to compare prices between different years, whereas Nationwide use a direct monthly comparison.

While this shows an unexpected underlying stability in the housing market it seems to be a fragile balance with buyers still having the upper hand. It seems unlikely that house prices will change radically for the rest of the year as the market remains cautious in the face of global instability, and the resultant worry about job security.

Wage levels compared to property prices are measured by lenders using the Affordability Ratio which is based on 2 average full time wages, and this currently rests at 4.36 compared to 5.86 in the second quarter of 2007. Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, says: “There is still a lack of confidence among buyers and sellers, and a lack of stock coming to market as a result.

Halifax’s Ellis adds “We expect little change in prices and sales over the remainder of the year provided that the UK’s economic outlook does not deteriorate significantly.”

If you are thinking of moving check out DIYDoctor’s moving home guide.
Alternatively if you are staying put but need more room why not look into loft conversion, or creating a basement .

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The Green Deal passed secondary legislation in the House of Commons on
Monday, and will go before the House of Lords on 23 July 2012.

The DECC (the Department of Energy and Climate Change) promise a ‘…managed, tested and
careful introduction of the Green Deal…’ They intend to start by a period of focussed
testing before it is rolled out nationally.

Gemserv, in partnership with REAL (Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd) will operate the Green Deal Oversight and Registration Body responsible for standards and delivery. Advisors, installers and providers will be able to register from early August this year, with no fees payable in the first two years.

The Green Deal Code of Practice are designed to ensure that all Green Deal Participants and Certification Bodies

• operate fairly and transparently
• deliver good customer service
• have adequate levels of training
• provide appropriate redress mechanisms for customers.

The Draft Code of Practice can be found on the DECC website

The Explanatory Memorandum can be found on the DECC website

‘The Ombudsman Service’ will operate as the Green Deal Ombudsmen and Investigation Body.

Important dates for the Green Deal

August 2012 Advisors, installers and providers will be able to register
from early August this year, with no fees payable in the first two years.

October 2012 Green Deal assessors will be able to complete assessments
and providers will be able use the assessment to issue quotes.

January 2013 consumers can complete a Green Deal Plan, as the relevant
parts of the framework regulations come into effect.

See our Green Deal Information project for further details.

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The NewBuy guarantee scheme has now been launched, offering the opportunity for first time buyers in England to get a foot on the housing ladder, with lenders and the government underwriting a mortgage for a new build house or flat worth up to £500,000.

As we all know, the problem for a lot of people over the last few years has been finding the money for a deposit as you are now expected to find around 20% of the price of the property. This initiative will enable people to buy a new build with a down payment of only 5%.

The idea under the NewBuy scheme will be that developers will pay the lender 3.5% of the property price  and the government will guarantee an additional 5.5%. The government estimates that this will help up to 100,000 buyers get their first home.

There has been a mixed reaction to this new scheme, with many believing it may still over stretch many first time buyers, and also that it is appealing more to home builders than to home buyers. We will wait to see what happens in the next few months…..

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Reports are encouraging for the buy-to-let market for 2012. Despite house prices still falling or at least not moving, rental demand is still high and so rent prices look as though they will remain high. 

In fact the average rent for England and Wales over the last year has risen by nearly 4% according to the LSL Buy to Let Index, and analysts think rental growth will continue next year. November saw the first fall in rental rates this year, by 0.4% meaning the average rent was £717.  But this was probably a seasonal reflection with landlords hoping to avoid having any properties vacant over the Christmas period. 

Obviously there are quite dramatic regional differences, with the cheapest rent being in the North East at £514 in November, whilst London rents averaged a staggering £1033. The South East and East of England averaged £741 and £744 respectively.

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