Tag Archives: british
Property market in England and Wales sees active start to year with price rise of 0.5%
Property prices in England and Wales have increased 0.5% month on month, with the residential market seeing an active start to 2016, according to the latest index figures. Prices are also up 6.5% year on year taking the average price of a home to £290.963, the data from Rightmove also shows, making it the second highest festive period rise since 2007. However, the good news for those getting onto the property ladder is that prices in the lower end of the market where first time buyers are usually found, typically two bedroom homes, have only increased by 0.1%. Demand as measured by visits to the Rightmove website in the first working week of 2016 is up by 21% on the same period in 2015. ‘Upwards price pressure remains, with the second highest rise seen at this time of year for nine years but encouragingly for first time buyers there’s more fresh choice with more property coming to market in their target sector,’ said Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst. ‘With their asking prices pretty much the same as a month ago, perhaps the knock-on effects of the more punitive landlord tax regime have arrived early and they now face a dilemma over whether to buy now or wait to see if prices drop in this sector over the next few months,’ he added. While the 0.5% rise in new seller asking prices is lower than the 1.4% recorded in January 2015, Shipside pointed out that it is higher than every other January since 2007, before the credit crunch began. A breakdown of the data shows there are variations across locations. Prices fell by 0.9% in Greater London to an average of £610,741 and are up 7.8% year on year. They also fell by 1.8% in the East Midlands to £182,318 and by 0.2% in Yorkshire and Humber to £165,722, but are up 2.9% and 2.8% respectively year on year. The biggest monthly rise was in the South West, up 3.5% to £282,373, and up 5.5% year on year. They increased by 2.3% in the West Midlands to £198,595 and up 4.9% year on year while they rose 1.8% in the North East to £142,006 with annual growth of 5.1%. In Wales prices increased by 1.6% month on month to £166,051 but are down 0.5% compared to a year ago. They rose by 1% in the East of England to £312,921 and up by 9.8% year on year, by 0.6% in the South East to £383,787 and by 7.3% year on year while in the North West prices were up just 0.2% to £171,588 and up annually by 4.9%. The report also shows that a lack of property coming to market has been an upwards driver of both prices and unfulfilled demand, though encouragingly there has been a slight 1.8% year on year uplift in the number of newly marketed properties. However, the only sector that has increased is that of… Continue reading
Home sales fell in Canada in December, latest index data shows
Home sales in Canada fell slightly month on month in December but are still above where they were a year ago, according to the latest data from the Canadian Real Estate Association. Transactions were down 0.6% overall and fell in slightly more than half of all local markets, led by declines in Calgary, Edmonton, the York Region of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Hamilton Burlington which offset monthly activity gains recorded elsewhere. Year on year price growth continued to range widely among housing markets tracked by the index. The actual, not seasonally adjusted, national average price for homes sold in December 2015 was $454,342, up 12% year on year, but it continues to be pulled upward by sales activity in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, which are among Canada’s most active and expensive housing markets. If these two housing markets are excluded from calculations, the average is a more modest $336,994 and the year on year gain is reduced to 5.4%. Even then, the gain reflects a tug of war between strong average price gains in housing markets around the GTA and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia versus flat or declining average prices elsewhere in Canada, the report points out. It adds that if British Columbia and Ontario are excluded from calculations, the average price slips even lower to $294,363, representing a year in year decline of 2.2%. Greater Vancouver with a rise of 18.87% and the Fraser Valley up 14.35% posted the largest gains, followed closely by Greater Toronto up 10.01%. Victoria and Vancouver Island prices increased between 6% and 8% and prices were up by 0.62% in Ottawa, by 1.81% in Greater Montreal and by 3.88% in Greater Moncton. Prices fell by 2% in Calgary and Saskatoon and by 4% in Regina. While the home price declines in Calgary and Saskatoon are a fairly recent trend, prices in Regina have been trending lower since early 2014, the index report points out. An increasingly short supply of listings in Vancouver and Toronto blunted the impact of changes to mortgage regulations announced in December that were aimed at cooling these housing markets, according to CREA president Pauline Aunger. ‘Buyers there had been expected to bring forward their purchase decisions before new regulations take effect in February 2016, but they faced a growing shortage of supply. Meanwhile, supply is ample in many other major urban markets, particularly those where buyers have become cautious amid economic uncertainty,’ she explained. Indeed, December mirrored the main themes of 2015, with strong sales activity and price growth across much of British Columbia and Ontario offsetting declines in activity among oil producing regions, said Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist. ‘The recent decline and uncertain outlook for oil prices means that housing market prospects are unlikely to improve in the near term in regions where job market prospects are tied to oil production,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures show that actual, not seasonally adjusted,… Continue reading
Scottish property industry wants more details of extra second home tax
There are calls in Scotland for further details on the extra 3% stamp duty tax to be made public as the introduction of the additional rates on top of LBTT is creating confusion. Towards the end of last year Scottish Finance Minister John Swinney announced as part of the Scottish budget that second homes, including buy to let, would face an additional 3% levy on top of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax from April 2016. However, despite the introduction of the new tax being just months away there remains much confusion amongst landlords as well as buyers and vendors generally. The intention of the levy is to charge a higher rate on each band of LBTT if at the end of the day of the transaction an individual owns two or more residential properties. However, the higher rate will not be charged if the purchaser is replacing their main residences. The Scottish Government are keen to ensure that there are sufficient affordable opportunities for first time buyers to enter the property market but the surcharge is a blow to landlords who have also recently suffered the loss of the buy to let tax relief. George Lorimer, partner at CKD Galbraith, believes that the new levy will undoubtedly lead to a rush of buy to let purchasers looking to beat the April deadline, then to an anticipated drop in sale prices post April with sellers likely to be the ones bearing the lion’s share of the additional costs of the levy. ‘However, given the complete lack of real detail currently available about the new tax, those who do rush to buy or sell property before April are doing so without knowing exactly what the new rules will be. There are many anomalies requiring clarity but the silence from the Scottish Government has been deafening and there is little time left to debate the details of the new tax,’ he said. ‘Specific questions need to be answered on issues such as property owned by married couples and civil partners, second homes outside of the UK and also the logistics of joint purchases, just to name a few. Whilst as a firm we are well placed to advise our clients and those thinking of selling or buying before April, more information is urgently required to allow for informed decisions,’ he explained. The surcharge is also expected to impact tenants as rents increases to cover costs or less well-off landlords decide to sell rental property. Bob Cherry, partner at CKD Galbraith, pointed out that the new levy will have implications for current landlords looking to sell as well as act as yet another deterrent to would be landlords thinking about the market as an investment opportunity. ‘This measure, like the LBTT rises introduced earlier this year, is also a wealth tax on owners as buyers of buy to lets will seek to pass on the extra purchase costs by reducing the price they are prepared to… Continue reading
