The average British house price dropped to £251,697 ($348,340) in February, according to the Halifax House Price Index, as the country’s mini housing boom continued to soften.
However, while house prices were 0.1 per cent down from January, the second monthly dip in a row, they were still 5.2 per cent higher than in February last year.
Meanwhile, prices in the period from December to February were 0.5 per cent higher than in the preceding three months.
“Having enjoyed an extremely strong period of activity in the second half of last year, the housing market continued its softer start to 2021, with average prices down very slightly compared to January,” said Russell Galley, managing director of British lender Halifax.
"However, with annual house price inflation currently at +5.2 per cent, property values remain comfortably higher than 12 months ago, when February was the last full month before lockdown."
Mr Galley said the housing market hit a crossroads at the start of year due to uncertainty in the market over UK finance minister Rishi Sunak's Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday.
Mr Sunak first unveiled the tax break in July last year with the first £500,000 of the purchase price of a main residence in England and Northern Ireland exempt from the levy.
The move caused a surge in transactions that sent house prices soaring to an average record high of £252,000 in 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics – up 8.5 per cent from 2019.
At the start of the year, however, buyers feared Mr Sunak would stick to the existing March 30 deadline for the tax break, causing heightened activity in the market to ease.
Then in Wednesday's budget, Mr Sunak extended the SDLT holiday in his budget statement to keep the property market buoyant as the country eases out of lockdown.
The SDLT holiday has been one of the main drivers of demand from home movers during the pandemic, with the decision to extend it removing "a great deal of uncertainty for buyers with transactions yet to complete", said Mr Galley.
He also lauded the new mortgage guarantee scheme, unveiled in Wednesday's budget, which helps first-time buyers on to the property ladder by encouraging lenders to provide mortgages to people with deposits as low as 5 per cent on properties worth up to £600,000.
The government then gives lenders the guarantee they need to provide mortgages covering the remaining 95 per cent.
Despite mortgage approvals hitting record highs in recent months, with UK lenders approving 98,994 home loans in January, Mr Galley said, "raising a deposit continues to be the single biggest hurdle for first-time buyers to overcome".
Looking ahead, Mr Galley said the performance of the housing market remains inextricably linked to the health of the wider economy.
Britain’s gross domestic product is expected to grow 4 per cent in 2021, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, following a 9.9 per cent contraction last year.
Mr Galley said the pace and extent of the recovery is still highly uncertain, and much will depend on the ongoing success of the UK's vaccination roll-out, and Britain's unemployment rate, which hit 5.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year.
“Though there is the likelihood of an economic ‘bounce-back’ from lockdown, with households not unduly impacted by the pandemic deploying the significant reserves of savings that they have built up, higher unemployment is likely to limit new buyer demand," Mr Galley said.
“Therefore, we would not expect the level of growth seen in house prices over the past year to be sustained throughout 2021.”
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: Najem Al Rwasi, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Fandim, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Harbh, Pat Cosgrave, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
3.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Wakeel W’Rsan, Richard Mullen, Jaci Wickham
4pm: Crown Prince of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jawaal, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
4.30pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup (TB) Dh200,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 518bhp
Torque: 625Nm
Speed: 0-100kmh 5.3 seconds
Price: Dh633,435
On sale: now
SHAITTAN
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eco%20Way%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Kroshnyi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electric%20vehicles%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bootstrapped%20with%20undisclosed%20funding.%20Looking%20to%20raise%20funds%20from%20outside%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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On racial profiling at airports
Honeymoonish
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