BBC News
By Brian Meechan & Llyr Edwards
BBC Wales News
image captionAnglesey saw a 16% increase in house prices in 2020, according to the Principality
The average house price in Wales has gone over £200,000 for the first time, the country s biggest building society has said.
The Principality said lockdown had encouraged a race for space with people buying larger properties with bigger gardens.
Eighteen of the 22 council areas in Wales saw record prices in the last three months of 2020.
But sales were down 21% over that period compared with the previous year.
All council areas saw an increase in prices from 2019.
The average price for a home in Wales is £209,723.
Double digit house price rises in four North Wales counties as reports highlight affordability crisis
Low mortgage rates, Land Transaction Tax holiday and probably increased demand from buyers in England cause spike
Updated
View of Beaumaris from the Menai Strait. Photo by Ian Cooper (Image: Ian Cooper/Daily Post Wales)
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Smartr365 rolls out Dips deal with Halifax Intermediaries
By Roger Baird 2
nd February 2021 11:37 am
Smartr365 has announced a partnership with Halifax Intermediaries, which provides real-time decision in principle submissions to the lender.
The fintech mortgage platform says the move is “the first up-and-running partnership of this type for Halifax Intermediaries”. It adds, the integration with Halifax Intermediaries will roll out “over the next few weeks”.
Smartr365 already works with Barclays, and promises that new deals with “other ‘big six’ lenders” are “yet to come”.
This venture allows brokers using Smartr365 software to submit mortgage Dips to Halifax Intermediaries with one-click, with no need to re-key data.
With Barclays planning to shut its doors in May and HSBC in July, the town will only be left with just the Principality Building Society. Lisa McCormick, Barclays Market Director for North Wales said: “The decision to close a branch is never an easy one. However, customers are increasingly using alternatives to branches to do their banking. As a result, we are seeing a sustained fall in branch visits across the UK. “This is reflected at the Prestatyn branch where there has been a 14 per cent reduction in counter transactions in the two years to March 2020. In addition, over four fifths (84 per cent) of our customers at the branch are also using different ways to bank.
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