Since 2008, London has been the most traded real estate market in the world [...]]]> The London property market has seen a huge increase in global capital flight- as it is seen by many as a safe haven during the eurozone credit crunch.On the high end of this scale of capital investment is the commercial property market.

Since 2008, London has been the most traded real estate market in the world with 60% of the total investment from foreign investors.

The system in London is very investor friendly with transparent legal structures and it has fiscal benefits in terms of tax and capital gains which give it a certain advantage.

International corporations use London as a base for Europe, Africa and the Middle East- and London also responds quickly to global market pressures.

In late 2008, there was a 40% drop in values post the Lehman Brothers crash and as Sterling weakened. Bizarrely, perhaps, this huge markdown did little to dampen investor sentiment. In contrast to the fortunes of the US and other real estate markets, it led to a substantial increase in overseas interest.

As such, London stole the crown from New York in 2008 as the most traded real estate market in the world.

During the 2008-2011 period, some 42% of sales were from UK owners to foreign investors, with just 6% being traded the other way.

These foreign investors are discerning and are focusing on prime assets.

UK buyers are still the biggest group, holding 48% of all property here, followed by German investors which own 16%, US investors which own 10% and Middle Eastern investors which own 6%.

Japanese investment has fallen two percentage points from a high of 11% in 1995, while and European investment excluding Germany has fallen to 5% from a high of 8% in 1995.

There has also been a growing trend towards the super-rich, often labelled high net worth individuals, buying property.

The super-rich are also buying in the City. Officially they own some 6% of the office space there, but many think that could be an underestimate as it is difficult to trace ownership and there is a culture of secrecy.

The firm confirmed strong demand [...]]]> Homebuilder Berkeley has seen a strong rise in profits to £101 million for the six months to the end of October.This was 64% up on the same period last year, but included a £30 million windfall due to the sale of Berkeley’s share in a project for Imperial College in London.

The firm confirmed strong demand for high quality homes in London and the South East, but said its overall market was affected by short-term volatility.

Berkeley said it was on target to meet its full-year forecasts.

“Looking forward, the further increase in forward sales and the strong balance sheet, which remains ungeared without debt, means Berkeley is increasingly well positioned to capitalise on the current market conditions,” said chairman Tony Pidgley.

Berkeley sold 1,506 homes in the half year at an average selling price of £254,000 compared with 1,249 homes sold at £262,000 a year earlier.

The construction company welcomed the government’s recent announcement of measures to boost home building, including a £400 million scheme to kick start stalled construction projects in England and a mortgage indemnity scheme to help up to 100,000 people buy homes with a 5% deposit.

The OBR also predicted that house prices would rise at levels above inflation from the same year, [...]]]> Housing market activity will improve in 2013 after a stagnant few years according to forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).It said there would be a 20% rise in transactions in 2013/ 14, compared with the previous year.

The OBR also predicted that house prices would rise at levels above inflation from the same year, reaching annual growth of 4.5% in 2015-16.

Sales have been at comparatively low levels during the period of economic turmoil, owing in part to lenders’ caution when handing out mortgages, buyers’ worries about their jobs, and sellers’ unwillingness to reduce asking prices.

The latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs showed that 76,000 homes were sold in October, which was 1,000 more than in September, but still 3,000 fewer than in October last year.

It means that sales for the year so far have been 5% down on 2010.

However, the OBR – the independent, but government-funded, economic forecaster – said that this would change in a few years.

It predicted that transactions would fall by 3% in 2011-12, grow by 1.5% the following year, but then surge by 20.7% in 2013-14.

Meanwhile, house prices will fall by 0.9% in 2011-12, dip by 0.1% the following year, then rise by 2.7% in 2013-14, and increase by more than 4% in each of the next three years.

Meanwhile, the number of mortgages [...]]]> UK house prices have remained “surprisingly resilient” in recent months with values rising again in November- the Nationwide has found.It said the average home rose in value by 0.4% in November to £165,798.  This was a 1.6% year on year increase, according to the figures based on Nationwide’s own mortgage data.

Meanwhile, the number of mortgages approved for house purchase but not yet completed  has risen slightly to its highest level for nearly two years.

The Bank of England said there were 52,743 approvals in October, up from 51,193 the previous month and the highest monthly total since December 2009.

The fact that approvals last month were higher than the average for the previous six months suggests that sales may pick up slightly in the coming months.

The Nationwide’s house price figures differ with those from the Land Registry published on Monday which showed that prices in England and Wales had slipped slightly in the past year.

The Nationwide predicted that prices would stay the same or fall in the next 12 months.

“House prices have remained surprisingly resilient in recent months, despite the deterioration in the economic outlook,” said Robert Gardner, the Nationwide’s chief economist.

“But, with the UK economic recovery expected to remain sluggish well into 2012, house price growth is likely to remain soft, with prices moving sideways or drifting modestly lower over the next twelve months.”

The best measure of current trends in house prices is to compare the average price of the past three months with the average price of the previous three months.

On the Nationwide’s data this three-month on three-month comparison shows a rise of 0.2%.

Mr Gardner said the apparent resilience of house prices reflected a lack of supply in the market.

He welcomed the latest announcement from the government on encouraging first-time buyer activity, but said that any action should also include measures to increase housing supply.

The government’s housing strategy, announced earlier in the month, included a mortgage guarantee scheme to encourage lenders to offer 95% mortgages to buyers of new homes.

The report, which looks at 16 million transactions, said prices fell 0.9% versus a month earlier, faster than the 0.3% rate decline [...]]]> The pace of house price falls in England and Wales increased in October- down 3.2% on a year ago according to the Land Registry.The average house price fell £2,020 to £160,000 in the month.

The report, which looks at 16 million transactions, said prices fell 0.9% versus a month earlier, faster than the 0.3% rate decline seen in September.

Prices also dipped in London by 1.6% in October, although they were still up 0.3% for the year.

That made the capital still the only region in the survey to have seen prices rise over the last 12 months.

The biggest year-on-year falls – of more than 7% – were in the North West and North East. Here too, prices fell more quickly in the last month, down 2.9% and 1.8% versus September.

Prices in Wales fell 3% in the month.

The price falls follow a summer in which transaction volumes rose, according to the Land Registry data, which records all actual home sales in England and Wales.

In August – the last month for which sales volumes are available – transactions rose slightly, with 62,000 properties changing hands, up 1% on August the year before.

But sales numbers slipped for higher-priced properties. The number sold for more than £1m in August fell by 7% to 714 from 764 in August 2010.

The Land Registry records completed property sales and features the end of the buying process when a transaction is registered.

It only measures the change in the price of properties that have been sold before, to ensure a proper comparison.

London was the only region where house prices had risen, with prices up by 2.8% in the [...]]]> Average UK house prices fell by 0.7% in September  according to official figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).The fall took the average UK house price to £207,326. Prices were 1.4% lower from a year ago.

London was the only region where house prices had risen, with prices up by 2.8% in the year to September.

By contrast, the largest price falls were in Northern Ireland, where prices were down by 12%.

The DCLG figures chime with the results of other monthly house price surveys from organisations such as the Halifax and the Nationwide.

These have also shown that prices have changed little in the past year, in a market subdued by the continued rationing of mortgage funds by lenders.

Experts have explained that the resilience of house prices in the capital has been due to a combination of factors, including the relatively buoyant level of employment and the continued influence of rich foreigners who continue to view houses in London as a good investment.

However, the [...]]]> Activity in the UK housing market showed some signs of picking up in October, according to the latest poll of surveyors.Sales and new buyer inquiries edged up compared with the previous month, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said.

One theory from the industry was that sellers were becoming more realistic about pricing homes.

However, the picture remained dark for first-time buyers’ prospects.

Economic conditions – including low wage growth, relatively high unemployment and restricted lending from banks – would have suggested that prices should have dropped sharply over the last year or two.

However, various surveys have shown that prices have remained relatively static. Nationwide Building Society recently described house prices in the UK as “treading water”.

Some surveyors have now reported that some sellers are becoming more willing to take lower offers to secure a sale. This meant 8% more surveyors reported a rise in newly agreed sales than those who reported a fall.

Although low compared with the boom years in the market, this was the highest level on this measure since April 2010.

Completed sales and new buyer enquiries rose compared with September, the Rics survey showed.

A greater proportion of surveyors reported that prices had fallen, rather than risen, and they expected this trend to continue.

“It is encouraging that activity levels appear to have edged upwards over the past month. Indeed, chartered surveyors are generally upbeat about the near-term prospects for transactions,” said Ian Perry, housing spokesman for Rics.

However, Mr Perry warned that the effects of the eurozone crisis would mean any recovery in sales would be modest, and affect the ability of UK banks to lend. This could mean that first-time buyers will still need high deposits.

“This will inevitably leave many people who would like to own a home unable to access the market,” he said.

It said that the housing market had remained “highly resilient” despite weakness and a deteriorating [...]]]> UK house prices rose by 1.2% in October compared with September, but have fallen over the last year according to the Halifax.The lender, part of nationalised Lloyds Banking Group, said that values had fallen by 1.8% compared with a year ago.

It said that the housing market had remained “highly resilient” despite weakness and a deteriorating outlook for the UK economy.

The average home in the UK was valued at £163,311, the Halifax said.

Its house price survey is based on its own mortgage data.

The Halifax said that there was a 0.3% fall in prices in the three months to the end of October compared with the previous quarter. This was the first time this measure has recorded a fall since June.

Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist, said that this was an indication of the general stability of prices, despite the month-on-month figures having shown some volatility during the year.

“The housing market has proved highly resilient in recent months, despite the weak economic recovery and the deterioration in the outlook for both the UK and global economies,” he said.

“The prospect of exceptionally low official interest rates over the foreseeable future is likely to continue to support the market in the face of a very difficult economic climate.

“Both prices and activity levels are expected to remain close to current levels over the coming few months.”

The survey’s findings are similar to the picture painted by the Nationwide Building Society. A week ago, it said that UK house prices were “treading water”.

The Nationwide said the annual change in October was a 0.8% rise.

However, the year-on-year comparison is calculated slightly differently by the two lenders. The Halifax compares the previous three months with the same three months a year earlier to give a smoother comparison, rather than a direct comparison of the equivalent months.

In London, prices rose by 0.3% in September compared with August, and [...]]]> House prices have continued to drop sharply in some regions of England and Wales – but still rose in London an official a survey has found.The Land Registry data offers evidence of the varying nature of the market in different areas of the country.

In London, prices rose by 0.3% in September compared with August, and were up 2.7% compared with a year ago.

Yet the North East of England witnessed a 3.9% drop in month-on-month prices, and an 8.2% fall in annual values.

On average in England and Wales, prices were down 0.3% in September compared with the previous month, the Land Registry said, and fell by 2.6% year-on-year.

That left the average home valued at £162,109, it said.

In the last year, prices of terraced homes have fallen the sharpest, the Land Registry’s survey said.

The average price of a property ranges vastly, from £100,616 in the North East to £349,026 in London, the data shows.

Regional house price changes:

• North West: 1% monthly rise, 2.7% annual fall
• South West: 0.5% monthly rise, 2.4% annual fall
• Yorkshire and Humber: 0.4% monthly rise, 4.9% annual fall
• London: 0.3% monthly rise, 2.7% annual rise
• South East: no change monthly, 2.1% annual fall
• West Midlands: 0.2% monthly fall, 4.1% annual fall
• East: 1.1% monthly fall, 3% annual fall
• East Midlands: 1.6% monthly fall, 4.3% annual fall
• Wales: 1.7% monthly fall, 5.8% annual fall
• North East: 3.9% monthly fall, 8.2% annual fall

Source: Land Registry, September 2011

The figures were [...]]]> Average private sector housing rents in England and Wales rose by another 0.7% last month, to hit a new monthly high of £718, a report has said.It means rents have risen by 4.3% in the past 12 months, with tenants paying an average £29 a month more than they were a year ago.

The figures were compiled by LSL Property Services, which owns a number of estate agents and letting agencies.

LSL said rents had risen fastest in the South East and East Midlands.

David Newnes of LSL said rents were rising everywhere, due to high demand from people who were still unable to buy a home, and were being forced to rent instead.

“In many cases, buying a home is now cheaper on a monthly basis – provided renters can get past the stumbling block of the substantial deposit requirements,” said Mr Newnes.

“For the majority, saving a £25,000 deposit is a Herculean task as inflation and rents climb – and most would-be buyers are biting the bullet and prolonging their stay in increasingly costly rental accommodation.

“As things stand, we won’t see competition amongst prospective tenants diminish without a substantial expansion in the supply of rental properties available on the market,” he warned.

Earlier this month, the housing charity Shelter said private rents had become unaffordable in 55% of council areas in England.

It said homes in these areas cost more than 35% of median local take home pay.

It said there had been a mixed pattern of monthly changes in prices, but [...]]]> House prices are “lacking genuine direction”, according to the Halifax, as it reported a 0.5% fall in values in September compared with August.Prices were down 2.3% from a year ago, leaving the average home in the UK worth £161,132, the lender said.

It said there had been a mixed pattern of monthly changes in prices, but broad stability overall.

And the lender said it expected little change in prices and activity during the rest of the year.

“Greater uncertainty about economic and personal financial circumstances, together with pressure on householders’ finances from weak earnings growth, higher inflation and increases in taxes, are likely to be constraining housing demand,” said Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis.

“Despite these pressures, low interest rates and a rise in employment over the past year, have been supporting the market.”

Prices in the three months to September were 0.1% higher than the previous three months.

The report of static house prices from the Halifax’s lending data chimes with the latest figures from the Nationwide. The building society said last week that prices were “treading water”.

However, the latest statistics on mortgage approvals from the Bank of England may suggest that sales funded by mortgage borrowing could pick up this autumn.

It said the number of new mortgages approved, but not yet lent, for home buyers rose to 52,410 in August – its highest monthly level since December 2009.

The monthly picture so far this year from the Halifax is one of with four rises, four falls and one month of no change in prices.

Recent data from the Land Registry showed that prices in London had risen by 2.1% in the year to August, compared with a 7.8% fall in the north-east of England.

Prices for the three months to September compared with the previous quarter were unchanged.

Market turmoil [...]]]> House prices continued to “tread water” in September – rising by 0.1% compared with the previous month the mortgage lender Nationwide said.This left the average price of a home 0.3% lower than a year earlier, at £166,256, the building society said.

Prices for the three months to September compared with the previous quarter were unchanged.

Market turmoil as a result of the eurozone debt crisis had hit confidence among buyers, Nationwide said.

“Sentiment towards major purchases is depressed, as a result of weak labour market conditions and ongoing pressure on household budgets from above-target inflation,” said Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist.

He predicted that property prices would remain fairly stable over the rest of 2011, although the outlook for the global economy had “darkened”.

The struggle for people to find new jobs has resulted in “sluggish demand” from potential buyers.

That, together with a gradual rise in the number of properties on the market, had led to the current market conditions.

Some of these issues are most acute in the north east of England.

Many of the properties coming onto the market were the result of repossessions. These included repossessed properties from landlords who had overstretched themselves.

This meant there were some two bedroom homes in need of some work that were on the market for £20,000.

Many properties were selling if prices were lowered, however dropping prices was not necessarily an option for some sellers though.

Those who bought at the peak of the market may well have borrowed more than the property is now worth with negative equity.

It was the third fall in the past four months and means the annual rate of house price decline has changed little [...]]]> House prices in England and Wales continue to stagnate, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.Average prices fell by 0.3% in August to £162,347, leaving them 2.6% lower than a year ago.

It was the third fall in the past four months and means the annual rate of house price decline has changed little during that time.

With small fluctuations each month, house prices in England and Wales have hardly changed since the end of 2010.

The Land Registry said that prices in London continued to diverge strongly from the rest of the country.

They rose by another 0.5% last month and are now 2.1% higher than they were a year ago.

This makes London the only region to experience a rise in prices in the past year, with property prices now averaging £348,686.

By contrast, in that time prices have fallen by 7.8% in the North East of England and by 5.5% in Wales.

The continued stagnation of prices and sales has been mainly due to the rationing of mortgage funds by banks and building societies, which has been in force since the height of the banking crisis in 2008.

A report from the Bank of England – its latest quarterly Credit Conditions Survey – has found that lenders continue to find it difficult to raise funds in the financial markets, which they can then lend to customers.

Lenders told the Bank that there had been more demand for mortgages in the third quarter of this year.

And they expected to be able to offer a little more money to would-be borrowers in the coming months.

But the Bank warned that things might take a turn for the worse.

“In both the household and corporate surveys, lenders pointed to adverse wholesale funding conditions as a key factor which might constrain future lending,” the Bank said.

“More recent discussions with some of the major lenders suggested that although these factors had not yet led to reduced credit availability, a period of sustained tight funding conditions could act to constrain their ability to extend loans going forward,” it added.

The monthly drop was the first recorded by [...]]]> House prices fell by 1.2% in August compared with the previous month with property values expected to remain stable, Halifax said.The lender, now part of nationalised Lloyds Banking Group, said that the average home was 2.6% lower in value than a year ago at an average of £161,743.

The monthly drop was the first recorded by Halifax for four months.

It said low interest rates, coupled with a lack of demand, meant there would not be a pick-up in activity.

The month-on-month drop is similar to the drop recorded from July to August by the Nationwide Building Society a week ago.

Both lenders base their house price estimates on their own lending data.

The less volatile three-month on three-month measure showed that prices rose by 1% in the three months to the end of August compared with the previous quarter.

Prices remain slightly lower than the end of last year, the Halifax said, and – despite homes becoming more affordable – it saw little expectation of a strong lift in the market.

“A recent decline in average mortgage rates has further boosted home affordability for those able to raise a deposit to make a new purchase,” said Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist.

“Low interest rates are likely to continue to support the market whilst increased uncertainty about the economic outlook and pressures on householders’ finances constrain demand.

“Overall, we expect broad stability in both prices and activity over the coming months.”

The typical home now costs £165,914, the lender [...]]]> House prices fell slightly in August with values expected to stay the same or drift modesty lower for the rest of 2011 Nationwide says.The building society said that property prices were 0.6% lower in August than in July, and 0.4% down on the same month a year ago.

The typical home now costs £165,914, the lender said.

It also warned that prices could be pushed down further if more workers were laid off.

“For some time now the residential property market has been moving sideways, as weak demand for homes co-existed with a situation where relatively few homes were coming on to the market,” said Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner.

“A further fall in employment would be likely to upset the relatively delicate demand-supply balance and put downward pressure on prices.”

However, he said that threats to UK economic growth meant that interest rates were expected to remain on hold until well into 2012, providing support for homeowners and domestic spending.

The Nationwide data is based on a sample of the lender’s own loans during the month.

Other house price surveys include figures from the Land Registry which, although they lag behind the Nationwide data, provide a regional breakdown of prices.

The most recently published Land Registry figures showed that prices in the North East of England fell by 8.8% in the year to July. There was also an annual drop in prices in every area of England and Wales, except London.

The average UK home was valued at £204,981, although prices were down 2% from a [...]]]> House prices rose in many areas of the UK in June compared with the previous month official government figures show.On average, prices increased by 0.6% in June compared with the previous month, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said.

The average UK home was valued at £204,981, although prices were down 2% from a year ago.

But London again bucked the trend, with a year-on-year rise of 1.5%.

The annual change was sharpest in Northern Ireland, where prices fell by 8.1%, followed by Wales, down 5.6%, and Scotland, down 2.3%.

In England, year-on-year prices fell by 1.8%, with regional changes ranging from a 5.1% fall in the North West of England to the rise in the capital.

However, seven of the nine English regions showed month-on-month increases. This was greatest in London with a 1.6% rise in June compared with May. Only Yorkshire and the Humber (down 0.5%) and the North West (down 1.4%) recorded falls.

The DCLG figures have been published just after property website Rightmove said that house sellers had been dropping their asking prices.

It said asking prices fell by 2.1% this month after a 1.6% fall in July, but the gap between asking prices and selling prices remained wide.

However, Rightmove says asking prices dropped by 2.1% this month after a 1.6% fall in July.

The [...]]]> House sellers have dropped their asking prices for the second month in a row.Sales have been held back by the reality gap in the market, with asking prices rising for most of this year while selling prices have been flat.

However, Rightmove says asking prices dropped by 2.1% this month after a 1.6% fall in July.

The average asking price of £231,543 is now 14% higher than the average £203,528 selling price.

That selling figure comes from the government’s own monthly house price survey, produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

The gap between asking prices and selling prices is even wider if data from other house price surveys is used.

The Halifax puts the cost of the average home at £163,981, and the Nationwide puts it at £168,731, so sellers and their estate agents could be overpricing their properties by as much as 41%.

“We’re in a ‘limbo-land’, where a restricted number of motivated sellers are trying to match themselves up with the similarly restricted number of financially capable buyers,” said Miles Shipside of Rightmove.

“In many parts of the country, transaction levels are limited to the number of sellers who are willing to price aggressively below the competition and can afford to do deals,” he added.

The agency looked at a sample of 1.5 million home loans across the UK.

The predictions come amid a period of sluggish activity in the market.

London is [...]]]> Surveyors are “pessimistic” about UK house prices in the next three months following a slight fall in property values in July.Some 13% more surveyors expect prices to fall rather than rise in the next quarter, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said.

The predictions come amid a period of sluggish activity in the market.

London is still bucking the national trend, with prices having increased in July and predicted to continue rising.

The findings suggested that, in most of the UK, would-be buyers were being put off by large deposits being demanded by lenders.

Potential sellers were unwilling to accept lower selling prices and so were reluctant to enter the market.

“While the holiday season appears to have had some impact on the market, the continual problem of inaccessible mortgage finance is still preventing first-time buyers from accessing the market,” said Ian Perry, of Rics.

“Unsurprisingly, with prices continuing to fall, many would-be sellers seem unwilling to lower their expectations and are reluctant to place their property on the market.”

The data will come as bad news for those who have borrowed more in a mortgage than the value of their home.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) recently calculated that 827,000 mortgage-holders were in negative equity, although this was lower than the estimated 1.6 million households in the same situation in the early 1990s.

Then, an estimated 1.6 [...]]]> The number of mortgage borrowers in negative equity – where their loan is bigger than the value of their house – is 827,000, lenders have calculated.The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said the figures, for the first quarter of 2011, suggest the problem is not as great as in the early 1990s.

Then, an estimated 1.6 million households were in negative equity.

The CML said while it made it hard for some people to move home, it did not mean their home would be repossessed.

“Negative equity is much less common than in the 1990s, and in the current cycle low interest rates and a relatively stable employment market are providing more options for borrowers and lenders in difficulty,” the CML’s director general, Paul Smee, said.

“There is no direct relationship between negative equity and mortgage payment problems.

“What typically causes difficulty for households is not a nominal fall in housing value but an unexpected change in personal circumstances, like the loss of a job or the breakdown of a family relationship,” he explained.

However, those in this predicament are mainly people who bought a home in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and have thus been affected most by price falls, and first-time buyers who typically put down small deposits.

“Half of negative equity cases relate to loans taken out in 2007, when lending conditions were at their most competitive and house prices at their peak,” the CML said.

“Nearly a third of continuing loans from 2007 are in negative equity,” it added.

The CML estimates that about 326,000, or 39%, of the current 826,000 negative equity cases are first-time buyers.

In turn, 26% of all current first-time buyers are in negative equity.

“First-time buyers are more vulnerable to experiencing negative equity during a period of softer house prices [and] our latest estimates confirm that first-time buyers do have a materially higher propensity to be in negative equity,” the CML said.

The problem is worst in those areas where prices have fallen most in the past few years: Northern Ireland, Yorkshire, Humberside and the north-east of England.

The CML pointed out that despite negative equity suffered by a minority of home buyers, the amount of unmortgaged housing wealth owned in the UK was still “phenomenal”.

It estimated that people who own their homes outright, with no mortgage at all, own property worth a total of £1.43 trillion.

Meanwhile, nearly half of people with a mortgage had one that was worth less than 70% of the value of their homes, giving them an equity cushion of at least 30%.

Another quarter of borrowers had mortgages worth between 70% and 90% of their homes.

The rest had less than a 10% equity stake in their homes.

Thus people with mortgages own homes worth a total of £1.84 trillion and of that their unmortgaged equity cushion amounts to nearly £800 billion.

A previous estimate of negative equity from the CML was published in April 2009.

At the time it showed that 900,000 homes had been in that position in the preceding year.

However, the CML said its latest research was not directly comparable with its previous publication, due to the use of a different methodology.

The lender explained that over the last three months prices had been 0.5% higher than in the [...]]]> House prices have gone up for the third month in a row according to the Halifax mortgage lender.Its latest monthly survey says they rose in July by just 0.3%, leaving them 2.6% lower than a year ago at £163,981.

The lender explained that over the last three months prices had been 0.5% higher than in the previous three.

That was the first such increase in 14 months, indicating that prices were stabilising, according to its housing economist Martin Ellis.

“Overall, there has been little change in either the level of house sales or the number of properties on the market for sale since late 2010,” he said.

“These steady market conditions have helped to stabilise house prices in 2011 following last year’s modest decline.

“This pattern is expected to continue over the rest of the year with little genuine direction in either house prices or sales,” Mr Ellis added.