Tag Archives: asia
Residential sales fall in Canada after previously setting all time monthly record
National home sales in Canada fell in May after setting an all-time monthly record the previous month with a decline of 2.8% recorded, the latest index data shows. The figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) also show that the national average price has increased by 13.2% year on year but when Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver are excluded this drops to 9.1%. Sales activity dropped in about 70% of all markets, led by those in British Columbia and Ontario where the number of homes listed for sale has fallen to multi-year or all-time lows. ‘National sales activity is still strong, even after coming off the record levels of the past couple of months. But, there are housing markets where sales continue to reflect a cautious mood among homebuyers and uncertainty about the local economy,’ said CREA president Cliff Iverson. According to CREA’s chief economist Gregory many of the housing markets in BC and Ontario that led the monthly decline in national sales are also places where months of inventory have fallen to all-time lows. ‘This suggests a lack of supply may be starting to rein in sales amid a continuation of strong housing demand,’ he explained. While nine of the 11 markets tracked by the index posted year on year price gains in May, price growth among housing markets continues to vary widely. Greater Vancouver recorded the biggest rise at 29.7% then the Fraser Valley at 31.7%. Next was Greater Toronto where prices rose by 15% year on year, while in Victoria they rose 13.9% and in Vancouver Island by 9.5%. By contrast, prices fell by 3.9% in Calgary and by 2.3% in Saskatoon. There were smaller year on year prices rises in other locations. In Regine they increased by 3.4%, in Ottawa by 1.3% and in Greater Montreal by 1.9%. Home prices in Greater Moncton recorded their tenth consecutive year on year gain, up 8.2%. The index report also points out that the national average price continues to be pulled upward by sales activity in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, which remain two of Canada’s tightest, most active and expensive housing markets. The actual, not seasonally adjusted, national average price for homes sold in May 2016 was $509,460, up 13.2% year on year. However, if these two housing markets are excluded from calculations, the average price is a more modest $375,532 and the year on year gain is trimmed to 9.1%. But the report explains that even then, this reflects a tug of war between strong average price gains in housing markets around the GTA and in British Columbia versus flat or declining average prices elsewhere in Canada. Indeed, the average price for Canada net of sales in British Columbia and Ontario in May 2016 was down 0.7% year on year to $310,007. The index also shows that the number of newly listed homes fell by 3.2% month on month and new supply was down in about two thirds of all… Continue reading
More than 50% of UK developers and builders plan to increase construction this year
More than half of developers and builders in the UK are planning to increase housing starts and completions over the next 12 months, according to a new survey report. Some 56% said they were planning to recruit more skilled workers in the next three years but many want to see more resources in local authority planning departments, the House Building Report 2016 from real estate consultants Knight Frank shows. Indeed, some 30% said making the planning process for public sector land more streamlined would help boost development numbers and 57% said they had not seen an increase in access to public sector land. On top of this 73% said the cost and availability of labour will have a negative impact on future housing supply at a time when it is at the centre of the national and local political debate. The expanding UK population, a structural historical undersupply of new housing and a slowdown in movement up and down the housing chain is now injecting a sense of urgency into the need to deliver more new build property, the report points out. . Over the last five years, the UK Government has made significant changes to the planning system, introduced schemes to boost development and put pressure on local authorities and public bodies to sell surplus land. While there has been an increase in housing delivery, but the supply of new build homes is still lagging demand on an annual basis, disregarding the historical shortfall. The country’s largest housebuilders, along with the Home Builders Federation (HBF), have recently pledged to help deliver one million homes by 2020, recognising that there needs to be ‘significant further action from the housebuilding industry’. The report assesses the next steps required to address the need for housing over the coming years. For example, the need to address the increasingly onerous levels of pre-commencement conditions applied in some planning permissions and the length of time taken to sign them off. The report points out that official house building data released each quarter from Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) shows that some 152,440 new homes were completed across the UK in 2014/2015 and Knight Frank estimates that this will rise to around 172,000 in 2015/2016. New quarterly data on English new build completions show a 12% rise in 2015/2016 to just under 140,000. However, separate retrospective data published by the DCLG shows that 155,080 new homes were completed in 2014/2015. ‘This suggests that the quarterly data is underestimating total house building across England,’ said Grainne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank. ‘Whatever data is considered, there has been a significant step up in the delivery of new homes over the last few years and large house builders are now constructing 60% more homes than in 2010,’ she added. She explained that on an annual basis, Knight Frank estimates a 12% rise in new build completions in the last year. However, on both… Continue reading
One if five homes for sale in London is priced at £1 million or more
With property prices in London continuing to rise new research shows that one in five homes for sale are listed at £1 million or more. London is one of the most expensive cities in the world for property and the research from estate agent eMoov shows that 20% of all London properties currently listed for sale are priced at over a million pounds. The firm analysed current stock levels across all of the major portals, recording the total levels listed for each London borough, before comparing this to the level of stock listed for £1 million or more and also researched the same percentage of stock across the capital as a whole. The borough with the highest number of properties for sale at over £1 million was Westminster with 63%, followed by South Kensington and Chelsea at 62%. There is a considerable gap to the next highest which is Camden with 43%. In contrast in the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham there are no properties for sale for a £1 million or more and surrounding boroughs have very few. For example in Newham, Bexley and Waltham Forest only 1% of homes for sale are prices at £1 million or more and in Redbridge and Havering it is 2%, in Lewisham 3% and Greenwich 5%. ‘When people think of London they accept prices are through the roof. Even though the average house price in Barking and Dagenham is considerably lower than the London average at £253,000, it still trumps the UK average by tens of thousands of pounds,’ said eMoov chief executive officer Russell Quirk. ‘In a market as inflated as London where stock is scarce and demand is overwhelming, it's quite remarkable that there is still an entire borough without even one property at the £1 million mark or over,’ he pointed out. ‘With prices across London continuing to rise, surely it won’t be long before Barking and Dagenham will see some of its properties priced at £1 million or above. Despite this, our latest research shines yet another spotlight on how unaffordable London is from a property point of view,’ he explained. ‘When you consider that across a city as vast and as populated as London, one in every five properties will cost you a six digit price tag, it really is disheartening for the aspiring London home owner,’ he added. Continue reading
