This encouraging data comes on the heels of The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ (CML) recent declaration that the market has continued to improve ‘gradually’ over recent weeks although the availability of mortgage finance remained a ‘concern’.
It should be remembered that these statistics are for the market as a whole, the constraining factors both the BBA and the CML mention are not the only factors at play, neither are they equally as restrictive across all sectors of the market. Recent research from Savills estimate that house price falls over the first half of the year range from flat in the South East to -5.2% in the North East.
The moral to this story? Although the headlines point to slow and fragile recovery, different sectors of the market in different geographic locations never behave the same. If you are thinking of buying, selling or investing keep close to the markets where you are active – you may be surprised at what you discover.