The Guardian, 26/02/10, Hilary Osborne
La fin d'un moratoire sur les frais de mutation sur les maisons entre £ 125k et 165k a été le déclencheur de la fin d'un bull-trap, dirait on. Chute des prêts (donc à peu près du volume des transactions) de 32% (mois/mois, 21% par rapport à janvier 2009) !House prices fell by 1% in February bringing to an end nine months of rising prices, figures from the UK's largest building society showed today.
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The fall, the first since last April, brought the average in the cost of buying a home in the UK down to £161,320, from £163,481 in January. However, prices are now 9.2% higher than in February last year, when the market reached a trough.
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Recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed a 32% drop in gross lending in January, while this week the British Bankers Association said its members had seen the number of house purchase loans fall sharply over the month.
Both groups suggested that the government's decision to end the temporary stamp duty holiday on homes up to £175,000 at the start of last year had led to a rush to buy in December and a slowdown in interest at the start of 2010.
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The removal of the temporary stamp duty threshold, which means that all homes selling for £125,000 or more are now subject to tax at 1%, may have dented demand to such an extent that even without more properties coming on to the market, the market has tipped in favour of buyers.
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He added: "If properties remain scarce for some considerable time to come, then house prices will be supported to some extent by this. It will increase the risk, though, that an eventual correction in house prices will be appreciable."