ROOF Blog

The unexpected ‘mini-boom’ in house prices continued in September, according to the latest official figures, but analysts say that a slowdown in the pace of the recent rebound has begun.

Figures from the Land Registry showed a rise of 0.9 per cent in prices last month, taking the price of the average house in England and Wales to £158,377 and bringing the annual decline to 5.6 per cent.

However, estate agents have said that transaction levels remain low and have sunk further in the first few weeks of October as homebuyers and sellers begin to hunker down in the run-up to Christmas.

Rightmove reported that the number of new listings had fallen to 94,629 in October from 105,924 in September, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported slight softening in demand last month.

Self-certified mortgages are to be banned and homebuyers applying for mortgages will have to undergo rigorous credit checks, under new rules unveiled by the UK’s financial regulator today. Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said the watchdog was seeking to ‘get rid of the irresponsible practices that put banks and consumers at risk.’ Lord Myners, the City minister, said the core of the problem was ‘irresponsible lending’ and stressed, ‘The FSA has some very strong sanctions and enforcement resources available if banks contravene the regulations.’ Setting out major reforms of the mortgage market, the FSA said this morning that it will make banks and other lenders liable for loans that cannot be repaid. It is forcing lenders to carry out thorough checks on people’s incomes before granting a mortgage, such as examining their spending habits and existing loans.