Brian Murphy, Head of Lending for Mortgage Advice Bureau comments:
“The report issued by the Nationwide this morning is based on lending for house purchases at post survey approvals stage, so provides us with a reliable indicator in terms of the UK housing market over the last month from one of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders.
Today’s data suggests that, broadly speaking, the market remains resilient with the modest topline growth figure underpinned by better performance in regions such as the East and West Midlands and Wales, although London is still exerting some drag-factor as house price growth remains in negative territory. This is symptomatic of the fragmented conditions we’ve been seeing for a few months now, meaning that there currently really isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ market.
That said, when taken as a whole it would appear that there is a degree of market resilience and indeed, today’s report does indicate that the UK housing market is performing within forecasts for 2018, which in itself should be viewed as a positive, given the ongoing political and economic uncertainties. For those who want – or need – to sell there are still buyers out there in most conurbations, however realistic pricing will be key in order to secure a buyer as even the most buoyant markets have a ceiling in terms of asking prices as affordability levels are becoming stretched. However, looking at where we are so far this year, one would suggest it’s very much a case of ‘no news is good news’, particularly if we remain on a similar course throughout the summer months.
Click here to read the full report.
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