An unexpected rise in new mortgage approvals to a nine-month high in October gave further evidence on Friday of indications of an upturn in the UK housing market. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) reported that approvals were higher than expected at 33,039, as compared to 31,544 in September. Economists had predicted a smaller growth to 32,000. Gross mortgage loans amounted £7.5bn, slightly above the recent monthly average. Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, claims that the BBA data adds to other recent evidence that housing market activity is picking up modestly.

Turning to U.S. real estate stocks, American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) moved up 26.34% in this year and its price history showed most recently beta was at 0.17. Overall the last 12 months, the percentage change in the price was 12.43%, hitting the highest of $36.77 on Sep 17, 2012 while lowest level in that period was $27.61 on Dec 20, 2011.

Over the last 12 months, for Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY) a return on equity of 9.13 percent was realized due to the financial situation and earnings per share reached a value of $1.44. Last fiscal year, $2.00 has been paid in form of dividends to investors. Earnings are projected to move up 3.00 percent for the coming five years. The stock closed at $14.76, up 0.10 points or 0.68% from previous close and at a distance of -2.84% from 20-day simple moving average.

While trading at volume lower than average, Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM) climbed 1.94% yesterday. Its previous 52-week high was $3.16 and moved up 15.86% over the same period, trading at a volume of 1.49 million. Shares have risen 2.33% over the trailing 6 months. The stock is currently trading -0.48% above its SMA 50 and 3.05% above its SMA 200.

Elsewhere in financial sector, American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG)’s price increased in the last trading session with a previous 52-week high of $37.67. The stock was trading on below-average volume. The stock traded at a volume of 4.35 million shares at a price gain of 0.49%. The share price is now down -2.15% for the past three months. Latest closing price was -3.36% below its 50-day moving average and 3.59% above its 200-day moving average.