Although for many people, some still trapped in negative equity, that can only be a good sign and what’s more, it reverses February’s dip.

The figures come from the Nationwide with an explanation from their chief economist Martin Gahbauer. He issued the good news, saying that the fall of 0.8% of the price of a typical UK property was mostly reversed by the 0.7% rise in March. The average price of a typical UK property is now £164,519 which is actually 9% higher than a year earlier.

Mr Gahbauer said:
“The last two months are consistent with a relatively flat profile for house prices, and in line with the recent drops seen in buyer enquiries and house sales. Preliminary figures show that the number of loans taken out for house purchases failed to recover from January’s large dip, suggesting that weakness in house sales at the start of the year may have been due to more than just the snowy weather. With greater than usual political and economic uncertainty ahead of the upcoming general election, potential homebuyers are proceeding cautiously.”

Furthermore, he points out that the number of houses for sale coming onto the market has not dramatically increased. This means that lower buyer activity trends has not had too negative an effect upon house prices as a whole. Should this state of affairs continue, then prices should hold up, but few properties will change hands.

When considering the impact on the market of the stamp duty holiday, Mr Gahbauer said that the Nationwide believed that the raising of the threshold from £125,000 to £250,000 for strictly first-time buyers, would make an average saving of £1,368.

Mr Gahbauer said:
“For first-time buyers, this initiative effectively represents a larger and longer version of the stamp duty holiday in place between September 2008 and the end of December 2009 for properties bought for less than £175,000. Looking back on the previous tax holiday, the evidence on its success in boosting transactions is mixed. Intuitively, one might expect a stamp duty holiday to boost total house purchase activity, with a disproportionately greater increase in transactions at the lower-priced end of the housing chain.

“Undoubtedly this new measure will be welcome relief for aspiring first-time buyers. However, based on past experience it may not be enough on its own for the housing market to make a full recovery.”

So there you have it; some good news, some bad, but the trend does look to be improving.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

And the Nationwide Building Society is reminding people that the autumn is always a good time to buy cars.

A Nationwide spokesman said:
“Consumers may be considering trading in their old cars and buying something brand new. For those driving an old banger, they may even be thinking of taking advantage of the government’s car scrappage scheme. But with the credit crunch biting into many people’s finances, Nationwide Building Society advises to make sure to get the best deal possible to finance their purchase. So it is important to shop around, not just for a car, but for the best way to finance it.”

And that’s them say the Nationwide Building society, who point out that they have the lowest personal loans rate on the market. You need a Nationwide FlexAccount of course, but for those that do, they can enjoy the Society’s market leading rate of 7.7% APR typical on loans of between £5,000 and £14,999. This typical rate, claims the Nationwide, beats the supermarkets and all the high street banks. And they also say that the same low rate applies whether the loan is taken out through a branch, over the telephone or via the internet.

The Nationwide is also keen to warn buyers of the temptations of finance packages offered by car dealers which may look very attractive, especially if they are marketing with claims of 0% finance. More often that not, warns the Nationwide, these seemingly great 0% finance deals usually only last a year, when the rate move to a higher figure – usually very uncompetitive – for the duration of the finance package. This of course may well prove more expensive in the long run.

And tipping its hat at still recessionary times, the Nationwide is advising customers taking loans about not taking on commitments they can’t afford. They recommend that prospective borrowers not only look at the monthly payment figures to see if they can afford such amounts on a regular basis, but also to look at what the total loan costs them over the length of the agreement, to ensure that this is an amount they can afford to take on.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The City boys are trading in residential property derivatives and these look forward to the future state of the housing market and the way these are currently being priced suggests that any further declines in the property market will be far less than originally forecast.

At the start of 2009, the signals coming from the City derivatives market was that house prices could fall a further 30% between 2009 and 2011. As the first half of the year comes to a close, the same market is predicting further drops of less than half of that expected, some 12%.

And say the experts, this sudden reversal of fortunes has been taking place in only the last few weeks, signalling a quite dramatic change in sentiment over the short to medium term future of the U.K. housing market.

It is believed that the improving signs in the City have come about because speculators have entered the derivatives market and bought property exposure at deeply discounted levels.

This trend seems to be borne out by May’s Nationwide House Price Index which went up a touch at 1.2%, although the building society was quick to point out that this did not mean that the market had bottomed out.

But also confirming the recovery trend has been anecdotal evidence from estate agents which point to a large increase in cash buyers, especially those at the top end of the market, where one agent reported that over 40% deals were done for bundles of notes.

This cash – from various sources including top-of-the-market house sales and the closure of stock market portfolios – is having to find a home somewhere and property seems a good bet.

Property experts were keeping their fingers crossed that the upward trend was set to continue over the coming months.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Many of those that took out tracker mortgages in 2007 have benefitted enormously from the recessionary low interest rate environment, much to the chagrin of the building societies and banks which originally wrote the business. But as these mortgages had a two-year break, they will default back to their lender’s standard rates. For example, on a £200,000 interest free loan, currently at 0%, but facing a hike to 3.5%, monthly repayments could rise by nearly £600, meaning some £7,000 extra in repayments over a year. On a £500,000 mortgage, this could mean a whopping £17,000 extra payments a year.

Economists think that interest rates could stay at 0.5% for at least another year.

Many with tracker mortgages at the Halifax face some of the biggest rises. Those who took out deals in the first half of 2007 which gave them a rate calculated at 0.51 points below the Bank rate, will be heading for a new rate of 3.5%; meaning an increase of hundreds of pounds a month.

Default rates differ from lender to lender. HSBC offer 2.89% on a two-year fixed deal, with there’s a hefty fee of £1,499. They also offer a five-year deal at 4.39%, with the lesser fee of £999. Cheltenham & Gloucester are currently at 2.5%, as is the Nationwide. The Council of Mortgage Lenders say the average is currently at just over 4%.

Guest Article by Neil Camp