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Over a quarter of sales fell through in the UK in last few months of 2015
The house sale fall through rate in the UK increased in the last quarter of 2015, with more than one in four house sales falling through, new research has found. There was a house sale fall through rate of 27.94% in the fourth quarter of 2015, a rise 8.32% from the previous quarter, according to the figures from independent home buyer Quick Move Now. However, the year to date fall through rate remained fairly constant throughout 2015, at around 29% and finished the year at 29.26%. According to Danny Luke, business manager at Quick Move Now, it was an interesting year for the UK property market, and the fall through rates reflect that. ‘Tougher lending criteria was introduced as a result of the Mortgage Market Review (MMR), which meant some prospective buyers found it challenging to secure a mortgage, or found they were able to borrow less than they had anticipated,’ he said. He pointed out that some 9% of sales that fell through did so as a result of not being able to secure a mortgage and the two biggest reasons for house sales falling through the last quarter were buyers changing their mind at 27.2% and problems identified at survey or failed renegotiation following a survey also at 27.2%. ‘A lack of properties coming to market has led to prospective buyers having to move very quickly in order to secure a property, and may mean they put an offer in on a less than ideal property through fear that they'll be unable to find anything else. Some inevitably get cold feet about such a large investment, or find that a survey confirms their fears, and pull out before the sale completes,’ explained Luke. The research also found that chain collapse still featured prominently with 22.7% of property sales falling through as a result of chain issues, and it's definitely an issue very much on sellers' minds. ‘We get calls every day from sellers keen to secure a guaranteed sale so they don't risk missing out on their onward purchase due to chain collapse,’ added Luke. Other reasons involved the seller pulling out for a higher offer, affecting 9% of cases and buyer health issues or personal problems accounted for 4.5%. Continue reading
Builders welcome UK govt plan to commission new homes
The UK Government, which has announced that it will directly commission the building of thousands of new homes, is being urged to offer small sites for the plan. According to the Federation of Master Builders the availability of small sites is the greatest barrier currently faced by SME house builders when it comes to delivering new homes and it hopes the building of 13,000 new homes on public land will alleviate the problem. ‘The Government clearly recognises that we need to bring more small house builders back into the market if we have any hope of addressing the housing shortfall. Directly funding developments on publicly owned land, with planning permission already granted, should encourage growth of smaller builders and new entrants into the market,’ said Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB. ‘The public land that is being made available through direct commissioning must be broken down into small and micro plots wherever possible. As the Housing Minister himself has recognised, the smaller the site, the quicker it will get built out,’ he explained. ‘If the Government wants to truly tap into the potential of SME house builders, it should bring forward a wide range of packages of land, including those attractive to the smallest of developers, thereby improving both capacity and speed of delivery,’ he pointed out. ‘As positive as this development is however, it remains only one piece of the jigsaw. The on-going skills shortage is as pertinent for local firms as it is for larger contractors. We desperately need more skilled tradespeople in the industry, otherwise even supportive plans such as those announced today will be challenging for builders to deliver. Boosting apprenticeship training among construction SMEs will be crucial to this,’ he added. The move has been welcomed by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) but it added that allowing smaller builders to access publicly owned sites must be part of wider set of measures to assist SME builders and get more 'players on the pitch'. ‘Increasing the amount of developable land with planning permission is essential if we are to increase output further. Bringing forward public land more quickly has long been a priority for successive Governments, so concrete measures to achieve this are welcome,’ said executive chairman Stewart Baseley. ‘Direct commissioning will only be successful if it speeds up the release of public sector land and results in more house building than would have happened using the more traditional methods of public sector land disposal,’ he added. He also pointed out that a lower risk model could allow larger builders to increase their output still further, while also enabling smaller house builders to increase output and both have an essential role to play. It is not a question of either/or. ‘We desperately need to increase supply even further and faster than the current rate of increase, and speeding up delivery of public sector sites can play an important role in achieving this. In addition, if Starter Homes… Continue reading
Pending home sales in the US down slightly, latest index data shows
Pending home sales in the United States fell slightly in November for the third time in four months as buyers continue to battle both rising home prices and limited homes available for sale. Overall modest gains in the Midwest and South were offset by larger declines in the Northeast and West, according to the latest pending home sales index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The forward looking indicator based on contract signings decreased 0.9% to 106.9 in November from an upwardly revised 107.9 in October but is still 2.7% above November 2014. The data also shows that although the index has increased year on year for 15 consecutive months, November’s annual gain was the smallest since October 2014 when it was 2.6%. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said that November's dip in contract activity continues the modestly slowing trend seen ever since pending sales peaked to an over nine year high back in May. ‘Home prices rising too sharply in several markets, mixed signs of an economy losing momentum and waning supply levels have acted as headwinds in recent months despite low mortgage rates and solid job gains,’ he said. ‘While feedback from realtors continues to suggest healthy levels of buyer interest, available listings that are move-in ready and in affordable price ranges remain hard to come by for many would be buyers,’ he pointed out. Continue reading
