Brickonomics

Are expectations of inflation too low?

Inflation is now on the way up. That was to be expected. As Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, keeps reminding us, we should expect inflation to be very volatile for some while. But, is it me or...

Posted by Brian on November 18, 2009 8:59 AM

Caution rules in house price debate

The latest Nationwide house price survey for August recorded the fourth rise on the trot and puts the average price of a house £12,500 higher than in February. Surely this means the slump is over and the price of houses...

Posted by Brian on August 27, 2009 10:11 AM

House building figures show huge jump in starts and completions

There were two big boosts in the numbers released today for house builders. First, the latest Government data on homes built in England are by far the best for more than a year with a massive leap in the quarter...

Posted by Brian on August 20, 2009 11:45 AM

CML provides further evidence of the housing market becoming more buoyant

The Council of Mortgage Lenders today adds yet more weight to the view that the housing market is in a period of stability if not growth. Its June figures show a 23% increase in the number of home loans over...

Posted by Brian on August 11, 2009 10:03 AM

Forecasters call the bottom of the house price slump

The increasing stretch of stable house prices is leading forecasters to call the bottom of the slump. The Nationwide late last month tentatively said it may be time to think the unthinkable that house prices may exit 2009 higher than...

Posted by Brian on August 8, 2009 4:45 PM

Recent housing data poses the question: Higher, Lower or Stick for prices?

The latest Halifax house price figures showing a 0.5% drop, stacked on top of recent data from Nationwide, Hometrack and a range of others, suggest that prices may be holding steady. But what should we read into that? Which way...

Posted by Brian on July 8, 2009 10:38 AM

Rightmove figures provide food for thought on house prices

The latest figures divined from the property website Rightmove show that asking prices fell 0.4% in the month. And at first sight this seem a little at odds with most of the data coming from the housing market of late....

Posted by Brian on June 22, 2009 9:40 AM

Homes sales continued to perk up in April, but it's too early to call it a recovery

The official figures for property transactions will make comforting reading in April for those selling homes. They seem consistent with the prevailing view that the housing market, in terms of sales and not prices, is showing some signs of bouncing...

Posted by Brian on May 22, 2009 9:47 AM

Home prices slide but rate of decline has eased, says Nationwide

The latest Nationwide data on house prices is yet another pointer to suggst the slide in house prices is far from over. The April figure saw the average price fall by 0.4% in April after the upward blip of 0.9%...

Posted by Brian on April 30, 2009 9:25 AM

Home sellers push up asking prices

The latest figures from the property website Rightmove suggest that sellers are feeling a bit more confident and are pushing up their asking prices. Rightmove puts the 1.8% rise in asking prices in April on top of the 0.9% rise...

Posted by Brian on April 20, 2009 11:56 AM

Nationwide springs pleasant surprise for house sellers and builders

The latest analysis by the Nationwide of house prices suggests that this spring has brought with it an unexpected 0.9% bounce in the price of houses. This will add some more cheer to those currently enjoying the blue skies, sunshine...

Posted by Brian on April 2, 2009 9:49 AM

Sorry to be a party pooper, but hold fire on bigging up the mortgage figures

There has been much joy in the housing sector at the news that the number and amount of home loans approved by banks grew for the third consecutive month in February, according to the British Bankers' Association. While this is...

Posted by Brian on March 24, 2009 4:06 PM

Window shoppers aplenty but buyers dwindle in the housing market

There has been a big surge in window shoppers, but no increase in sales. In fact they are a little worse. That is the nub of the latest housing market survey from the surveyors' body RICS. Much will be read...

Posted by Brian on March 10, 2009 2:19 PM

More mortgage cash from Northern Rock, but will it make a difference?

So Northern Rock is to get back into mortgages. I hear the cheers. The aim will be to get the first time buyer market moving. I hear more cheers. It will start lending on loan to value rates of up...

Posted by Brian on February 23, 2009 1:02 PM

Economists mark 2009 for the biggest fall in house prices

If you bought a house in 2003 or afterwards there is a fair change that by 2013 it will be worth just the same or less than as you paid for it. That is the grimmest view taken by the...

Posted by Brian on February 2, 2009 8:48 AM

Mortgage lending at 2001 level spells more bad news for home sales

Mortgage lending last year was down about 30% on the 2007 figures and in the final quarter was running at well below half the peak level, according to the latest figures from Council of Mortgage Lenders. CML expects the level...

Posted by Brian on January 21, 2009 11:50 AM

Why record low interest rates will fail to ease house building woes

The Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates to just 2% today, the lowest in its 300 plus years, will come as a relief to some. But in reality the Bank is near powerless to influence the direction of...

Posted by Brian on December 4, 2008 1:47 PM

Prepare for a bleak winter on house prices

On the face of it the steady easing over the past three months in the monthly rate of decline in house prices measured by Nationwide is encouraging to those who want to see the market stabilise. For the policy makers...

Posted by Brian on November 27, 2008 11:51 AM

Is buy-to-let really screwed? No, according to the figures. But...

What is all this about the "particularly hard-hit buy-to-let market" I keep hearing about in reports about the demise of Bradford & Bingley? The thing is, I tend to follow the figures a bit and was not aware of any...

Posted by Brian on September 29, 2008 2:00 PM

Why house prices indexes seem insane and short-term forecasts are futile

The Council of Mortgage Lenders is bang on when it says it is futile to try to update its house price forecast. Frankly it is probably sufficient to say that houses are worth less than they were a year ago...

Posted by Brian on September 24, 2008 9:25 AM