London Home Prices on Fire

Despite recent interest rate increases in the UK, home escalation continues proving that the fundamentals of income growth and supply and demand are the key factors..........

London Homeowners Reap $150,000 as U.K. Prices Jump (Update3)

"April 16 (Bloomberg) -- London homeowners gained an average 76,000 pounds ($150,000) on the value of their property in the past year, triple the median salary, as U.K. house prices rose the most since 2004, the country's biggest property Web site said.

Asking prices for a home in the British capital reached an average 379,846 pounds in the four weeks through April 7, up 25 percent from a year earlier, Rightmove Plc said today. The cost of an average house in the U.K. rose 3.6 percent on the month and 15 percent from the previous year, the most in almost three years.

Three interest-rate increases since the start of August have failed to contain a housing boom that has driven up the price of a parking space in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea to equal that of a home in the Midlands. Soaring property values are stretching mortgages to six times salary and prompting young people to live at home with their parents for longer. ........"

By Jennifer Ryan - Bloomberg

Story Link Here

UK Home Prices Still Hot

Those of you familiar with this blog have read recently posted articles that state the correlation of home price appreciation in the UK and California is 99% since 1980. That is too much of a correlation to ignore. After taking the year off in 2005 the UK housing market unexpectedly came roaring back in 2006. Could it portend a bottoming in our market and a spring fling for 2007?

U.K. house prices climb 1.4% in November: survey

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. house prices rose 1.4% in November from October, the Nationwide Building Society said Thursday. On an annual basis, house prices are up 9.6%, the highest annual rate rise since February 2005. "Some cooling seemed to be in prospect when the growth of buyer enquiries fell quite sharply in September, but this pause in demand was short-lived. At the same time, stocks of properties for sale are at a two-year low leaving buyers chasing relatively few properties. With instructions still falling, there is no immediate improvement in supply conditions in sight," the lender said.