According to surveyors across the UK, the number of people interested in buying a house fell to its lowest level for nearly eight years in April. Last month the number of inquiries dropped by 22% that is the highest figure since August 2008. Many say the main reason for this was due to the stamp duty rise on 1st April.
London saw the greatest fall in housing sales over this period however new inquiries also fell dramatically in nine other regions in the UK. Most surveyors also reported a fall in new instructions to sell, and most expect prices to rise over the next three months. Halifax reported that annual house price inflation fell from 10.1% in March to 9.2% in April.
The UK housing prices are recorded on a monthly basis by various different surveys- all however having different methodology. The Nationwide Building Society is the quickest to be released, using an average value for properties after considering components such as location and size. The survey is based on its own mortgage lending which represents about 13% of the market. The survey from Halifax who are now part of Lloyds Banking Group, is published a few days later. Lloyds is the biggest mortgage lender in the UK with 20% of the market and like the nationwide, uses its own home loan data.
Key facts about the Help to buy Isa (HTB Isa):
- You cannot open a HTB Isa with a friend. However if two people want to buy a property together they can use their bonuses together meaning they can get up to £6000 to go towards the purchase.
- You can only open one cash Isa per year. So if you have cash Isas from previous years you can then still go and open a HTB Isa. You will have to close down any Isas opened that year in order to open another Isa in the same year.
- You can open a HTB Isa until 2019 and all bonuses must be claimed by 2030
For advice or help on this call our Manchester offices to speak to a member of our team on 0800 020 9542 or email hello@JacRox.co.
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