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Stamp duty hike hits prime property market in UK, research suggests
Sales of homes worth over £1.5 million in the UK have reached a plateau and are set to fall for the first time in two years due to property tax change, according to a new report. This is despite growth in this price sector of 36% year on year from 2012 to 2014, says the latest market analysis report from national estate agents Jackson-Stops & Staff. ‘The wider UK residential property markets are reasonably buoyant now that we have the general election behind us and the uncertainties that any potential political changes bring,’ said Nicholas Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops & Staff. ‘However, the revision to stamp duty rates late last year has contributed to the widespread stagnation of the higher valued markets in 2015, both in London and the country, where many properties are finding it difficult to attract buyers,’ he explained. ‘Sale volumes have plateaued across the country in response to high transaction costs, reflecting the fact that the UK has one of the highest taxed property sectors in the world,’ he pointed out. Under new stamp duty legislation the value portion between £925,001 and £1.5 million has resulted in an additional 10% bill, and anything above £1.5 million added another 12% charge. ‘We have an ageing house owner population with too few younger entrants onto the property ladder. Mortgage funding is difficult to raise for people in their forties, even if they have been previous house owners, irrespective of their credit history,’ Leeming said. ‘We need to encourage trading down so that larger houses are released to families needing more space. The changes to inheritance tax will incentivise older house owners to trade down, but we also need to enable property owners to move without new restrictions to mortgage funding and reduce the top levels of stamp duty to free up the higher value markets at no net loss to the Exchequer,’ he added. Alastair Hancock, the firm’s director at its Sevenoaks office, revealed that over a third of available stock is priced in excess of £1.5million and this is due to a lack of incentives for buyers at the mid to high end of the market. ‘Since the stamp duty hike last December, we have seen a significant decline in volume of sales at this level as the 12% continues to penalise the country house market, which is still struggling to recover from the recession,’ he said. Continue reading
Commuters an hour from London pay 60% less for a home, new research shows
Average house prices drop from £722,000 in central London to £272,000 in commuter towns an hour outside of London, new research has found. It means that people living up to an hour’s rail journey and commuting to London for work save on average £450,000, or 60%, when it comes to buying a home, according to the analysis from Lloyds Bank. Wellingborough tops the list of the most affordable commuter towns but people that work in Birmingham and Manchester can be better off living in the city centre, rather than commuting, the research also found. Towns that are an hour’s commute from central London include Crawley, Newbury, Colchester and Chatham have an average property price of £272,000 and although commuters face paying an average of £4,944 in travelling costs, a commuter would need to travel for 91 years for the total rail costs to wipe out the difference in average house prices. Buying a home closer to central London saves travel time but not money. Indeed, 20 minutes closer and house prices begin to rise. Commuters from towns approximately 40 minutes away from central London, including Reading, Stevenage, Sidcup and Billericay will have to pay an average house price of £349,000, still some £373,000 or 52% lower than in central London and with a less significant average annual rail travel cost at £3,499. Even at up to 20 minutes distance away from the heart of the capital, commuters from towns such as Ilford, St. Albans and East Croydon benefit from an average house price that is nearly £321,000 lower than in central London. Though examples are rare, some commuters to central London do live in areas that command higher average house prices. For example, commuters to London from Beaconsfield pay a higher average house price at £921,516 than central London while also having to cover the cost of an annual rail cost of £3,788. Nearby, Gerrards Cross also has an average house price that is £32,525 higher. ‘It's no surprise, for London at least, that the further you commute the larger the difference in house prices although, of course, the journey also gets longer and more expensive,’ said Andrew Mason, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank, ‘The decision to commute is not simply a trade-off between financial costs and journey times. Quality of life is an important consideration and in nearly all towns in this survey housing affordability is significantly better with a London salary compared to what can be earned locally,’ he pointed out. ‘For commuters with up to an hour's journey to central London, the reward is an annual salary that is, on average, 22%, or £8,500, higher than what they could earn in their place of residence which is close to £38,500. In the 10 most affordable commuter towns the uplift in annual earnings by working in London is nearly £13,000,’ he explained. One of the key factors for most commuters is the significantly higher annual salaries that can be earned from working in… Continue reading
Housing demand in UK reaches 11 year high
H ousing demand in the UK has reached an 11 year high with the number of housing hunters registering with estate agents reaching almost 430 per branch at a time when fewer homes go on sale. The number of house hunters registered per branch of members of the National Association of Estate Agents reached 439 in June, the highest since August 2004, and sales to first time buyers fell. This is 15% more than in May when 383 house hunters were registered per branch and it comes at a time when supply of housing stock fell from 46 in May to just 44 houses available per branch, widening the growing gap between supply and demand. ‘What we’re seeing is a market that lulled over the general election period, coming back to life in full force,’ said Mark Hayward, managing director of the NAEA. ‘Buyers are feeling more confident and those who put their plans on hold over the election and political aftermath have kicked off their hunt, causing this massive jump in demand. There’s also an impetus to buy right now in light of the impending interest rate rise as buyers fight to buy and fix mortgage rates. But the fact that demand is at an eleven year high without the housing stock to fuel it, is bad news for the market,’ he added. The monthly NAEA report also shows that as the gap between supply and demand widened in May, activity remained consistent, with nine sales made on average per branch for the second month running. However, the number of sales made to first time buyers declined in June, with the group accounting for just 24% of sales, compared to 29% in May. ‘Although activity is still slow, it’s very promising to see that the surge in demand and dip in supply hasn’t caused activity to halt, and houses are still being sold. However, the growing gap between supply and demand is worrying and clearly demonstrates that more needs to be done to plug this. The election was full of promises to build more houses, but now those promises need to be put into bricks and mortar to respond to demand,’ Hayward explained. Continue reading
