In The Right Direction
House prices crept up by 0.3% in July, according to figures released by the Halifax.
This represents the third consecutive monthly rise on the bank’s house prices index, which also showed a 0.5% rise in house prices during the three months to the end of July – the first quarterly rise for 14 months.
In figures released at the same time by the Insolvency Service, personal insolvencies in England and Wales fell by 12.2% to 30,513 in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. But quarter-on-quarter, the number of personal insolvencies rose by 1.2% in the three months to June, up from 30,145 in the first quarter of 2011.
There was a steep fall in personal bankruptcies over the period, down to 11,113 from 12,539 in the first quarter of the year and 14,982 in the comparable quarter in 2010. This fall was offset by rises in individual voluntary arrangements and debt relief orders (DROs).
The average UK house price now stands at £163,981, 2.6% lower than July 2010. The number of mortgage approvals increased by 4% between May and June to 48,421 – the highest monthly total since May 2010.
The Halifax statistics follow Nationwide’s house price index which showed house prices edging up by 0.2% in July, having been flat in June. House prices were down 0.4% year-on-year in July according to Nationwide.
