Low Mortgage Rate Second Uk
(AFX UK Focus) 2006-07-31 10:26 GMT: UK mortgage lending remains firm in June, credit card borrowing slumps UPDATE
(Updating to add analyst comments)
LONDON (AFX) - The amount lent for housing purposes in the UK during June remained near two-year highs, though borrowing on credit cards slumped to a 12-year low, the Bank of England said today.
The central bank said net mortgage lending totalled 9.0 bln stg in June, just shy of expectations for a 9.2 bln increase but ahead of the six-month average of 8.8 bln. May's increase was revised down to 9.2 bln from the previous 9.3 bln, but still represents the highest since June 2004.
The BoE also said the number of approvals for house purchases, which are often seen as a good indicator of future demand in the property sector, were also strong, at 120,000. This is higher than the 117,000 recorded in May and analysts' expectations of 116,000 rise.
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North-South property divide is set to widen
The North-South house property price divide will widen as immigration, higher household formation and supply shortages underpin the market in high employment growth areas... Brian Durrant - Other articles
Mon 31 Jul, 2006
Fleet Street Letter’s record in forecasting the fortunes of the UK housing market has been good. Time and time again the merchants of gloom, like Professor Andrew Oswald, Durlacher and Capital Economics have insisted that a housing crash was just around the corner. And each time we urged you to ignore their advice and in the process saved yourselves from a dismal existence rotting unloved in a bedsit without a handsome tax-free capital gain. As an example, Professor Oswald urged British homeowners to sell up in May 2003. According to figures from Nationwide building society the average British house price has since risen from £107,905 to £165,730, a capital gain of 54%.But where do we go from here? The last time we commented in depth about the UK property market was in January this year.