Property news from PWR Letting Agents Nottingham and Mansfield

Halifax House Price Index　

The Halifax house price index for March shows that:

· House prices increased by 1.1% in March.　 This rise partly reversed February's 1.6% fall and was the eighth increase in the last nine months.

· Prices in the first three months of 2010 were 0.6% higher than in the final quarter of 2009.　 This compared with a 3.6% rise between the third and fourth quarters of 2009.

· House prices in March were 5.2% higher on an annual basis. This was the largest increase in the annual rate of change - measured by the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier - since December 2007 (also 5.2%).

· Prices are 9.1% above their trough in April 2009; an increase in the average price of £14,031 over this period. This follows a decline of 23% between August 2007 and April 2009.　 The average house price is now £168,521.

· Housing market activity has improved.　 Property sales in England and Wales have increased for three consecutive quarters after reaching a low in 2009 Q1.　 Indeed, sales in the second half of 2009 were one third higher than in the second half of 2008.　 Despite this recovery, however, sales are still around only half the level in the second half of 2007. In addition, Bank of England industry-wide figures show that the number of mortgages approved to finance house purchase - a leading indicator of completed house sales - fell by a seasonally adjusted 2% between January and February following a much larger decline of 17% in the previous month. (Sources: HMRC and Bank of England)

· The temporary increase in the lowest stamp duty threshold announced in last month's Budget will mean that most first-time buyers do not pay the tax. 　At £250,000, more than nine in ten first-time buyers would have been exempt from paying stamp duty in 2009 compared with just over one in two if the lowest threshold had been £125,000.　 The southern regions of England will benefit most.　 Around three-quarters of first-time buyers in Greater London and the South East will be removed from the stamp duty tax net as a result of increasing the threshold from £125,000 to £250,000.