House prices are now up 4.7 per cent since the start of the year, after inching 0.2 per cent higher in July, but property transactions have slipped to their lowest level in two years, the Nationwide has reported.

The building society said that the average house price rose to £168,731 in the month, up 0.2 per cent from June, but 0.4 per cent lower than this point last year. The average price is up more than £7,000 on January's figure of £161,211 - a rise of 4.7 per cent.

But despite an uplift in mortgage approvals in June, according to the Bank of England, Nationwide's chief economist

London-based house builders have increased the number of housing starts in outer London boroughs, in anticipation of greater capital growth, according to new research by CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

The company report that housing starts more than doubled over the second quarter in outer London boroughs, as demand for new homes in London continues to grow. There is also growing evidence that the recent property price boom in Central London will ripple out to other parts of the capital, fuelled partly by a shortage of new build homes, as there has been an increase in overseas nationals looking

Just a quick to note to let you all know that the majority of the UK Auction Houses will be having a couple of weeks off from next week.  There are property auctions this week in the South East and South West, and early next week in Scotland, and although there will be a handful of auctions taking place in August, over 95% of auctioneers close for a couple of weeks in August and will start again from early September.  Catalogues will start being released again from 20th August, so keep an eye out for new lots on line.

In the meantime if you're looking to sell your property, give us a ring

Mortgage lending rose to its highest level for nearly a year last month as landlord activity in the buy-to-let market picked up, figures have revealed.

Gross mortgage lending totalled £12.8 billion in June, up 16% on the £10.8 billion lent in May, and the highest in a month since July 2010, although the total was 3% lower than June a year ago, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

Over the last three months, mortgage advances rose by 11% to £33.5 billion compared with the first quarter but was 3% lower than the comparable three months in 2010.

CML chief economist Bob Pannell said

Today we want to share with you, our mortgage partner John Charcol's fantastic monthly newsletter "Much Ado"... happy reading!

Whilst Much Ado takes great pleasure in producing its monthly compendium of great cinematography, this month we are going to tone it down somewhat. Not, you understand, because we have fallen out of love with Hollywood; rather that we have something particularly fantastic to shout about. As you know, Much Ado doesn't tend to talk about specific products every month but we are going to break with that tradition. For once, this really is Much Ado About Mortgages.

A new type of survey is now available for the residential property market. The RICS Condition Report, which forms part of the RICS Home Surveys family, gives buyers of conventional properties and newer homes a clear, concise picture of the state of a property. The report does not provide an additional price valuation, but instead is designed to complement a mortgage valuation.

RICS say that the Condition Report is an alternative to the RICS HomeBuyer Report or a building survey, and is principally aimed at buyers who would otherwise rely purely on a lender’s mortgage valuation, rather than

Just a quick reminder that a number of our Hot Pick properties are going to auction this week and next.  If you fancy getting our hands on a great two bed investment flat in Hampshire, or perhaps a self contained maisonette in Oxfordshire, then check out our Hot Picks now http://www.ukauctionlist.com/hotpicks and if you're interested in any of these properties, feel free to give us a ring to find out more.

House asking prices have fallen for the first time this year as the number of unsold properties on estate agents' books reaches record levels, a report has revealed.

The average asking price for a home dropped 1.6%, or £3,797, to £236,597 in July, bringing to an end a run of six months of rises, according to Rightmove.

Greater competition to attract buyers amid "muted demand" has prompted the largest July fall since 2008 when asking prices fell 1.8%.

Seven in 10 properties put on the market so far this year have yet to find a buyer. This has helped push the average number of homes

The commercial property market in London continues to show a more positive picture than the rest of the UK according to RICS.

Meanwhile, the office sector is outperforming the industrial and retail sectors in both occupier and investment markets.

However, the outlook for capital values and rents is still negative in both the industrial and retail sectors and in all regions outside of the capital.

New development starts of offices have begun to rise but continue to fall for retail and industrial space while investment demand is rising at a faster pace nationally, especially for offices

The Latest Bank of England figures show that £5.8bn was paid off the UK’s housing debt in the first quarter of 2011, meaning equity withdrawal figures have been negative for 12 quarters (3 years) now.

The Bank’s latest figures for housing equity withdrawal showed borrowers had injected the equivalent of 2.3% of their post-tax income into their homes in the first quarter of the year.

This followed record payments of 2.8% of post-tax income, in the final quarter of 2010 and means that since the middle of 2008 homeowners have invested a total of £63.7bn in housing.

The Bank’s figures