NBS reports marginal rise in property rates |
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Published
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Thu, 03 Mar 2005 01:00
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Nationwide Building Society (NBS) in its latest report has indicated that prices of property in the UK rose slightly in Feb. by 0.5 per cent due to a number of reasons. The report said, in January, property prices rose by 0.4 per cent in the same period last year and by 12.6 per cent on a year earlier.
At present, the property rate is hovering around £152,879. And homeowners are of the view that property prices will increase in the coming six months at least by one per cent, said Alex Bannister economist at NBS.
| He said if the growth rallied at the same level, then the Bank of England would certainly increase interest rates, which stands at 4.75 per cent.
But experts are of the view that the UK housing market may be heading for a slump after almost four years of steady growth.
Barclays has forecast an eight per cent dip in property prices in 2005, and further falls till 2007. While PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said property prices may downslide by 10-15 per cent by 2009.
“We are not seeing the market collapsing in the way some had feared,” said an optimistic Bannister.
Meanwhile, the new lending figures released by the Bank of England on Tuesday stated that the new mortgage loans in Jan. had fallen from 82,000 to 79,000 in Dec., lowest since 1995.
In January, the Bank said, 48,000 fewer mortgages were approved compared to the same period last year.
So also, the overall mortgage lending for Jan. was marginally up by £7.2 billion from £7.1 billion in Dec.
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