Salient to Investors:
Hometrack said average house prices in England and Wales were up 1.8 percent from a year earlier, the most since July 2010, adding to evidence of a mini-boom in the housing market, as mortgage approvals reached their highest since 2008. The average time taken to sell a property fell to 8.1 weeks, and sellers got 94.6 percent of their asking price.
Richard Donnell at Hometrack said a lack of housing for sale will remain a feature of the market and will keep upward pressure on prices in the near term as demand continues to expand over the remainder of the year so long as the outlook for the economy and mortgage rates remains unchanged.
The Engineering Employers’ Federation raised its forecasts for UK economic growth to 1.2 percent in 2013 and 2 percent in 2014, and manufacturing output growth in 2014 to 2.1 percent. Lee Hopley at the EEF said industry’s prospects have brightened considerably.
Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-01/u-k-hometrack-house-prices-rise-in-strongest-market-since-2007.html
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