There has been an increase in positive data coming relating to the housing market over the past few days:

• Hometrack, recorded that house prices remained unchanged in May. This is the first time in 20 months that the survey has not shown a fall.
• Data from UK Land Registry showed that although house prices in England and Wales fell in April, the drop was the smallest monthly drop in nearly a year.
• The latest house price survey from Nationwide showed an increase of 1.2% in May. This has been the single highest monthly improvement since late 2006. It is also the second average rise in the past 3 months.
• During April there was an 8 per cent rise in the number of mortgages approved for house purchases. This was the third consecutive monthly rise.
• The decline in the construction sector eased in May to its slowest level in more than a year.

No one would suggest that the housing market problems are over. However, it does make a change to see that some positive data is available. Having seen monthly falls for so long it does raise my spirits.

House prices often move erratically up or down rather than show steady monthly movements in a single direction. I suspect that any increase in actual house purchases is likely to be gradual and rather fitful for some time to come.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 11:56 am and is filed under general, house sales, mortgages, property market general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.