Mortgage News
Housing market returning to normal
The latest Hometrack survey has revealed that house prices in England and Wales rose by 0.3% in March, prompting suggestions that the mortgage market is returning to a steady phase.
Prices were higher across 21% of the country, down from 26% in February. Annual price growth stands at 1.3%.
In March, the number of homes coming to the market exceeded the number of new buyers. Despite this, there was an increase of 13% in sales agreed over the month, which was up from 0.4% in February.
Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said the survey showed that supply and demand in the market was converging.
He said: “Talk of improved market conditions and prices nearing peak levels encourages a growing number of households to sell their properties. Many registered buyers are also sellers, and as they gain the confidence to move, so they put their homes on the market.”
Darren Cohen, mortgage consultant at LRG, said house prices would continue to rise slightly during 2010 as overall demand would outstrip supply.
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He added: “Prices will begin to level off and will only increase gradually which is good news. The lack of funding is still the biggest issue, and until there are more high LTV deals, the market will not improve.”