Housing market activity starts to cool

Housing market activity is showing signs of cooling, with mortgage approvals, new buyer enquiries and transactions all easing in recent months. The drop in demand has helped to loosen market conditions, so house price gains over the second half of the year are likely to be slower than in the first. But once the disruption caused by the MMR passes, mortgage approvals and transaction levels will resume their upward trends. Alongside that, a growing economy will help house prices to make further gains in 2015, particularly as the Financial Policy Committee has taken disappointingly weak action to cool the market.