Stamp Duty speculation could do more harm than good on 100 Mortgages

Stamp Duty speculation could do more harm than good

With all the news on house prices in the UK it’s no surprise that they are still continuing to decrease. Halifax has said that the average house price now is at £177,351 which is a fall of 8.8 percent since June 2006.

Halifax also said that with the rising household costs and the limited mortgage companies offering deals has deterred any buyers from the market.

The last time Halifax saw a house price fall like this was back in December 1992.

Annual price figures from Halifax are worked on a quarterly basis which generally shows a better picture, than a straight year on year comparison.

So if we took the same month of July last year we are looking at a house price reduction of £22,000 which is a fall of almost 11 percent.

The figures are similar across the board with Nationwide announcing figures last week which reported a 1.7 percent fall in July and an annual drop of 8.1 percent.

36,000 new mortgages were approved in June according to the Bank of England which is running 70 percent lower than last year.

It’s also said with the speculation of the government either deferring or temporarily suspending stamp duty will cause more problems with the housing market as potential buyers holding out waiting for the decision before making a purchase. They could have a massive effect on the housing market and bring the prices down even further with troubled homeowners having to lower their prices to ensure their sale.

Source: Guardian