UK Home Prices Rise, Mortgage Lending Climbs

Arthi Gupta
16 Apr, 2012
New York City

The UK indexes fell after home prices rose to record levels in April and mortgage lending climbed in February. Stocks were volatile after Spanish bond yields and credit default rose to a new high for the year.

[R]3:30 PM London – The UK indexes fell after home prices rose to record levels in April and mortgage lending climbed in February. Stocks were volatile after Spanish bond yields and credit default rose to a new high for the year.[/R]

The UK indexes edged lower after home prices rose to record levels in April and mortgage lending climbed in February.

Spain was in focus after yields rose above 6%, the record high for the year and raising prospects of anther debt squeeze in the euro zone. The credit default swap for Spanish 5-year debt shot up to a new high and premium to the German bund rose to a high last seen in the last summer.

In London, the benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 41.52 or 0.7% to 5,693.78 and the pound edged lower to $1.5841.

UK Home Prices Rise

Home prices in the UK rose to a new-record high in April, property Web site Rightmove said today.

The average asking prices for a property in the UK rose 2.9% or £6,798 from a month ago to £243,737 in April following a 1.6% gain in March.

Annually, new sellers'' asking prices soared 3.4% in April from the 2.2% rise in March.

UK Mortgage Lending Climbs

The number of mortgages issued for the purchase of residential properties increased 4% from a month ago to 36,600 in February, data from a survey by the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed today.

Compared to February 2011, the number of mortgages climbed 17% during the month.

The total value of house purchase loans increased 2% sequentially to £5.4 billion in February.

Gainers & Losers

UBM plc climbed 0.9% to 605.50 pence after the holding company acquired Negocios nos Trilhos, South America''s leading railway industry exhibition, from Grupo Revista Ferroviária.

Perform Group Plc fell 2.6% to 297.10 pence after the digital sports media group announced a partnership to integrate LIVESPORT.TV, its network of premium online sports channels, with LG''s CINEMA 3D Smart TV.

WPP Plc rose 0.3% to 843.50 pence after the advertising agency company said its wholly-owned insight and consultancy business, Kantar Retail, has agreed to acquire a minority interest in G.M.E.FZ-LLC based in Dubai.