Reuters.co.uk: Sharp fall in house prices British house prices have fallen at their sharpest rate in nearly a decade in March, the Nationwide Building Society has said, just five weeks before an expected general election
Bloomberg.com: U.K. Retail Sales Index Fell to -9 Percent in March An index of U.K. retail sales fell to a six-month low in March, adding to evidence of weakening consumer spending and boosting the chance the Bank of England will leave interest rates on hold in coming months.
Latest Business News and Financial Information | Reuters.co.uk: "House prices in England and Wales have fallen at their slowest pace in six months, research company Hometrack says, adding to mounting evidence that the housing market may be stabilising. "
SMH (AUS): Bargains galore as house prices plunge A list of more than 400 of Sydney's bargain homes is available in the print edition. Sydney house hunters looking for quality properties have never been so spoilt for choice.
Guardian: House prices reflect best schools Parents with brainy teenagers live in areas of England and Wales where house prices are 12% higher than average, research showed.
ThisisLondon: Interest rate rise may be looming Bank of England Governor Mervyn King today fuelled speculation that interest rates could rise as soon as May, predicting High Street spending will recover from current depressed levels.
Times: Slide in spending growth lifts hopes for rate hold An abrupt slowdown in consumer spending in the closing months of last year has boosted hopes that interest rates will stay on hold, at least until after an expected May election.
Aberdeen Independent: When will the bubble burst? Until now, trying to forecast an end to Britain's long economic boom has been a thankless task left largely to Tory Shadow Chancellors of the Exchequer – who lost their jobs when doomsday predictions proved unfounded, writes Jeremy Gates.
icNewcastle: Highest council tax in country Council taxpayers in the North-East will face higher bills than anywhere else in the country, Government figures revealed yesterday.
BBC: Bank voted 7-2 for no rate change The decision to keep interest rates on hold again at 4.75% earlier this month was passed 7-2 by the Bank of England's rate-setting body, minutes have shown.
Croydon Guardian: Fancy joining in a property venture? The BBC is looking for would-be homeowners in Kingston to take part in a series of programmes to help first-time buyers get a foot on the property ladder by co-owning their homes.
Wanadoo: House prices soar as spring approaches Asking prices for new homes are soaring towards record levels – but are estate agents deliberately pushing up prices, and will the house price boom continue into summer?
Belfast Telegraph: Big fall in number intimidated into selling homes Threats and intimidation have forced 120 Ulster homeowners to sell their properties to the Housing Executive within the last 12 months - the lowest number in five years, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Guardian: Inflation remains unchanged Inflation remained unchanged in February for the third consecutive month, official figures showed today, quashing speculation that a rise in fuel costs would push the figure up.
Edinburgh Evening News: Supply and demand There are many reasons why Edinburgh has a shortage of affordable housing. Property prices have escalated in recent years and while growth has slowed, the average house price remains far beyond the means of those on average incomes; there has been an increasing shortage of housing for rent and the right-to-buy policy has left the city council with only the more difficult properties.
9news.com (US): Fed prepares for another rate increase As Federal Reserve policymakers gather here Tuesday, one of the biggest questions on economists' minds is how much longer it will be before U.S. central bankers take a breather.
ThisIsMoney: Estate agents 'trying it on' again Asking prices for UK homes continued to rise last month even though there is now a glut of properties on the market and many sellers' expectations are 'over-optimistic', new research revealed today.
Reuters.co.uk: House price inflation cools Asking prices on homes rose 0.6 percent from mid-February to mid-March, even as another flood of new properties again came on to a market burdened with "over-supply", property website Rightmove says.
UK Insurance: House prices in flood areas could fall 80% Insurers blacklist properties in some flood-prone areas, which could make them unsaleable. Up to 200,000 homes at high risk of flooding could be blacklisted by insurers and lose 80% of their value.
in2perspective: Chancellor's extra costs may stop trading Chancellor Gordon Brown’s re-imposition of Stamp Duty for property disposals in disadvantaged areas may have a two-fold impact on the property investment market within the city, King Sturge said this morning.
Moneyextra : It's all going flat in the mortgage market Total gross lending in February remained flat at £17.2 billion, according to the latest data from the CML (Council of Mortgage Lenders) - this set against January's figure of £17.3 billion and 18% lower than in February last year (£21.1 billion).
Times: House prices foil inheritance tax tinkering The average homeowner will fall foul of inheritance tax (IHT) rules in just 12 years’ time because of rocketing house prices, a leading financial adviser fears.
This is York: Not all doom and gloom Leading North Yorkshire developer S Harrison has challenged the doom-mongers who are predicting a housing market slump as its new homes sales continue to boom.
Guardian : Mortgage lending 'flat' in February Lending on mortgages remained "flat" in February, with the number of mortgages for homebuyers at the lowest level since May 2003, according to figures released today.
this is kent: So are house prices rising or falling? It All depends on who you are listening to. The Nationwide Building Society says that house prices rose by half a per cent in February. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says that prices fell a little. The trouble is that these are generalised comments covering the whole country.
FT.com: Treasury forecasts house prices will fall by 1% The Treasury expects house prices to fall this year, according to Financial Times calculations. A little-noticed Budget document, published only on the internet, includes the Treasury's internal forecast of the ratio of house prices to earnings.
Times: Property firms in eleventh-hour rush to avoid stamp duty Property companies rushed through an estimated £500 million of commercial property deals before midnight on Wednesday in an attempt to avoid paying stamp duty on commercial property transactions in disadvantaged areas.
ThisIsMoney: London homes to top IHT rate by 2007 value of the average London home owner's estate will be above by the Chancellor's increased inheritance tax threshold within two years, according to new research.
FT.com: Flats lose value in growing market The price of new flats fell last year despite a double-digit jump in the value of every other type of property, according to Land Registry figures.
Brown to unveil his ninth Budget Chancellor Gordon Brown will unveil his make or break Budget later as Labour prepares the battleground for a General Election which could be just two months away.
Citywire: Panic selling as house prices slide New property coming onto the market has risen to the highest level since May 2003, according to the latest housing market monthly survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).
Bloomberg.com: U.K. The cost of raw materials used by British factories in February rose at the fastest pace in almost a decade, boosted by increases in crude oil and homegrown foods.
The Guardian | Low rates mean long-term liabilities Over the past decade we have become used to interest rates and inflation being very low. Rates seen at the time of Black Wednesday in 1992 of 12%-15% seem unreal compared with today's 4.75%.
BBC NEWS | UK | Papers look forward to budget day Several papers look forward to Gordon Brown's budget day next week, with the Sunday Mirror forecasting a tax gift of £1m for Britain's lowest paid workers.
Times: Stamp out this huge burden on buyersSince the likelihood of Gordon Brown cutting income tax when he stands up to give his Budget speech on Wednesday is negligible, one of the key issues many of us will be listening out for will be stamp duty — and what, if anything, the Chancellor plans to do to cut this now onerous tax on the property owning classes.
CityWire: Bovis will measure housing market heartbeatKeenly awaited clues to the current health of the housing market should emerge on Monday when Bovis, one of the country’s leading housebuilders, delivers full year results.
Telegraph: Diary of a property auction novice When Tania Cagnoni found her dream home at auction, she decided to snap it up... but the expense and the uncertainties soon turned it into a nightmare
This is Money: Stamp it out, Gordon The average first-time homebuyer now has to pay stamp duty land tax in all but ten of the UK's 659 Parliamentary constituencies. And one of those ten just happens to be Chancellor Gordon Brown's Dunfermline East.
Telegraph : BBC uses video to tell staff of job cuts The Director General of the BBC used a 13-minute video message to tell staff yesterday that they faced redundancy as 1,730 jobs were axed in the first round of cost cutting.
This is Money: Countrywide adds to housing woeCountrywide, the UK's largest estate agency chain, spelled out more grim news for the housing market today after warning of 'significantly' reduced sales volumes.
This is Money: The options for first-timers High house prices have created a tightrope for first-time buyers who want to borrow as much as possible without risking a rise in interest rates.
This is Money: Countrywide adds to housing woe Countrywide the UK's largest estate agency chain, spelled out more grim news for the housing market today after warning of 'significantly' reduced sales volumes.
Check out our new 'Average house Price' graphs which can be accessed from the home page. Hover your mouse above the line on the graph and you will see the data.
This is Money: Interest rates to stay on hold The Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates for the seventh month in a row today, but experts believe the clock is ticking towards further rate rises.
ShropshireStar.com: Housing crisis as prices soar House prices in Oswestry have soared so high that more than 500 new affordable dwellings need to be built each year to cope with needs, a new report revealed today.
SMH (AUS): Consumers' nine-year binge is over The biggest plunge in consumer confidence ever recorded has jolted the Howard Government and prompted internal calls for a new burst of economic reform.
Estate agency news: Bye, bye luy-to-let? The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have been quick to quell speculation that the golden time for buy-to-let investors could be over, with many facing bankruptcy as they struggle with interest rate rises and an oversaturated rental market.
icWales - Surviving a house price crash The media has been full of warnings for the past few months that the housing bubble is set to burst. But for every expert predicting the end is nigh there has always been two more prepared to talk the market up.
The Independent: Buyers have the edge now The start of this year saw the number of properties on the market fall for the first time in eight months, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The Independent: Too late for landlords? Is it too late to get your first buy-to-let property in the UK? That's the question lots of people are asking. There is no shortage of information. The trouble is that some surveys forecast a meltdown for property, while others are saying the outlook is good. So, what's the true story?
Top estate agent goes under Property group Chesterton has called in administrators with the loss of 400 jobs, This is Money.co.uk can reveal. The company's collapse is the first real sign of the downturn in the London property market claiming victims.
KPMG: No Room to Move on Interest Rates says KPMG’s Chief Economist Andrew Smith Despite expecting inflation to breach the 2% target next year, the MPC left interest rates on hold in February. While this would usually herald an increase to come, there are reasons to think the Committee will stay its hand again in March.
This is Money: Estate agent alarm over rate rise Estate agents warned today that a rise in interest rates could be the 'straw that breaks the camel's back' for the housing market and urged the Bank of England to leave rates on hold.
SMH (AUS): Rate rise will impact house prices The growth in house prices has stabilised and the recent interest rate rise will start to impact on prices in the coming months, Australia's peak real estate group said.
Credit Man: Confidence falling but interest rates set to rise Uncertainty over the forthcoming Budget and general election has caused short-term business confidence to slip to its lowest levels since 2003. However, BDO Stoy Hayward expects to see two interest rate rises by late-summer.
icWales: 'People are waiting longer to get married' Carwyn Hones says his main regret is not getting on the property ladder earlier so that he could have knocked a larger chunk off his mortgage repayments by now.
Telegraph: Property nightmare: problem penthouse When Brian Mitten and his wife looked forward to a gentle retirement in their seaside penthouse flat they had not bargained on the developers use of cheap sub-contractors.
Telegraph: Growth fears spur call to hold rates Business leaders will today urge the Bank of England not to raise interest rates as figures show manufacturing growth at its weakest in 12 months, retail sales slowing and business confidence at its lowest for two years.
ThisisLondon: Rush to pay off the mortgage Homebuyers are paying off their mortgages younger and faster, according to new figures. The average age for owning a house outright has fallen to just 48 - the lowest for 25 years.
Reuters.co.uk: European house price growth seen slowing House prices in Europe's euro zone will keep rising this year due to cheap loans and possibly a recovery in the German market, but growth rates in France and Spain may ease from heady levels, a Reuters poll of 26 economists shows.
The Herald: Threat of gazumping looms over property market The Scottish Executive is set to kill the residential property market in Scotland at a stroke, through its blinkered determination to force through the introduction of single seller surveys in the face of a failed pilot, near-universal opposition and realities on the ground.
This is Money: Is the buy-to-let dream over? Thousands of homes have been bought as investments over the past five years by people who believed they could find rich pickings as amateur landlords.
Missed the excellent "Great House Price of Crash 2005?" on BBC 2 this evening? If you're a SKY viewer then you can watch this programme again on channel 961 at 11:35pm.
Motor Trader: February new car sales slump New car sales slumped by almost 16 per cent year-on-year in February to 77,000 leaving the year-to-date market down 10.5 per cent on last year.
This is Cornwall: Debate on hosue crisis More than 175 people packed into the ballroom at Newquay's Headland Hotel on Monday for a conference on Cornwall's affordable homes crisis. Officers and councillors from local authorities, representatives from housing associations and private developers attended the event to learn how the housing problem is being addressed in the county.
Economist.com : Still want to buy? According to our latest house-price indicators, it is now much cheaper to rent than to buy a house in many countries
The Guardian: Kitemark for estate agents set to launch A Kitemark scheme for estate agents is to be launched by the British Standards Institution (BSI) to help consumers separate trustworthy agents from shady dealers.
This is London: Rate-rise prospects 'killed off' The City today all but ruled out a rise in interest rates when the Bank of England meets next week following news of a surprise slowdown in the dominant services sector.
The Herald: Economists now predicting rise in interest rates The number of economists believing UK interest rates have peaked has fallen sharply in the last month, a poll revealed yesterday, and more now expect further monetary tightening in the second quarter.
Threat of housing crash remains House prices have soared since Prime Minister Tony Blair took power in 1997 but the threat of a crash is a major economic risk in coming years whether or not Labour clinches a third term this May.
Telegraph: Strong demand 'will push up inflation' Inflation will rise above its target because of strong demand in the economy, a member of the Bank of England's interest rate setting committee said yesterday.
Telegraph: German unemployment is highest since War German unemployment soared to the highest levels since the Second World War in February, raising the risk of a full-blown recession in the eurozone’s largest economy.
Credit Action: Debt statistics March 2005 Total UK personal debt broke through the £1 trillion (£1,000,000,000,000) barrier in July 2004 and is likely to break through the £1.1 trillion barrier in the middle of 2005.
Telegraph | News | House prices predicted to stay low House prices growth will remain "modest" for the rest of the year as the property market continues its "orderly slowdown", Britain's biggest building society said yesterday.
Kent Website: House Prices Continue To Fall - RICS South East South East house prices have continued their steady decline in 2005, although at a slower rate than three months ago, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
ThisisLondon: 'House prices to rise 6%' The housing market appears to have bottomed out, Britain's biggest building society said today as it unveiled another rise in property prices.
