–Hometrack: UK Sep House Asking Prices -0.4% m/m; +1.0% y/y
LONDON (MNI) – UK house asking prices fell for the third
consecutive month in September, and there was a marked fall in
prospective new buyers, according to market intelligence company
Hometrack.
House asking prices fell 0.4% on the month in September, having
dropped 0.3% on the month in August and by 0.1% on the month in July.
With the number of new buyers registering with estate agents falling by
2.9% on the month, the data add to the raft of evidence that the UK
housing market is turning down again.
Another survey based on house asking prices, from Rightmove,
reported a 1.1% monthly drop in prices in September, following a 1.7%
drop in August and a 0.6% fall in July.
The clear trend at present is for sellers to lower prices in the
face of weak demand.
The most recent data from the British Bankers’ Association showed
the number of mortgages approved by the major UK banking groups fell in
August to their lowest level since April 2009.
Hometrack said its survey showed house asking prices fell across
all UK regions for the first time since April 2009.
The O.3% drop on the month left house asking prices up just 1.0% on
the year, and Hometrack said the number of buyers registering with
agents fell by 6.5% over the three months through September.
The housing market has become sluggish, with Hometrack saying the
average time a property is on the market is now 9.3 weeks, the longest
average time for more than a year.
Former Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Kate
Barker, a housing market specialist, warned of the risk of another leg
down for UK house prices in a CNBC interview broadcast Friday.
Barker said as house price fell at the start of the financial
crisis the government took supportive action “to prop it up, to help
first time buyers, to support the construction industry.”
“We have now reached the point where the government isn’t
supporting the market so much,” she said, and “as the government support
comes away, we will see prices comes down.”
Richard Donnell, research director at Hometrack, also talked about
a second leg down in prices.
“This is the third consecutive month of house price falls and is
part of an ongoing re-pricing process which began 6 months ago in early
spring, and which is set to stretch well into 2011. The market is now
entering the second phase of the re-pricing process as a response to
falls in both sales volumes and demand,” he said.
The increasing likelihood of house price deflation is adding to
the policy challenges facing the MPC.
–London Bureau; Tel: +442078627491; email: drobinson@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,MABDA$,MABDS$,MT$$$$]
