Latest Property Investment News
London House Prices Cooling
House price growth in the UK capital is showing signs of slowing down, according research carried out by Rightmove.
Whilst the national asking price trend rose by a modest 0.8%, London has fallen slightly behind, and half of all London boroughs have shown a fall in prices.
The end of a property boom is traditionally signalled by a slowdown in London’s prices. For the first time since December 2006, monthly price rises in the capital have been outstripped by over half the regions in the rest of the country. In addition, the average price in London rose by less that the national average of 0.8%, with an increase of 0.7%. prices are still likely to increase further at the ‘non interest rate sensitive’ top end, where supply remains at a premium compared to the greater choice now seen in the rest of the country.
Growth in the property market has been supported this month due to sellers aiming to beat the Home Information Packs (HIPS) deadline; this has pushed average asking prices to a new record of £239,317.
Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove comments: “The rush to beat the impending HIPs deadline appears to have attracted some poorly motivated sellers to the market. They are chancing their arm at some fairly bullish prices considering that there is now a lot of property up for sale. Their main motivation will have been to save some money avoiding a HIP, rather than being realistic on price because they have seen a property they desperately want to buy”.
Source: Rightmove
Fuel pushes up US inflation rate
US inflation rose faster than expected in May, as higher petrol costs hit consumer prices.
The month-on-month rise was 0.7%, the Labor Department said, up from 0.4% in April. Core inflation, which does not include food and energy, added 0.1%.
The figures showed that most prices were largely being contained and would not prompt a change in interest rates, analysts said.
The Federal Reserve has kept rates unchanged at 5.25% for twelve months.
"This number does not change anything for the Fed," said Robert Macintosh of Eaton Vance Management.
"We have been seeing good core numbers and this continues that."
He added: "Given all the angst we have had in the bond market the last two weeks I don't see how one number like this is going to make the sentiment change."
Separately the Commerce Department said that the current account deficit - the most commonly used measure of foreign trade - had grown to $192.6bn (£97.5bn) in the first three months of 2007, from $187.6bn in the October-December period last year.
A larger oil bill was blamed for the rise - though the deficit was smaller than analysts had expected.
According to the Labor Department food prices rose 0.3%, and energy added 5.4% - more than double the gains in April.
Over the past year, consumer prices have risen 2.7% and core prices up 2.2%.
Source: BBC
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