In the last 12 months property prices have risen by 2.7% - similar to levels in mid 2008

In total the average house price in the UK has risen and were up by 2.7% in the last 12 months to the end of March 2013, according to the most recent data published by the Office of National Statistics.

Up from the 1.9% rise recorded in the 12 months to February 2013 and prices are stable across most of the country. The average UK mix-adjusted house price in March 2013 was £235,000.

Price levels are now at a resembling level to that of the middle of 2008 but stayed below the peak of January 2008.

Yet the statistics also revealed that there are large regional differences with prices increasing the most in London and still falling Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The national year on year rise showed a rise of 3% in England and 1.2% in Wales, yet this was offset by declines of 1.7% in Scotland and 2% in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Annual house price rises in England were driven by a 7.6% increase in London and there was a 3.3% rise in the South East and 2.8% increase in the East of England. Average house prices declined by 1.3% in Yorkshire and the Humber and remained unchanged in the North West.

Excluding London and the South East, house prices in the UK rose by 0.6% in the 12 months leading up to March 2013. On a seasonally adjusted basis, UK house prices rose by 0.4% between February and March 2013.

The study also revealed that average mix adjusted house prices in March stood at £244,000 in England, £157,000 in Wales, £130,000 in Northern Ireland and £178,000 in Scotland. London continues to be the English region with the highest average house price at £398,000. The North East had the lowest average house price at £144,000.

London, the South East and the East of England all has prices higher than the UK average price of £235,000. Excluding London and the South East, the average UK mix-adjusted house price was £187,000.

The average price for properties bought by first time buyers rose by 1.3% over the year to March 2013, down from a rise of 1.6% in February 2013. During March 2013 the average price paid for a house by a first time buyer was £175,000.

The average price for properties bought by former owner occupiers (existing owners) rose by 3.2% in the year to March 2013, up from a rise of 2% in February 2013. In March 2013, the average price paid for a house by a former owner occupier was £270,000.

During the 12 months up to March 2013 prices paid for new properties rose by 1% on average, in comparison with a decline of 0.3% in the year to February 2013. The average UK house price for a new property in March 2013 was £230,000.

In the 12 months up to March 2013 prices paid for pre-owned properties rose by 2.8% on average, in comparison with a rise of 2% in the year to February 2013. The average UK house price for pre-owned properties in March 2013 was £235,000.

Regardless of the regional differences the industry considers the figures as being positive. David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, owners of Your Move and Reeds Rains, said, ‘The UK’s housing market is showing signs of growing stronger, boosted by greater consumer confidence in the market and wider economic recovery in Britain.’

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UK buy to let lending is on the rise, latest figures show

According to the Council of Mortgage lenders, in the UK the buy to let mortgage sector is springing back to life due to strong demand and is growing as an overall proportion of the property lending market.

The most recent CML statistics show that gross mortgage lending of £4.2 billion across 33,500 mortgages were given to buy to let landlords in the first three months of 2013. This continues from £4.6 billion the previous quarter and £3.7 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

Almost half of this lending was to remortgage, rather than house purchase. Even so, the buy to let market continued to grow, and loan performance improved, said CML director general Paul Smee.

By the end of March buy to let lending had amounted to 13.4% of the total outstanding mortgage lending in the UK, up from 13% the previous quarter and 12.9% at the end of the first quarter of 2012.

The CML said that there are now approximately 1.46 million buy to let mortgages in the UK, equaling about 13% of the estimated stock of 11.26 million mortgages.

‘The buy to let mortgage market is performing well, against a backdrop of robust landlord and tenant demand for good quality rental property. Loan performance compares favourably with the owner-occupier sector, and buy to let continues to grow as a proportion of the overall mortgage market,’ said Smee.

‘As the private rented sector looks likely to be the longer term tenure in which more households may live in the future, lenders are actively looking at how they can best evolve their future lending for those landlords who may wish to offer longer term tenancies to their tenants, although concrete landlord demand for such borrowing is not yet clear,’ he added.

‘The economy may be firing blanks but the buy to let market is going great guns. High yields, stagnant property prices and improved financing options are encouraging investors to add to their portfolios,’ said David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, a specialist buy to let mortgage broker.

‘Life might have become marginally easier for first time buyers in the last six months, but only marginally. Their life was already about as miserable as it could get. The flow of first time buyers is still barely a trickle, which is sending the excess demand directly into in the rental sector and keeping yields high for buy to let investors. Landlords are understandably trying to take full advantage of the returns on offer, which is why we've seen an increase in the number of buy to let investors trying to refinance in the first quarter as they look to expand their portfolios,’ he pointed out.

‘This activity has been helped by increased competition between the buy to let lenders. Rates and fees are down and there are increasing options for landlords looking to finance more complex deals. The Funding for Lending Scheme too has helped by loosening the supply of credit to lenders, and they are passing the savings on to investors,’ he added.

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Leeds experiences an increase in first time buyers

In February the number of first time buyers rose by 3% in February, making the best start to the year since 2008, according to new research released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Activity from first time buyers was 17% stronger in February 2013 than in February of last year, and merged with January reached the largest number of first time buyers in the first two months of this year since 2008.

Lending to home movers dropped, contributing to an overall decline in house buying lending, while remortgage lending also calmed.

A sum of 16,400 loans were given to first-time buyers in February, up on 15,900 in January and 14,000 at the same time last year. By value, loans to first time buyers came to £2 billion, the same total as the previous month, yet 18% higher than February 2012 (£1.7 billion).

First-time buyers made up 43% of all house purchase loans in February. This was the sixth successive month that this indicator has been at or above 40%, indicating that market conditions are continuing to get better for first time buyers.

Signs of loan affordability also demonstrates that the market was somewhat more favourable for first time buyers generally borrowed a smaller amount in February than in January, both in absolute terms and relative to their income. First time buyers generally borrowed 3.19 times their income in February, down from 3.2 times in January, while the average loan to value ratio remained at 80%.

This is likely to be connected with a shift towards the purchase of less expensive properties by first time buyers, with a small rise in the amount of properties bought for less than £125,000.

In February lending to home movers fell for the third successive month. A total of 21,500 loans were given to borrowers who moved in February, down by 4% in comparison with January and a decline of 3% on February last year.

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