Home owners are experiencing double-digit house price rises again, official figures showed yesterday.
A 10.1 per cent surge in the year to April was the highest since October 2007, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government.
April’s 0.4 per cent increase pushed the cost of a typical three-bed semi to £207,516.
This was the 13th consecutive month of annual increases with prices rising in all parts of the UK except Northern Ireland.
Growth in England was 10.9 per cent, 2.2 per cent in Scotland and 11.3 per cent in Wales. In Northern Ireland prices fell by 8.9 per cent.
But separate figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed that first-time buyers were still finding it difficult to climb on the housing ladder, with lenders demanding an average 25 per cent for deposits.
Loans made to first-time buyers accounted for just 35 per cent of the total – the lowest since September 2007 – as applications fell to 14,300.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders said that overall there were 40,000 loans made for house purchases in April, worth £5.7billion – down 5,000 on March but up on the year before. It said this was due to the Easter holidays, pointing out that lending was still 15 per cent higher than a year ago.
“Lending for house purchase still looks modestly positive compared to 2009,” said Michael Coogan, director-general of the CML.
“First-time buyers were particularly affected, perhaps because of the alteration to stamp duty, and in anticipation of the changes arising from the economic and political uncertainty of recent months.”
But with only a gradual easing of mortgage rationing in the past few months, first-time buyers are still having to put down an average 25 per cent deposit when buying a new home.
Andrew Montlake, of mortgage broker Coreco, said: “Even taking into account the traditional Easter dip in activity, the figures for first-time buyers are still disappointing, and highlight how difficult it remains to secure finance without a sizable deposit.”
Halifax and Nationwide have recently reported annual price rises of 6.9 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively.
Source: Express.co.uk
See Also: Property News (6711), House Prices (12), Communities and Local Government (10), CLG (7), Council of Mortgage Lenders (14)
Date Published: 16 June 2010
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