British house prices barely rose during August, according to Britain's biggest mortgage lender Halifax, adding to other signs of moderation in the housing market.
The average house price rose 0.1pc in August to £186,270, slowing sharply from an increase of 1.2pc in July, the Halifax House Price Index showed.
Between June and August prices rose 3pc when compared to the previous three months, however this quarterly growth was down from 3.5pc last month.
On an annual basis prices rose 9.7pc in the three months to August, but this was down from 10.2pc in July.
Six months on from the launch of the UK Land Registry’s Property Alert service more than 12,000 people have signed up to the free service which provides an early warning of suspicious activity on someone’s property.
The Land Registry has stopped fraud on properties worth more than £66 million in the last five years. In a recent case, two fraudsters managed to pocket £50,000 by selling an empty home they didn’t own. Staff at the Land Registry spotted the fraud before it was registered but the fraudsters got away with the money and are still wanted by the police.
Auction House has announced that a record number of lots were sold by the firm in July, marking a six year high for UK industry as a whole.
The group sold 379 lots in the month, an 8% increase on its previous best, raising £38.5 million in the process.
Auction House Founding Director Roger Lake said that the record figures highlighted the buoyancy of the property auctions sector.
“As our numbers demonstrate, regional auctions are becoming more and more popular. But it’s the increasing consumer confidence in the auction method of sale that is the important driver. With auction fast
New research from London rental website Rentonomy has earmarked the south-east London district of Woolwich as the capital’s top area for students to rent.
The report, which analyses 200 postcode districts across the capital, compares average monthly room costs, journey times to central London, crime levels - and the all-important number of local pubs, bars and clubs - to rank the top 25 areas for students to live throughout the capital.
THE FULL LIST: RENTONOMY'S TOP 25 PLACES FOR STUDENTS TO RENT
More than 160,000 new property millionaires have been created over the last year in Britain, according to property website, Zoopla, with nearly half a million home owners who can now call themselves property millionaires, at 484,081 in total. This figure is a 49% or 160,397 increase on a year ago.
It found that 12 streets now have average house prices of more than £10 million, all of which are in London, where competition from buyers has been particularly fierce.
Kensington Palace Gardens, which was once again named by Zoopla as Britain's most expensive street, now has an average property
The average monthly cost of running a three-bedroom house for someone taking their first step on the property ladder stands at £677, which is £110 lower than the typical monthly rent paid on a similar property, according to research undertaken by Halifax.
Cheap mortgage deals have helped to widen the cost gap between buying and renting a home in recent years. Five years ago, the average cost of owning your first property was around £37 a month more expensive than renting, Halifax said.
Buying has become even cheaper compared with renting over the last year, the research found. A year ago, the
London’s property buyers are prepared to pay an average of £42,000 extra to secure a home within a five-minute walk of an Underground or railway station, a new survey claims, and as reported in the London Evening Standard on Tuesday.
The “station premium” has widened drastically from £27,000 in the past two years, as improvements to the Tube and Overground networks have made access to public transport even more valuable for home- owners.
The survey, by the Nationwide building society, looked at prices at various distances from stations, ranging from 500 metres — equivalent to a brisk five
House sellers' asking prices in London, Cambridgeshire, Berkshire and Surrey have made the strongest gains since the financial crisis struck, while those in County Durham, the Isle of Wight, West Yorkshire and Teesside have the furthest distance still to recover, according to property website, Rightmove.
With an average price tag of £1.5 million, average asking prices in central London and the City now tower 41.9% above the levels seen when the housing market was at its pre-crisis peak in May 2008.
West London has seen the next strongest price growth since the previous peak of the market, with
Award winning property auctioneer Auction House is announcing record sales for July 2014, marking a six year high for UK auctioneers as a whole.
Despite the distractions of summer sun and a feast of sport, the group sold 379 lots in the month, over 8% up on its previous best, and raised £38.5 million in the process.
Commenting on the achievement, Founding Director Roger Lake said: ”These record figures are not only a brilliant result for Auction House, but also a real sign of buoyancy in our sector.
“As our numbers demonstrate, regional auctions are becoming more and more popular. But it’s the