Housing Market Cools But More Needs To Be Done To Assist Buyers

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.addicting-flash-game.com/housing-market-cools-but-more-needs-to-be-done-to-assist-buyers)

The figures show that house price inflation slowed to only 0.1% in April, significantly slower when compared with a 1.1% increase for March, and the annual house price change fell to 4.8% in April from 5.3% in March, leading to an average UK house price increase of £1490 to £163,573, from £162,083, up by nearly £7,500 more than at this time last year. This is equivalent to a price increase of more than £20 per day over the last twelve months.


According to Nationwide's Group Economist, Fionnuala Earley, "The cooling in prices in April was not unexpected given the surge in March and shows the wisdom of not placing too much emphasis on one month's set of numbers. However, the underlying picture remains reasonably healthy as demand conditions have remained quite firm. While the number of house purchase approvals fell back sharply in February, from 121,000 to 115,000, this remains a buoyant level of activity, well above the ten year average of about 100,000 per month."


On the whole, this represents good news for the housing market, as prices settle following on from the high levels of house price growth seen throughout the rest of the year, however a legacy of price increases has lead to the nation's mortgage debt burden hitting the trillion pound barrier. Deirdre Hutton, Chairman of the National Consumer Council warned, "With 6 million families already struggling to keep on top of their credit commitments, even a small increase in interest rates could tip many more into a spiral of financial despair. Stories of individual misery lie behind these headlines. Now is the time for people to take stock of their borrowing commitments and to think twice before taking on further debt."


Bradford