Tag Archives: cookies
Home owners in Scotland’s Shetland Isles see top value growth since 2009
Home owners in the Shetland Isles in the far north of Scotland have seen the value of their property increase by £39,311 or 31% since the trough of the last housing market cycle in 2009, new research shows. The situation has been helped by the islands having the highest employment rate in Scotland, according to the research by the Bank of Scotland. Aberdeen City has the second highest house price increase in Scotland since 2009, with property prices going up 21% or £38,275, followed by Aberdeenshire with a 16% increase of £33,022. The report notes that both are amongst the five areas in Scotland with the highest levels of employment over recent years and says that there is a clear link between levels of employment and house price performance in recent years. Those areas with the highest average levels of employment since 2009 have, on average, recorded bigger house price gains. For example, the five local authority districts (LADs) with the highest employment have experienced average house price rises of 14% or £23,462, since 2009, compared with an increase of 2% for Scotland as a whole. The average house price in the 10 LADs that recorded the highest employment rate between 2009 and 2015 rose by £9,554 or 6%. However, looking further afield to the top 20 LADs, they have seen an average increase of only 2% or £2,617, which is in line with the average for Scotland. In stark contrast, those areas with the highest levels of unemployment, as measured by the claimant count, have typically underperformed the Scottish average. The 20 areas with the highest levels of unemployment have recorded an average house price fall of 8% or £11,252. The five areas with the highest unemployment rate have seen a 7% drop in the value of their homes. ‘There has been a very clear relationship between conditions in the Scottish jobs market and house price performance during the period since the housing market downturn between 2007 and 2009. Those areas with high levels of employment have tended to record above average house price growth. Areas with high unemployment levels have, on the other hand, typically underperformed,’ said Nitesh Patel, economist at the Bank of Scotland. ‘The past few years have underlined the importance of local economic health in determining house price behaviour. Other factors, however, are also key drivers of house price trends including the strength, or otherwise, of housing supply,’ added Patel. Continue reading
Property sales in Canada up for third month in a row, latest data shows
Home sales across Canada increased in April month on month for the third time a row, according to the latest data from the Canadian Real Estate Association. Sales were up 2.3% from March to April but actual, not seasonally adjusted activity was 10% above levels a year ago while the CREA home price index increased 4.97% year on year. The data also shows that the national average sale price rose 9.5% on a year on year basis in April but excluding Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, it increased by 3.4%. April sales were up from the previous month in two thirds of all local markets, led by the Greater Toronto Area, the surrounding Golden Horseshoe region, and Montreal. ‘As expected, low mortgage interest rates and the onset of spring ushered many home buyers off the sidelines, particularly in regions where winter was long and bitter,’ said CREA president Pauline Aunger. Gregory Klump, CREA chief economist, pointed out that in recent years, the seasonal pattern for home sales and listings has become amplified in places where listings are in short supply relative to demand. ‘This particularly stands out in and around Toronto. Sellers there have increasingly delayed listing their home until spring. Once listed, it sells fairly quickly. Sales over the year as a whole in Southern Ontario are likely being constrained to some degree by a short supply of single family homes,’ he said. ‘However, the busy spring home buying and selling season has become that much busier as a result of sellers waiting until winter has faded before listing,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures shows that sales were up on a year on year basis in about 70% of all local markets, led by activity in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Greater Toronto, and Montreal. Of the 18 local markets that set new records for the month of April, all but two are in Southern Ontario. The number of newly listed homes was virtually unchanged, up 0.1% in April compared to March. Below the surface, new supply rose in almost two thirds of all local markets, led by a big rebound in Halifax-Dartmouth following a sharp drop in March. This was offset by declines in Greater Vancouver, Victoria, and the Okanagan Region, as well as by a continuing pullback in new supply in Calgary. New listings in Calgary have dropped by a third from their multiyear high at the end of last year to their current multi-year low. The national sales to new listings ratio was 55.3% in April, up from 50.4% three months earlier as the ratio has steadily risen along with sales so far this year. A sales to new listings ratio between 40% and 60% is generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions, with readings above and below this range indicating sellers’ and buyers’ markets respectively. The ratio was within this range in the majority of local housing markets in April. The number of months of inventory… Continue reading
Industry professionals believe supply shortage is holding back UK property market
The vast majority of property professionals in the UK believe that the residential housing market is being held back, with a shortage of stock the main problem. Overall 90% of those surveyed said the market is being held back and 47% said the shortage of homes for sale is the reasons, according to a poll by conveyancing services firm myhomemove. It says that this suggests that improved confidence from sellers in the wake of the decisive election result could ensure increased stability and predictability that will deliver more confidence, pushing the number of house sales up. The data also shows that 24% of respondents blame a lack of mortgage availability, perhaps reflecting concerns about the impact of affordability rules on lending to older borrowers and 16% said that a lack of new build properties was holding back the market, reinforcing the need for developers to keep building. There was strong support for extending the Help to Buy scheme for new build purchases to 2020. A strong majority of 80% of respondents supported the policy, compared to a mere 8% who opposed it. On top of this some 65% said they support the Conservative Partys’ starter homes scheme put forward in its manifesto in the run up to the general election with just 3% opposed. But the property professionals were divided on one of the other main housing policies of reducing inheritance tax on the family home. Some 42% said they support the policy, while 38% opposed it. The research also found that 38% believe that a target of building 200,000 new homes is achievable. The new Conservative Government promised to build 200,000 starter homes for first time buyers in its manifesto. They think that the new Government will find it easier to implement its Right to Buy scheme for tenants of housing associations than it will to deliver its Right to Build programme. Both policies were outlined in the party’s manifesto. And 43% said that a Right to Buy scheme for housing association tenants was realistic, with 27% not sure. There was, however, greater uncertainty over whether the party could implement the Right to Build scheme with 26% thinking that this policy was achievable, whilst 41% were not sure. ‘Property professionals are clearly concerned about the obstacles that are holding back property transaction numbers. The good news is that the decisive election result could provide a confidence boost to consumers that will mean more properties are put on the market,’ said Doug Crawford, chief executive officer of myhomemove. ‘The main housing policies outlined by the new Conservative Government in its manifesto are, for the most part, popular within the industry. The question now is whether the Government can deliver on its promises and how quickly it can do so. Some policies, like extending Help to Buy, are far simpler to deliver than others, like the proposed Right-to-Build scheme. This will undoubtedly be a big topic of debate at our conference, just one week… Continue reading
