22
Jul
UK home sales continue to increase
The number of homes sold in the UK in June rose by 21% from May
to 86,000, HM Revenue & Customs has said.
The sales figures were the highest this year and were up 15% on
the same month last year.
It means sales in the first half of 2010 have been 21% higher
than in the first six months of 2009.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said the
figures meant house sales were still subdued.
"Sales are still running well below the levels preceding the
onset of the credit crunch, partly because of a shortage of
mortgage finance as well as, until recently, the lack of stock on
the market," a spokesman said.
Lenders have become sceptical that their mortgage lending will
rise much further this year.
On Tuesday, the Bank of England warned that the tight supply of
mortgages might become worse in the coming months, which could stop
sales growing faster.
The renewed rise in house prices, which started in the spring of
2009, now seems to have reached a plateau, according to the most
recent surveys from the Nationwide building society and the Halifax
bank.
Rics recently forecast that prices may fall in the latter part
of the year if the increasing number of homes for sale outnumbers
potential buyers.