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		ACKNOWLEDGEMENT   This section  last  Updated Friday 18 May 2012 09.08 BST. guardian 'Credit virgins' struggle to build borrowing histories Increasing numbers of parents helping their adult children out financially are stopping them from developing credit records. By Jill Insley           Parents helping their adult children out financially could actually be hampering them, a study claims. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian Parents are inadvertently placing their adult children at a financial disadvantage by taking out credit and paying essential bills on their behalf. Increasing numbers of parents are trying to help their adult children out financially. But by putting credit agreements, mobile phone contracts, call loans, credit cards and even mortgages in their own names they are preventing their children from developing a credit record, the free credit report service Noddle has warned. This has given rise to an estimated 7 million "credit virgins" who have never taken out any form of credit, and makes it more difficult for them to secure loans, mortgages and credit cards in the future, even if they are able to afford them. Noddle founder Tom Ilube said: "Parents have nothing but good intentions when they decide to help out their kids by putting credit agreements in their names and covering living costs, but the irony is they could be putting them at a financial disadvantage in the longer term." In a survey of 2,000 adults, 40% of 20-somethings, 18% of 30-somethings and 22% of 40-somethings had no credit record. The Noddle study suggests the rise in stay-at-home university students, high youth unemployment and prohibitive housing prices are exacerbating the problem. Robert Hatch, a 30-year-old biology lecturer at Kingston University, is one of those with no credit record to his name. His mobile phone is pay-as-you-go, and he has borrowed from his parents whenever he has needed extra cash to tide him over. He has never even had a utility bill in his name, as he has lived in shared rented accommodation since leaving university. Hatch is now worried his lack of credit record could count against him if he applies for a mortgage in the next five years. "I've not signed up to the electoral roll because I've never stayed in a property for longer than a year, and you worry about mail going to the wrong place once you've moved," he said. "I arrange for most of my mail to be delivered to my work address – I know lots of people in the same situation. When I bought my first car I saved up the money for it and paid cash. I did have a student overdraft – does that count?" Ilube says that unlike credit cards and loans, banks are not obliged to share details of current accounts with overdrafts, so they aren't guaranteed to show up on credit reports. He said Hatch could consider taking out a credit card, spending a little on it every month, making sure he stayed within his credit limit, and repaying the balance in full every month so it costs him nothing in interest. The research showed that two-thirds of parents (63%) provide financial support to their adult children, handing out an average £3,632 each in the past 12 months, while one in 10 say they make monthly payments of £240 to their grown-up kids to cover day-to-day living costs. One in five say they give financial hand outs to their adult children because the children are currently unemployed and one in six say they find it difficult to say no. This section  last  Updated at 09:15, 17 May 2012. Mail Get ready for sharp rise in mortgage rates, warns Bank of England as experts predict homeowners will pay thousands of pounds more a year Experts fear some of Britain's 11.2million mortgage holders may be 'pushed over the edge' by hikes Banks blame eurozone crisis for driving up cost of borrowing - then pass cost on to consumers But the Bank of England's base rate of interest is STILL at record low of just 0.5 per cent after 38 months Experts urge any mortgage holder on a variable rate to secure a fixed-rate deal as soon as possible By Becky Barrow and Damien Gayle Homeowners should brace themselves for sharp increases in the cost of their mortgages, the Bank of England warned yesterday. It is a bitter blow for Britain’s 11.2million mortgage holders and comes as a direct result of the chaos in the eurozone. The crisis is driving up the cost of borrowing for high street lenders in this country – and they aim to ‘restore’ their profit margins by passing on that cost.   Homeowners should brace themselves for sharp increases in the cost of their mortgages, the Bank of England warned yesterday Experts fear higher rates will mean many homeowners will have to find thousands of pounds extra a year, and some will be pushed ‘over the edge’. The warning comes on a bleak day for the economy, which is stuck in a double-dip recession as policymakers and politicians try to insulate it from Europe’s chaos. The Bank said the eurozone crisis is beginning to hit homeowners, many of whom are already struggling to find the money to make their monthly repayments. Since the start of the year, the funding costs for the high street banks have soared – and they are passing on the pain to their customers, including homeowners and savers. The Bank’s report warned: ‘In the absence of falls in funding costs, it suggests that some further increase in mortgage rates is likely as banks seek to restore their margins.’ Some of the biggest mortgage lenders, such as Halifax, the Co-op and Yorkshire Bank, have already hit their customers with an increase in their ‘standard variable rate’ loans. This is the type of loan which homeowners are automatically moved on to when their current deal, such as a two-year fixed loan or a three-year tracker, comes to an end. Experts have for weeks been advising SVR mortgage holders with equity in their property to scramble to get back onto a fixed rate while deals are still available. Tiffany Clayton, 23, a personal assistant, and her boyfriend, electrician Carl Pritchard, 24, are preparing to remortgage their property after their fixed rate deal ended last month.  Uneasy: Carl Pritchard and Tiffany Clayton don't like the uncertainty of being on Halifax's SVR and are looking to fix again The couple, from Caterham, Surrey, are now paying Halifax’s 3.99 per cent SVR after their two-year 4.2 per cent fixed-rate deal ended on April 9. But although the SVR is lower than the fixed rate, the couple are uncomfortable with a floating rate that they fear could rise further. Miss Clayton said: ‘I have already spoken to an independent broker about remortgaging. We definitely want another fixed rate. ‘We have equity in the property so we should be able to fix for two years at an even lower rate than 3.99 per cent. This is our preferred option because we don’t want sleepless nights about rates going up.’ Up to eight million homeowners are thought to be on a variable rate, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This includes those on tracker deals as well as those on the SVR.  However, many of those on fixed rates will have to remortgage in the coming months as their deal expires. Experts said cheap deals are being replaced every day by more expensive options. Last Friday, Yorkshire Building Society raised its two-year fixed rate loan from 3.24 per cent to 3.54 per cent. Tomorrow ING Direct will raise its two-year fixed from 3.29 per cent to 3.49 per cent.   Any hike of interest rates risks sparking a fresh rise in the number of home reposessions, which had stabilised only this month. The 9,600 repossessions between January and the beginning of April was the same number as a year ago, according to data from the CML, breaking the recent trend of year-on-year increases. Record-low interest rates have helped mortgage borrowers in the past two years, despite the banks lending at much higher rates than the Bank of England 0.5 per cent base rate, and 2011 saw the lowest annual number of repossessions in four years - at 36,200 homes. The CML had said it could this summer revise the expected number of homes reposessed in 2012 down from 45,000, but the fresh warning over interest rates has now put that at risk. Presciently, the CML said in a statement last week: 'Continuing pressures on household finances, changes to welfare benefits and an upward drift in mortgage rates all have the potential to disrupt the current stable picture.'   The Bank of England said the eurozone crisis is beginning to hit homeowners, many of whom are already struggling to to make their monthly repayments Una Farrell, of debt advisers the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, warned: ‘The margin between being able to pay your mortgage and falling into arrears is paper-thin for many. ‘Even a small increase in their mortgage costs will push many over the edge.’ Around one in ten homeowners with a loan are in ‘some form of distress’, which typically means they have fallen behind with their repayments, according to the CCCS. ‘The margin between being able to pay your mortgage and falling into arrears is paper-thin for many. Even a small increase in their mortgage costs will push many over the edge’  Una Farrell, Consumer Credit Counselling Service One of the charges levelled against the banks is that they are raising rates even though the Bank of England base rate has been frozen at 0.5 per cent since March 2009. Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group, said: ‘The taxpayer imagines that part of the deal is that, having rescued the banks, they will help homeowners and businesses. But people are thinking to themselves “This is not happening”.’ A Council of Mortgage Lenders spokesman said it was wrong to assume that banks could borrow money at 0.5 per cent base rate.  She said: ‘Effectively, the cost to the lender of borrowing money from savers has risen. ‘Also, problems in the eurozone have been causing significant difficulties in recent months, and funding costs  are higher than they were a year ago.’   'TICKING TIMEBOMB' OF INTEREST-ONLY HOME LOANS The financial regulator has warned that homeowners in their 50s are sitting on ‘a ticking timebomb’ of mortgages handed out during the boom years. During a grilling by MPs last month, Martin Wheatley, a director of the Financial Services Authority, raised his fears about interest-only mortgages which are coming to the end of their life – but the homeowners have no money to pay off the loan. Of the 11.2million mortgages in Britain, about four in ten are interest-only, meaning the homeowners pay only the interest but not a penny of the actual loan. Between 2011 and 2020, the FSA expects about 1.5million such mortgages – worth a staggering £120billion – ‘will be due for repayment’. Mr Wheatley told the Treasury select committee: ‘There is a ticking timebomb that has been created over the last 20 years.’ The FSA said its figures mean 150,000 interest-only mortgages will come to the end of their life every year for the next decade. The vast majority of people with these types of loans – 80 per cent – have ‘no repayment strategy’, the FSA said. This section  last  Updated at 10:17, 16 May 2012. This is Money  Cost of new mortgages on the rise as lenders seek to shore up their own battered finances By Lauren Thompson                                          Well fixed: Homeowners Rob Lewis and Rosa Suela Mendez The cost of a new home loan has begun to creep up as mortgage lenders seek to shore up battered profit margins. Banks and building societies are also raising rates in a bid to avoid becoming the most competitive lender left in the market, and subsequently being swamped by demand from buyers. On top of this, the dire situation on the continent is pushing UK house prices down and making risk-averse banks demand larger deposits from buyers. Last week, Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, increased its fixed-rate mortgages by up to 0.3 percentage points, adding £27 a month to a typical £150,000 loan. The move came despite the Bank of England base rate being kept at its record low of 0.5?per cent for the 38th month in a row. Banks are now passing higher costs on to customers. The average two-year fixed-rate is now 4.49?per cent, the highest since August 2011, according to analyst Moneyfacts. Monthly repayments on a £150,000 home loan would be £833. Just five months ago, the average two-year fix was 4.10?per cent, with monthly repayments of £800 — £33 a month lower. Rob Lewis and his wife Rosa Suela Mendez locked into a mortgage rate five months ago. But if they had secured a mortgage today from the same lender, they would be paying an extra £192 a month. The couple, pictured at their new £424,000 four-bedroom home in Surbiton, Surrey, opted for a two-year fixed-rate at 3.84?per cent with Northern Rock.  But today Northern Rock’s best two-year fix for their deposit size is 4.79?per cent — that’s 0.95 percentage points more — which would have added £2,304 a year to their mortgage costs. The couple found their deal via mortgage broker London & Country and put down a deposit of £63,000. Sales manager Mr Lewis, 38, says: ‘We opted for a fixed-rate because rates can only go up, and we don’t want to worry about our mortgage costs rising on top of everything else.’ Richard Sexton, director at chartered surveyor E.surv, says: ‘Until early spring, banks did a good job of coping with increasing funding costs. But we’ve reached a tipping point now. ‘Banks can’t afford to sustain their current levels of lending. They are concerned about  their exposure to debt- ridden European countries,  and the precarious state of  borrower finances.’ This week, HSBC withdrew its popular lifetime tracker at 2.79?per cent and increased other tracker rates by 0.2 points. Yorkshire BS increased fixed-rates by up to  0.3 points, while Loughborough BS withdrew its best-buy three-year fixed deals. Lenders are competing not to compete Mortgage brokers say that once big banks start to increase mortgage rates, others follow suit so they are not left as the only lender with competitive rates. Aaron Strutt, a mortgage expert at broker Trinity Financial, says: ‘Some lenders have become inundated with applications. This has led to processing delays and rate hikes.’ The average deposit on a house purchase loan has risen above 40?per cent for the first time since February 2011, according to E.surv. This is because economists are worried house prices will slide this year, leaving homeowners vulnerable to negative equity — where someone owes more on their mortgage than their house is worth. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors warned last week that prices were set to weaken again, and figures from Halifax showed house prices fell 2.4?per cent in April. Ed Stansfield, a property economist at Capital Economics, says: ‘Prices are still at high levels in relation to earnings and the economy is still very weak. ‘The outlook is, at best, a protracted period of slowly falling house prices. This section  last  Updated at 08:43, 13 May 2012. Unhappy couples trapped by the economic gloom, as divorce numbers soar while house prices slump By Stephen Womack Britain’s economic squeeze is fuelling an increase in divorce and changing the way that couples are being forced to carve up their assets. There were almost 120,000 divorces in England and Wales in 2010 – the latest year for which  figures are available – five per cent up on 2009.   Celebrity couples such as Katie Price and Alex Reid, who were granted the first stage of their divorce in March, should have enough in the pot to ensure a comfortable life after a split.                     Split: Katie Price remains wealthy after a high-profile break-up with Alex Reid - others are not so lucky, warns a leading divorce expert But many others find that recession has diminished the value of their assets. Couples have traditionally used the proceeds from selling the family home to fund a divorce and get started in their new lives. However, falling house prices in most areas of the country have eroded the value of equity in properties.    This can force major compromises in a couple’s lifestyle after a divorce and it means that there is a renewed focus on other assets such as  pensions. Fiona Sharp, a chartered financial planner with Almary Green in Cambridge and a specialist in divorce issues, says: ‘Splitting one household into two is becoming increasingly difficult. The capacity of newly divorced couples to get a new mortgage has gone down because there is less equity in properties and tougher lending conditions.’ Mortgage lenders trapping unhappy couples Mortgage lenders want bigger deposits, are more cautious about how much they will lend and are no longer agreeing to cheaper interest- only loans. The winding road to a break-up Married couples are free to split and live apart with immediate effect, but the formal process of divorce starts only when one partner files a divorce petition. This is usually at the local county court or in London at the Principal Registry. Once issued, the petition will be served on the other spouse, known as the respondent. Providing they do not want to defend the divorce, the petitioner can apply for a decree nisi. But nothing is finalised until the court grants a decree absolute. As part of the petition, you can indicate your intention to apply for a financial order. Doing this starts a parallel process for the court to grant an order that details how assets and income are to be split. However, if the couple reach an amicable settlement, this can be formalised by the court in the form of a consent order. Rules differ in Scotland, including the option of a no-frills DIY divorce if no children are involved. More details at scotcourts.gov.uk. Some refuse to count divorce maintenance payments received from a former spouse as income, or will only do so after a minimum period of continuous payments. NatWest, for example, wants to see six months of payments before it will include maintenance as income. Nationwide Building Society, meanwhile, demands three months of payments, backed by a formal or court agreement. However, outgoing maintenance payments are usually counted as expenditure, reducing the borrowing power of the former spouse – which is usually the husband – who pays. Many divorcees who may have been homeowners for a long time find that they are forced to rent. Sharp says: ‘It is an issue for some divorcees, especially if one spouse feels they are being forced to “give it all up”. Renting challenges their expectations of what kind of lifestyle they will have in future.’ More couples are splitting in later life – the average age for men divorcing was 44 in 2010, up from 38 in 1990. Angharad Lynn, a family solicitor with Buss Murton in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, says: ‘With more people getting divorced later in life, they have had the chance to build up bigger pension entitlements, which become an important part of the  settlement.’ Moving on: essential property advice Mortgage calculator: how much can you afford? House prices: has your home fallen in value? What next for mortgage rates? What next for house prices? Getting expert and independent advice in this area is essential as pensions can be extremely difficult to value. Sharp says: ‘One pound in your pension does not equal one pound in the bank or one pound of equity in a house. The pension may not be paid out for many years, and then it will be taxed, so the divorce settlement needs to reflect this.’   Advice: Fiona Sharp says couples can't find mortgages There are no hard and fast rules, but typically the face value of a pension pot might be reduced by one-fifth to one-third in divorce calculations. There are two main ways to treat pensions. One is by offsetting, where the value of a pension is counted against other assets. For example, one spouse may receive a bigger share of the family home in return for the other spouse keeping their entire pension. Alternatively, a divorcing couple might agree to split the pension through a sharing order. This sees an existing fund – or a pension in payment – split into two, with the pot being shared by both spouses. This is a formal arrangement sanctioned by the courts and can  apply to personal and workplace pensions. More than one in ten divorce settlements includes a pension sharing order. The top-up State Second Pension and its predecessor Serps can be split. The basic State pension cannot be shared, but after a divorce one partner, usually the woman, automatically retains their former spouse’s entitlement to the State pension if their National Insurance Contributions record is superior to your own. This entitlement will be lost on any remarriage. A third option for sharing pensions is what is known as attachment. Here a proportion of one partner’s future pension payments is set aside for the other spouse. However, few advisers recommend this, not least because the pension can be lost if your ex-spouse dies before receiving it. - The Money Advice Service has free and impartial information on divorce and finances. For more,  telephone 0300 500 5000 or log on to moneyadviceservice.org.uk. This section  last  Updated Thursday 10 May 2012 10.59 BST. Guardian Buy-to-let mortgages up by a third CML figures show buy-to-let loans in quarter one of 2012 were up by 32% annually, while repossessions have steadied By Hilary Osborne   More than 32,000 buy-to-let loans were taken in the period, totalling £3.7bn. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian The value of mortgages taken out to fund buy-to-let purchases rose by a third year-on-year to the first three months of 2012, as falling house prices and rising rents made the sector attractive to investors. Some 32,300 loans worth a combined total of £3.7bn were advanced to buy-to-let borrowers, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The value was 5% down on the final three months of 2011, but 32% higher than in the opening three months of the year. However, it remains at about a third of 2007's levels. The CML said the buy-to-let sector continued to increase its share of the mortgage market, with the UK's 1.4m buy-to-let mortgages representing an estimated 12.8% of the total value of outstanding mortgages. However, would-be landlords still need bigger deposits than they did in 2007 to invest in property, with the average maximum loan-to-value available from lenders standing at 75%, compared to 85% then. David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages For Business, said: "The year-on-year rise in buy-to-let lending reflects the state of the overall property market. Demand for rental property is as strong as ever as mortgage funds remain out of reach for many would-be buyers and high-street banks remove scores of owner-occupier mortgages from the market. "While the overall value of lending fell quarter-on-quarter, this has more to do with stagnant and falling prices rather than a drop in landlord appetite." Tracy Kellett, managing director of UK buying agents, BDI Home Finders, said: "Anyone thinking of getting into buy to let – and their number is growing by the day as house prices fall – should take a five- to 10-year-view, not look at this as a short-term play. That's a dangerous road to go down. "More landlords are buying up three- to four-bedroom homes, which are popular with the growing number of families that are renting. This is a whole new market for buy-to-let, and is particularly short on supply." In terms of loan performance, the number of buy-to-let mortgages in arrears fell a little in the first quarter of 2012, and the arrears rate on buy-to-let mortgages continues to be lower than in the owner-occupied sector. At the end of the first quarter, about 1.7% of buy-to-let mortgages were in arrears of more than three months (including cases where a receiver of rent has been appointed), compared with around 2% of owner-occupier mortgages. However, the repossession rate was 0.12%, higher than the 0.08% recorded in the owner-occupier sector. The CML said this difference was not surprising, given that lenders were focussing on forbearance to keep homeowners in their homes. It said that in the rented sector, expired tenancies allowed repossession to be undertaken without unexpected disruption to tenant households. Separately, the CML said the number of homes repossessed in the UK remained stable in the first three months of 2012, breaking the recent year-on-year trend of rising repossessions. A total of 9,600 homes were taken into possession by lenders, the same as in the first quarter of 2011. The figure was higher than the 8,700 that took place in the final three months of 2011, but the CML said this represented a normal seasonal patter. It remained below the recent peak of 13,000 in the final quarter of 2009. The CML said the steadying number may lead it to revise down its forecast that 45,000 properties will be repossessed over the course of 2012, but warned that continuing pressures on household finances, changes to welfare benefits, and an upward drift in mortgage rates "all have the potential to disrupt the current stable picture". Paul Smee, the CML director general, said: "Combined efforts by borrowers, lenders and money advisers are ensuring that payment difficulties are being managed effectively, with the result that the number of repossessions remains relatively low. "Repossession really is a last resort, as the numbers show. Anyone worried about their mortgage should be assured that lenders will try to help them get back on track, as long as this is a realistic prospect." Although the number of mortgages in arrears fell overall, the number that are at least 10% behind with repayments rose to its highest level since June 2000, hitting 28,000, or 0.25% of outstanding mortgages. In total the number of mortgages with arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance fell to 157,800, or 1.4% of all loans, down from 160,300 at the end of December 2011 and 170,500 at the end of the first quarter of 2011. The largest fall was in the number of mortgages that were between 5% and 10% in arrears. Year on year, the number of loans in the 5-7.5% arrears band fell by 12%, to its lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2008, while the number in the 7.5-10% band fell by 13% to its lowest since the third quarter of 2008. This section  last  Updated 8 May 2012 at 10:05 .   BBC Business News House market back in the doldrums Surveyors believe house prices will drop further in the coming months.  The brief flurry of activity in the property market has come to an end, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Its monthly survey of members who work as estate agents shows that sales fell in April, for the first time since last September. Rics said this was due to the end of the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers. The survey also found that house prices continue to fall, except in London. "With the recent surge in activity brought on by the stamp duty holiday coming to an end, it is unsurprising to see that prices across much of the country are continuing to fall," said Peter Bolton King, housing spokesman for Rics. "Renewed concerns over the economy and talk of a double-dip recession dominating the headlines in recent weeks may well have served to undermine consumer confidence. "What's more, the continuing lack of affordable mortgage finance is still hindering many first-time buyers who cannot afford to get a foot on the property ladder," he added. 'Tougher criteria' The Rics survey adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the brief upturn in activity in the first three months of the year has faded. Both the Halifax bank and the Nationwide building society have reported that prices dipped in April as activity petered out following the end of the stamp duty holiday on 24 March. And the Bank of England said that the number of mortgages approved in both February and March was down sharply from the figure in January. Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said the dearth of easily available mortgages was still the biggest influence on the market. "Although interest rates have not risen in more than three years, lenders continue to raise their mortgage rates on the back of the higher cost of wholesale funding," he said. "Tougher criteria, particularly regarding interest-only borrowing, are not helping, giving borrowers the impression that it is much harder to get funding. "Consequently, many aren't bothering, preferring to adopt a 'wait and see' attitude, rather than take the plunge and purchase at the present time," he added. The Co-op bank recently stopped lending any new mortgages on an interest-only basis. The Bank of England recently published data showing that the cost of the average two-year fixed rate mortgage deal, with a 25% deposit, had risen from 2.9% last September to 3.45% in March. This section  last  Updated 12:32, 5 May 2012. Mail More homeowner misery as its revealed house prices plunged by £130 EVERY day last month According to the Halifax Price Index, the average home now costs £159,883, down 2.4% from £163,796 in March Despite house price falls, UK property is still expensive compared to average earnings By Jill Reilly Worrying news has emerged for homeowners looking to put their property on the market, as it has been revealed that house prices dropped by over £900 a week last month. According to the Halifax Price Index, the average home now costs £159,883, down 2.4% per cent from £163,796 in March - the same level as in 2004. The ending of the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers in late March appears to have boosted home sales early this year as buyers strove to beat the deadline, and has probably contributed to the volatility in house prices, Halifax said.   Decreasing value: According to the Halifax Price Index, the average home now costs £159,883, down 2.4% from £163,796 in March House prices have now fallen 11.8 per cent since they reached their peak in October 2007. The figure is a UK average which does not take into account regional fluctuations. In April 2010, as the property market hit a high point following its bounce back from the 2008/9 slump, the average price of a UK property was £168,593, Halifax says.     Affordability: Despite house price falls, UK property is still expensive compared to average earnings The average home has lost £10,000 since then.        AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES IN THE LAST YEAR Apr 11      £160,785 May 11     £161,039 Jun 11       £163,430 Jul 11        £163,765 Aug 11      £161,926 Sep 11      £161,368 Oct 11      £163,227 Nov 11     £161,556 Dec 11      £159,888 Jan 12       £160,925 Feb 12      £160,328 Mar 12     £163,796 Apr 12      £159,883 Source: Halifax But last month's 2.4 per cent fall follows an increase of 2.2 per cent in March and actually leaves the more reliable three-month house price change measure up 0.3 per cent, Halifax said. That rise in prices in the three-month period was the first increase on a quarterly basis since September, following six successive falls. However, house prices have fallen 0.5 per cent over the past year, stand at the same level as in August 2004 and are down £40,000 on the August 2007 peak. This week, Nationwide's house price index reported that property values last month saw a 0.2 per cent fall - the fourth month out of five that house prices have fallen. And Nationwide warned that house prices, which on average were also 0.9 per cent down on April last year, were set to stagnate or fall throughout 2012, as households' confidence lagged behind any possible economic recovery. Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: ‘Despite the slight improvement in the underlying trend in recent months, house prices continue to lack real direction, with the current UK average price little different to where it was at the end of 2011.’ This section  last  Updated 4 May 2012 at 09:13.   BBC Business News House prices fluctuating widely, Halifax says House prices are still 0.5% lower than a year ago.  House prices in the UK fell sharply in April after the end of the stamp-duty holiday for first-time buyers, the Halifax has said. It said the 2.4% drop last month was partly due to sales falling back, after they had risen briefly before the end of the tax concession on 24 March. The lender said this had caused monthly price changes to "fluctuate widely". Last month's dip took the cost of the average home down to £159,883, which was 0.5% lower than a year ago. Despite this, the lender said the underlying trend showed prices still rising slightly. "Prices in the three months to April were 0.3% higher than in the previous quarter, marking the first rise in this measure for seven months," said the Halifax's housing economist, Martin Ellis. "The ending of the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers in late March appears to have boosted home sales early this year as buyers strove to beat the deadline, and has probably contributed to the volatility in house prices in the last few months," he added. Depressed Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: "Housing market activity is very low compared to long-term norms." "And the economic fundamentals currently look worrying overall for the housing market with unemployment high and likely to rise further, earnings growth muted, and the outlook uncertain," he added. On Thursday, the Nationwide building society also reported that prices had fallen last month, though by just 0.2%. However, its figures suggested that in the past few months prices had been falling slightly, rather than rising as the Halifax says. The lenders construct their house price indexes from samples of their own mortgage lending, so it is not unusual for them to paint a different picture of recent trends in the market. But both agree that prices have fallen over the past 12 months, with the Nationwide putting the annual fall at 0.9%. "The big picture of depressed demand, fragile confidence and an underlying house price trend which is, at best, flat, was little changed this month," said Capital Economics. "But news that the economy has fallen back into recession, that credit standards are tightening and that mortgage interest rates are edging higher all suggest that the market is more likely to weaken than to strengthen over the remainder of the year."