Our monthly property market review is intended to provide background to recent developments in the property markets as well as to give an indication of how some key issues could impact in the future.
Overview
MORTGAGE ACTIVITY
- Gross mortgage lending reached £20.1 billion in May
- CML says: “Buy-to-let had a weak start to 2017, and the sector’s contribution to overall net mortgage lending has fallen considerably over the last year.”
UK UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES
- The unemployment rate is 4.5%, down from 4.9% a year earlier
- There were 8.83 million people aged from 16 to 64 who were economically inactive
HOUSE PRICES HEADLINE STATISTICS
- Average house price stands at £220,713
- UK house prices grew by 4.7% in the year to May 2017, 0.6 percentage points lower than in the year to April 2017.
- East of England showed the highest annual growth, with prices increasing by 7.5% in the year to May 2017