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Fewer homeowners are putting their properties up for sale with Brexit uncertainty being cited as key factor. The number of properties on estate agents’ books remains near record lows, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found, and the number of new inquiries from buyers has also fallen. Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: “There […]

Denise’s freehold house has more than a dozen ‘restrictive covenants’ on it. When Denise Sullivan bought her new build home in Pembroke in 2016 she made sure it was freehold. “I don’t trust landlords and leaseholds. I promised myself I would never get involved with a leasehold property. “Now finding out my freehold isn’t worth […]

Estate agents have been urged to automatically disclose air pollution figures to home buyers. The industry trade body said providing this information should now be standard practice. “Air quality is now public information, and it will never not be again,” said Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark. His comments came as a new website […]

UK house prices rose at a slower rate in the year to July than at any time since September 2012, up by 0.7%, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there had been general slowdown in UK property price growth in the last three years. This was driven by a slowing market […]

The asking price for the average UK home fell by 0.2%, or £730, in September compared with August, as the housing market failed to pick up after the summer, according to property website Rightmove. It was the first time prices have seen a month-on-month fall in September since 2010, the website said. “Many have got […]

Gareth Lewis, commercial director of property lender MT Finance, says that house prices are likely to stay the same for a while. ‘With house prices bumping along at the same level for a while now, this is beginning to look like the new norm for the market. Gone are the spikes in pricing, the unpredictable […]

Chancellor Sajid Javid has said he has no plans to make house sellers rather than buyers pay stamp duty tax. “I wouldn’t support that,” the chancellor said in a tweet on Sunday. His comments came after the Times reported on Saturday that Mr Javid was considering the idea, to save first-time buyers from paying the tax. […]

New figures from UK Finance show that the number of first-time house buyers fell in June by 1.5%, compared to the same month in 2018. In June, 32,760 first-time buyer mortgages were completed in June, and 31,000 home mover mortgages were handed out – a 3.6% decrease like-for-like. As for buy-to-let purchase mortgages, there were […]

House prices and sales are “losing momentum” amid Brexit uncertainty, surveyors say, although parts of the UK are still seeing property values rise. Key aspects of the housing market were “pretty much flatlining”, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said. Many homes valued at more than £1m were being sold for under the asking […]

That Bank of England data shows borrowing was £3.7bn – close to the average of the previous three years – in June and a pick-up on May when it stood at £2.9bn. The annual growth rate of mortgage lending remained stable at 3.1%, around the level that it has been at since 2016, the Bank […]