DATA: Nationwide reported annual price growth of 10% in September
A small monthly rise of 0.1% reduced the annual growth rate from 11% to 10%.
DATA: Zoopla reported UK annual house price growth of 6.1% in August
They reported house prices are rising fastest in Liverpool (9.7%) and Manchester (8.1%) while Aberdeen finally recorded a positive annual price change of 0.2%.
DATA: BoE reported a small fall in mortgage approvals for house purchase
The 74,500 approvals are much lower than the levels seen over the last year but are still 12% higher than the pre-pandemic average.
DATA: ONS revised second quarter GDP upwards
GDP was estimated to have grown 5.5% in Q2 compared to an initial estimate of 4.8%.
DATA: DLUHC Q2 building control data showed a fall in new housing supply
The seasonally adjusted data, which should only be used carefully as a leading indicator, reported a slight fall in starts and completions in Q2. Despite the fall in the latest quarter, the annual total apparently increased to the highest level seen since 1989. However, the comparison may not be accurate due to underlying issues with the data.
DATA: DLUHC released green belt statistics for England, 2020-21
The release reports 1,614,000 hectares designated as green belt, 1,750 less than last year.
DATA: UK Finance published mortgage lending with postcodes data
The data provides a summary of outstanding mortgage lending data at a local level up to Q1 2021. See Table of the Week for more information.
REPORT: ONS reported prices are rising fastest in rural and coastal areas
The analysis of ONS house price indices reports house prices were rising at three times the national rate in some rural and coastal areas.
REPORT: Hamptons forecast 3.5% annual house price growth in 2022
Last year’s forecast for the annual change in prices at the end of 2021 was 0%, now revised up to 4.5%. ONS reported house prices were up 4.7% in July on the same basis so it appears Hamptons are expecting prices to fall slightly in second half of the year.
REPORT: Academics argue that a strong planning system is crucial for tackling inequalities
They argue that “the Government’s anti-planning stance will make levelling up impossible and will make regional disparities worse”.
Table of the Week
UK Finance release quarterly data showing the total value of outstanding mortgage lending by postcode sector and area. The data provides a useful guide to where mortgage lending activity is taking place. Our table of the week shows the top ten postcode areas in terms of the percentage change in outstanding lending from Q4 2019 to Q1 2021. It is interesting to note they are all in the south of England and mostly in and around London. At the other end of the table (not shown), there were reported falls in outstanding lending in Dumfries, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, and Blackpool.
