On 19 May 15, the ONS (Office for National Statistics) released their House Price Index for March 2015.
The headline figures concerning house prices in the UK are as follows:
- UK house prices up by 9.6% for 12 months to Mar 15, compared to up 7.4% for 12 months to Feb15.
- England house prices up 9.4% to Mar 15.
- South-east house prices up 11.2% to Mar 15.
- Seasonally adjusted increase of 1.1% from Feb to Mar.
Only 25 properties were reported as being sold in Newbury for Mar 15 (Land Registry data), at an average of £287,225. This is only about 1% up on Mar 14, when 67 properties were sold for an average of £284,449. We can be reasonably confident that with a larger sample the increase seen across the south-east will be repeated in Newbury.
It is notable that sales volumes are down on 2014, with 189 sales in Q1 2014 compared to 82 in Q1 2015.
Also today, the CML (Council of Mortgage Lenders) released their report for Mar 15. Key points are:
- First time buyers took 23,000 loans, an increase of 20% on Feb 15, but a decrease of 5% year-on-year. This amounted to £3.4 billion, up 21% on Feb 15 and up 3% year-on-year.
- Home movers took 25,200 loans, up 14% on Feb 15, down 3% year-on-year. Total value of £4.9 billion, up 17% on Feb 15, up 7% year-on-year.
- Buy to Let owners took 18,200 loans, up 12% on Feb 15 and 21% year-on-year. Total value £2.7 billion, up 13% on Feb 15 and 35% year-on-year.
With continued strong house price growth, and a much weaker rise in rents (as rents are tied to wages, not house prices), it is getting ever more difficult to find good yields in Newbury. Research is critical to finding a good investment.
