"Over the last few years, the housing market has been split between a buoyant London, boosted by overseas demand, and a trend of falling prices across other regions"
- Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack
The number of mortgage approvals hit the highest in almost five years in August, while property values advanced the most in six years in September, fuelling concerns of a growing housing bubble, while the tendency is expected to persist in the nearest future. On Monday London-based property researcher Hometrack said in its statement that average values in England and Wales ticked up 0.5%- the most since May 2007, and 0.1% higher than a month ago. Annually prices accelerated 2.4%.An increase was recorded in nine of 10 regions tracked by the company.
Separately, the Bank of England said domestic lenders granted 62,226 mortgages in August, compared with just 60,914 in July. The latest figure is exceeding the 61,500 that was the average estimate made by economists. Net mortgage lending surged 974 million, while consumer credit inched higher 577 million pounds.
At the same time, the government is expected to launch the controversial scheme by next week- three months earlier than expected. Prime Minister David Cameron rejected all the fears that the Help to Buy scheme will only worsen the situation of an unsustainable boom in house prices.
© Dukascopy Bank SA