Property Turns Positive
Annual property investment returns turned positive in October for the first time since the UK sank into recession, according to the latest Rental Index from LSL Property Services, which owns the UK's largest lettings agent network.

After taking rental income and the slight fall in house prices into account, a landlord investing in property a year ago would have made a 2.4% return.

The last time residential property provided a positive return was in the year to July 2008 on property bought in July 2007, just before the credit crunch began. The worst time to invest was February 2008. Anyone who bought a rental property then can expect to have lost more than 11% by February this year, as rents fell and property prices dropped like a stone.

By contrast the best time to invest was April 2009 at the bottom of the market. Those who bought a rental property then can already expect to have earned 7.4% in rent and rising house prices, equivalent to an annual return of over 15%.

Last week CML lending data stated that buy-to-let lending increased in the third quarter for the first time in two years. The number of buy-to-let mortgages taken out grew between July and September of this year, from 21,600 to 23,700.

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Housebuyers Come Back to Market
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Barratt Developments (BDEV.L) said home buyers were coming back to the market, with private reservations per site up over a third on last year.

The second largest housebuilder by market value saw net private reservations per site rise by 34 percent, it said on Tuesday in a trading statement covering the 19 weeks to Nov 8.

It added that it will have cut its debt to an expected 700 million pounds ($1.18 billion) by Dec. 31 this year, compared with 1.4 billion in 2008, putting it in a strong position to buy land as opportunities emerge.

Barratt recently raised over 720 million pounds via a rights issue and placing, announced in September.

Rival Persimmon (PSN.L) said on Monday that trading had improved, lifted by higher sales and prices.

This backs recent data which suggest house prices, that are estimated to have plummeted over 20 percent since August 2007, have stabilised.

British house prices in October recorded their lowest annual fall since March 2008 and a 1.2 percent rise from September according to mortgage lender Halifax.

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