‘Buyer demand weakens but affordability boost likely’ – Zoopla
Zoopla’s April House Price Index finds cooling demand and expanded supply, but notes that the relaxation of mortgage affordability rules could boost buying power by up to 20%. Although buyer demand has cooled since the stamp duty changes, it remains 1% higher than this time last year. The number of homes for sale has risen […]
March transaction numbers ‘foundation for growth’ but capacity could be an issue
The impact of the SDLT deadline on 31st March was evident in the latest figures from HMRC which showed sizeable uplifts in transactions from February 2025 and March 2024. The provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in March is 177,370, which is 104% higher than March 2024 and 62% higher than February 2025. […]
Two million first time buyers ‘missing from the housing market’
A new report from the Building Societies Association (BSA) suggests that a significant number of potential first-time buyers have failed to get on the property ladder since the financial crisis. BSA analysis of historic first-time buyer data shows that around 7.2 million individuals or couples would have been expected to buy their first home since […]
‘Millions in limbo over mortgage rates’ with first-time buyers the most pessimistic
Data from the HomeOwners Alliance reveals ‘deep uncertainty’ about the future of mortgage rates, with 37% of people polled expecting rates to go up within the next year. In the survey of 2000 adults, 25% said they believed rates would hold, 16% thought they would fall, and 22% said they didn’t know what would happen. […]
Rural Wales sees largest increase in Land Registry applications
An analysis of HM Land Registry transaction data has revealed Powys as the area with the largest increase in property applications to the registry in 2024. The rural mid-Wales county saw a 25.2% increase in applications, followed by Bedford with 17.3%, Hounslow in West London at 11.2%, and Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire increasing by […]
‘Soaring demand’ for shared ownership behind Just Mortgages’ growth
The national broker Just Mortgages is expanding to meet what it calls a ‘soaring demand’ for shared ownership schemes. The firm’s specialist new build division has more than doubled to meet demand in the last three years, growing from 16 to 34 dedicated new build advisers. After a continued escalation in the number of shared […]
Twenty7tec sees surge in buy-to-let demand, with March mortgage searches at record high
Financial tech platform Twenty7tec has reported record numbers of remortgage searches, with a 22.9% month-on-month rise in buy-to-let mortgage searches leading to the highest seven-day totals ever recorded by the company. The searches for mortgages in the £150,000–£250,000 bracket were significantly higher than the 6.4% growth in residential enquiries, with 18th March being the company’s […]
Property listings at seven-year high; sales agreed up 9.3%
The first quarter of 2025 saw 451,000 new properties listed for sale, according to the latest insight from property data analysts TwentyCi – the highest number of Q1 listings in the last seven years. As well as a 4% rise in new instructions, TwentyCi’s figures reveal the number of sales agreed is up year-on-year, with […]
L&G data reveals promising signs, with interest from older first time buyers up by 80%
L&G says there has been a ‘significant increase’ in first-time buyer searches for mortgages, including a sharp rise in older buyers who want to get on the property ladder. Quarter one data from L&G’s Ignite mortgage platform showed an increase of 45% for first-time buyers compared to figures from Q4 of 2024, with searches by […]
Keep up pressure on completion to help vulnerable buyers, says iamproperty co-founder
Ben Ridgway, co-founder of estate agent software company iamproperty, has urged the property industry to achieve faster completions and a more efficient homebuying process in the wake of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) deadline. Failing to do so, he warns, will place strain on vulnerable buyers already faced with an extra £34 million in […]
Market ‘resilient’ market after SDLT surge
The first property trends report of the year from Landmark Information Group reflects ongoing industry positivity following SDLT threshold changes, with continued optimism pointing to a resilient market. The data from Landmark reveals an overall 30% rise in completions in England and Wales for the first quarter of 2025, with an ‘abnormally high’ 71% year-on-year […]
Waltham Forest and Manchester top list of fastest-moving homes markets
New data from property website Zoopla reveals that homes in Manchester and Waltham Forest sell faster than anywhere else in the UK, with an average of just 19 days in each region. Buyers in all regions can expect completion to take between four and six months depending on the complexity of the transaction. Across England […]
53,000 new homes enter the market following stamp duty deadline
Around 54,000 home sellers have entered the market across England since the 31st March stamp duty deadline. However, just 7% of the 53,468 new homes hitting the market across England have been listed with an asking price below the stamp duty threshold of £125,000. Research conducted by estate agency Yopa shows that of the 431,836 […]
Rightmove House Price Index reveals new buyer demand up 5% on last year
Rightmove’s March House Price Index reports ‘resilient activity’ despite stamp duty threshold changes, with an increase in the number of buyers across the UK. Mover activity is strong overall, with a 5% year-on-year increase in new buyers. The majority of regions in the Midlands, north of England, Wales and Scotland saw above average increases in […]
Low buyer demand and tariff uncertainty weaken market but likely to be ‘short-lived’ – RICS
The latest UK Residential Property Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveals weak buyer demand across the country, with ongoing tariff wars creating an ‘increasingly challenging macro backdrop’. New buyer demand slipped to -32% in March, down from -16% in February – the weakest return since September 2023. ‘Virtually all parts of […]
Build-to-Rent sector attracted record investment of £5.2 billion in 2024
Insight from Excellion Capital reveals that the number of Build-to-Rent (BTR) homes in the UK has increased by an estimated 173% over the past five years, with a record £5.2 billion invested into the sector in 2024. The debt advisory and investments firm says BTR is rapidly eclipsing Build-to-Sell (BTS) as the most promising area […]
Tariffs trigger recession warning, lenders respond with cuts to mortgage rates
The director of Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned market instability caused by President Trump’s tariffs could send the UK into recession, prompting calls for the Bank of England to move faster and go further with interest rate cuts. “Unless something happens, we are certainly in for a period of much slower growth than […]
Tariffs trigger recession warning, lenders respond with cuts to mortgage rates
The director of Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned market instability caused by President Trump’s tariffs could send the UK into recession, prompting calls for the Bank of England to move faster and go further with interest rate cuts. “Unless something happens, we are certainly in for a period of much slower growth than […]
20% increase in year-on-year sales agreed could see market through post-SDLT blip
A 20% increase on agreed sales year on year could see the property market through any potential blip after the end of SLDT reliefs at the end of March. Although Propertymark’s latest Housing Insight Report paints a mixed picture of the sales market, with a decrease in the number of prospective buyers, there is a […]
Mortgage applications slow following SDLT deadline, annual growth rate remains steady
Demand is returning to normal after the March rush to complete house sales before the Stamp Duty (SDLT) deadline, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index. In a sign of market volumes, the lender said more customers completed sales in March than in January and February combined. However, Amanda Bryden, Head of Mortgages at […]
