It talks about a lack of supply in new-builds as developers have to pick and choose which developments they build and which they bail out of.  With a continuing high demand for property in the UK we have seen a mini boom in some areas in the new-build sector.  Bristol is one area which they highlighted as having avoided the new-build ‘over-supply’ and where they are still selling in great numbers week after week.

Smartnewhomes.com also reported that the price of new homes across the UK has increased by 2.1% over the past 12 months.

I hear so many people talking about the depressed property market – particularly on the new-build front, but this goes to show that most of the doom and gloom is, as usual, utter rubbish.

Along with a simplified and straight-forward product range it is also reducing products rates by up to 96 basis points. The same core mortgage product range will also be available via telephone, its branches and mortgage brokers.

The core mortgage product range available from Nationwide via mortgage brokers will include two, three and five-year fixed rates and two and three-year tracker rate mortgages. The two-year products come with a choice of £896 or £0 product fees and a £500 product fee discount remains available for first-time buyers on three and five-year fixed rates and three-year tracker products.

The super-mutual has also simplified its lending limits and has moved to the following structure across its range:
LTV Max Loan
95% £250,000
90% £500,000
85% £750,000
80% £1,000,000

But Nationwide says it also recognises that many mortgage brokers appreciate choice and to that end Nationwide’s specialist lending brand The Mortgage Works has today launched a brand new range of prime mortgages.

Available exclusively to brokers, TMW’s prime mortgage range includes free valuation on purchases, capped trackers, early repayment charge free trackers, a range of cash back options and a lifetime variable rate product. Other highlights to the range include a two year early redemption charge free tracker from 2.99% up to 75% LTV, and a range of two, three, four, five and seven-year fixed rate mortgages from 2.59%.

Paul Howard, head of corporate accounts at Nationwide,says: “This is a big big range of products that we think brokers will find very useful and a customer will only be able to get them by going to an intermediary.”

- source Mortgage Strategy

The monthly rise from March to April was 0.2%, taking the average UK property value to £165,596, the data from Land Registry’s flagship House Price Index shows. Based on actual UK property sales, it is regarded as the most reliable of the regular indices to be published.

All regions in England and Wales experienced increases in their average property values over the last 12 months. The region with the highest annual house price change is London with an increase of 14.8%, the seventh consecutive months of price growth. The monthly change house prices in London is 1.6%, bringing its average property value to £341,487, compared with the average for England and Wales, which stands at £165,596.

In London the borough of Kensington and Chelsea saw the highest annual property price growth at 21.2% while Camden saw the highest monthly price growth at 3.3%. The region with the smallest annual price rise is Yorkshire & The Humber with a movement of 0.7%.
The North East experienced the greatest monthly rise with a movement of 3.1%.

These UK property figures are consistent with other recent property price indices. The latest one from Nationwide showed a 1% month on month increase in prices and 10.5% annual growth. Halifax reported a 0.1% monthly growth and year on year growth of 8.8%.

- Source Propertywire

This is fantastic  for investors and for the market in general as it restores confidence and shows the banks growing confidence.

Lets hope this is one step up the (steep) ladder to recovery…  The boom could be just round the corner….

They will rise by at least 5% during 2010 according to the centre for economics and business research (cebr) as a combination of low mortgage rates and a shortage of new homes being built would push up house prices.

Analysts said they expect lower price growth of 3.4% during 2011 followed by a strong rise of 9% in 2012.

Nationwide attributed the strong rebound in the past year to low levels of stock on the market and relatively high demand, rather than to high levels of sales. It warned, though, that the upward trend was likely to stabilise over the coming months as more sellers put homes on the market.

‘Given the very strong performance of house prices from May 2009 onwards it will take monthly increases in excess of 1% for the annual rate of inflation to be maintained in double digits,’ explained Martin Gahbauer, chief economist at Nationwide.

The level of the monthly rise, based on seasonally adjusted figures, was partly due to April 2009 being one of the weakest months of last year, Nationwide said. The quarterly rate of growth, regarded as a smoother indicator of house price trends, fell further from 1.5% in March to 1.1% last month.

Separate research published at the end of last week from Rightmove showed that asking prices increased 2.6% in April and are now 6% higher than in the same month in 2009.

* Source Nationwide housing index

The figure was also 3% up on March last year, when the market had reached its nadir in the wake of the credit crunch.

Good to hear.

Source: BBC News

For Turkey to receive a credit rating upgrade amongst almost 100 downgrades from Standard & Poor’s is something to be proud of. Careful Government policy has steered Turkey calmly through a turbulent 2009 and decreased its debt levels.

The nation can be confident of a solid financial sector, in spite of external pressures, and according to Standard & Poor’s credit analyst “Turkey’s banking system will be one of the strongest and least-leveraged in Eastern Europe.” The agency even expects to upgrade the country again over the next one to two years should it continue to weather the global turmoil and reduce its dependence on external funding.

Spain meanwhile is the last large world economy to find itself still mired in recession. Its GDP continues to shrink prompting Standard & Poor’s to put the country on a negative outlook in December last year. The agency has little confidence in Spain reducing its Government deficit from 11.4% of GDP to the eurozone limit of 3% and could even apply further downward pressure to its ratings should the authorities not take aggressive action to tackle its weak economic growth and near 20% unemployment.

Daniel Dias for developer Signature International, commented: “At the moment Turkey is certainly in good shape and all of this bodes well for Turkey’s constant endeavour to become part of the EU.”

Source: www.signatureinternational.co.uk       www.themovechannel.com

We are an established and exciting global property investment company. We have offices in Canary Wharf and Reading and are currently enjoying a 100% month on month growth in sales. This is a unique and exceptional opportunity available for self-driven and highly successful individuals looking to build a long term challenging and rewarding career.

Overseas Property Portfolio Manager (CI-PM) – COLOUR INVESTMENTS
Salary – £36k OTE self employed. Equivalent to circa £50k employed.

Job Description:
The role focuses on building quality, long-lasting relationships with clients by really getting to know their property needs. Based within a fast-paced, positive sales environment this role also involves meeting clients face to face so that the relationship can be strengthened further. The majority of the time you will be based from home and will be selling to clients over the phone. Your own phone and computer are required.

At least 6 months previous success in a sales environment is essential, a good understanding of the property industry would be beneficial as well as a strong desire to succeed. You must be a fast learner who is able to build up an impressive client portfolio within the company. You must also have the resilience, enthusiasm and dedication to fit into this successful team, whilst most importantly being a highly motivated individual being able to successfully work from.

We will provide all leads, sales brochures and marketing materials allowing you to concentrate on sales and earning a much larger OTE than stated above.

Responsibilities:
· Being well informed about the current overseas property industry.
· Generating new business & proactively canvassing potential clients in a target orientated sales environment.
· Build relationships with clients and assist them with structuring their property portfolios, focusing sales in our overseas locations.
· Attending and participating in sales meetings, product seminars and trade shows when required.
· Preparing development specific details and price quotations for potential investors.
· Responding to client enquiries in a timely and effective manor.
· Will work closely with management to guarantee full coverage of his/her customer base.
· Attend a weekly sales meeting in the south east to update the team on your pipeline and sales progress.

Specific Skills (not essential):
· Sales/account management experience in a property related industry, ideally but not essential e.g. estate agency, mortgage company e.t.c.
· Ability to manage a pipeline of multiple property investment clients at any given time.
· Proven success prospecting and lead generation, building a pipeline, moving opportunities through the sales cycle; proposing, presenting and discussing investments with investors.

Required Skills:
· A superior sales track record – able to demonstrate impressive sales achievement and progression 
with evidence of showing initiative, creativity and motivation to surpass challenging performance goals.
· Self starter who is highly motivated
· Able to build successful business relationships with clients and investors.
· Willingness to Travel to meet clients
· Opportunity for very flexible working hours
· Must be a team player
· Honest & hard working with a strong desire to succeed.
· Highly ethical core values

Job ref: CI-PM
Contact: Nick Wallwork
E-mail: careers@colourinvestments.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Telephone: 08450 944 559

The increase of 3.2% was the largest monthly climb in asking prices since the property boom-times of April 2007 and search activity on Rightmove has been at a record high in the past month.

source: Rightmove newsletter