Housing: According to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) the average house price in the UK in June 2007 now stands at £214,222 (£221,370 in England). UK annual house price inflation rose by 12.1%. Annual house price inflation in London rose by 17.5%.

The price of a typical house increased by the equivalent of £44 per day during the last 12 months.

The Nationwide said that house price growth lifted a little during August, but the annual rate continues to moderate. Prices increased by 0.6% during the month, but the annual rate fell to 9.6% down from 9.9% in July.

It is estimated that over the next 18 months, nearly two million borrowers will see their fixed rate mortgage deals expire. They will need to budget at least £100 / month more than they are currently spending and may also need to pay re-mortgage and / or large arrangement fees if they want to fix their mortgage for an additional period.

Average national asking prices in August 2007 rose by a modest 0.6% (£1,473).

The average loan approved for house purchase in August 2007 was £156,900, some 13% higher than a year earlier.

Gross mortgage lending reached a new record for the month of July, totalling £34.4 billion, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This is 13% higher than the £30.6 billion lent in the same month last year.

Britain's housing stock is worth a total value of £3,915 billion – up 10 per cent on the previous year

34% of mortgages taken out by home movers in June 2007 were “interest only” mortgages compared with only 12% taken out in July 2003. 26% of these “interest only” mortgages were taken out without a repayment plan specified to repay the capital.

Banks and building societies will hand out £1 billion every day this year in the biggest-ever home loan bonanza in Britain. The Council of Mortgage Lenders said 2007 will be a record year with an extraordinary £360 billion borrowed in mortgages.

Housing 1st Time Buyers: The average house price in the UK in June 2007 for first time buyers now stands at £164,755 which is an annual increase of 12.4%.

Parents are paying on average £21,314 to help their children get on the property ladder. 20% have already dipped into their savings to help their children buy their first home, while a further 22% plan to offer financial help to their offspring when they come to buy.

A typical two-income British couple buying their first property in Q4 2006 would have had to commit 34% of their take home pay to meet their initial mortgage payments, the highest level since 1990.

Affordability pressures continued to squeeze first-time buyers as income multiples reached their highest-ever level in June at 3.37 times the average first-time buyer income according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The average new mortgage for first time buyers has now reached £118,322. The average age of a first-time buyer is 29.