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The Bank of England left interest rates untouched for the ninth month in a row today in a widely expected announcement, having taken additional steps to kick-start the economy in November.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep base rate on hold at 0.5%, it's lowest ever level, while it also made no changes to its quantitative easing programme.

In a statement it said: 'The Bank of England’s MPC today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The committee also voted to continue with its programme of asset purchases totalling £200 billion financed by the issuance of central bank reserves.'



Added on: 10/12/09

Scottish house prices have shown a slight increase in the most recent index published.

Lloyds TSB Scotland said its quarterly monitor had registered a rise of 0.7% in house prices in the three months to the end of October.

Its chief economist said the market is "beginning to recover".

However, the year to the end of last month saw the average price fall by 7.5%. And the number of transactions was down by nearly a third.

That is when compared to activity in the Scottish homes market in the same quarter last year.

The market reached its slowest point in May this year, while house prices reached their lowest point in March. They have risen in four of the seven months since then.

The average price in the most recent quarter has risen from £152,561 to £153,605.

'Positive territory'

The annual price fall has affected all areas of Scotland, ranging from 0.7% in the south-east (excluding Edinburgh) to a drop of 9.8% in Dundee.

Figures for the most recent quarter have shown unusually high levels of volatility. Edinburgh prices fell sharply in one quarter - by 11.8% between the start of August and October, yet by only 6% over the past year.

The north of Scotland, excluding Aberdeen, saw prices falling 7.2% in the year, while rising by 6.9% in the most recent quarter.

Aberdeen was down 8.1% in the year, but up by 13.1% in the three months to the end of October.

Glasgow home prices were down 8.1% in the year, and 9.8% lower in the most recent quarter.

Consumer confidence has recovered from the lows of one year ago and is now back in positive territory, but is still below the levels of pre-credit crunch

Professor Donald MacRae
Lloyds TSB
The remainder of the south-west region, apart from Glasgow, was down 9.7% in the year, and up by 0.4% in the most recent quarter.

For central Scotland, Fife and Tayside (excluding Dundee), Lloyds TSB found prices 8.2% down in the year, and 1.4% up on the quarter.

Although Dundee saw a sharp drop in the most recent annual figure, at 9.8% down, its quarterly drop was 1.3%.

The south-east, excluding Edinburgh, saw prices drop in the year to October by 0.7% ,while its rise in the quarter was 2.7%.

The price of flats has been falling more heavily than other types of home, down for six consecutive quarters. The latest quarter showed a fall of 1.3%, and 8.4% on the year to October, to an average £119,900.

Terraced house values fell by 8.6% on the quarter and 5.4% on the year, to cost, on average, only £700 more than flats. Semi-detached houses saw an increase for the first time in 15 months, up by a significant 12.5%, while showing an underlying annual fall of 7.3%. The average price, according to Lloyds TSB, was nearly £163,000.

Detached house prices were down 2.4% in the most recent quarter, but the annual price fall is reckoned to be 8%, to an average £232,000.

Professor Donald MacRae, chief economist, Lloyds Banking Group Scotland, said: "Consumer confidence has recovered from the lows of one year ago and is now back in positive territory, but is still below the levels of pre-credit crunch.

"The cost of borrowing has reduced for many mortgage holders while there is now a perceptible increase in the level of mortgage availability including first time buyers. The Scottish housing market is beginning to recover."




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Added on: 16/11/09

Consumers show confidence over prices — survey
MORE than three quarters of consumers are confident that UK house prices won't fall any further this year.

That is the key finding of the latest consumer confidence survey  and is in sharp contrast to the same survey carried out in January, which revealed that around two-thirds of people felt that house prices would be lower in the following 12 months.

, Such a u-turn in public sentiment provides a strong indication that confidence is returning within the UK housing market.

A series of recent reports have been equally optimistic as to the market’s recovery, including Rightmove’s own House Price Index which shows an increase in average prices so far this year, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors readjusting its price forecasts. 

This  survey provides evidence that such positivity is being reflected among the public at large, with the survey measuring a large sample size of respondents across all adult age groups and regions of the UK.


“This vote of confidence has positive and negative connotations. The sentiment of future buyers is a pre-cursor to a speedier recovery in depressed transaction levels.

“However, it is also a signal that some of them will be willing to pay a bit more. This will give encouragement to many existing homeowners with borderline equity, but cause concern to a potential buyer hoping their own mortgage ability improves before any significant price uplift.”








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Added on: 29/09/09

The latest statistics on house sales in Scotland have shown signs of a pick up in the market.

Figures from the Registers of Scotland, which compiles all house sales across the country, indicated the volume of transactions rising.

The statistics also showed an increase in the total value of sales by 42%.

The figures covered house sales which completed between April and June 2009 but the year-on-year figures still showed a 6.5% drop.

The statistics showed the total value of sales across Scotland registered during the second quarter of 2009 (April - June) was more than £2.3bn, a decrease of 51.2% over the same quarter last year.

The volume of sales transactions in Scotland during the second quarter decreased by 47.8% compared with the same quarter last year.

The average house price for Scotland over the second quarter showed a decrease of 6.5% when compared with the same period in 2008.

Area increases

The average price of a residential property in Scotland for this quarter was £145,553.

Edinburgh recorded the highest average residential price at £198,928 though that represented a decrease of 9.7% compared with the same quarter last year.

Edinburgh remained the largest market with sales of just over £320m for the quarter, a decrease of 52.7% over the same quarter last year.




Added on: 05/08/09

HOUSE buyers continue to return to the Scottish market but a slump in the number of homes being put up for sale could inflate prices, figures out today suggest.
Interest from potential home buyers in Scotland rose for the seventh consecutive month in May, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

RICS figures show that 70 per cent of Scottish surveyors reported a rise in inquiries last month
, compared to 27 per cent in April and 7 per cent in March.

In the same month last year, 59 per cent more surveyors reported a drop in interest than saw a rise.

But new instructions from sellers who want to put their home on the market fell sharply over the month, 35 per cent more surveyors reporting a fall in new seller instructions than a rise.

In April, 40 per cent more had logged a rise than reported a fall in instructions. A slowdown in new supply, coupled with increased buyer interest, could provide "some support for house prices", according to the RICS report.


Added on: 09/06/09

A rise in mortgage approvals by the major banks for the third month in a row has brought some cheer to the housing market.

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) said that there were 28,179 mortgages approved for house purchases in February, up from 24,278 in January.  (taken from the BBC news website 24th March 2009)



Added on: 24/03/09