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Prime property sales outside of London benefits from ripple effect
The number of properties in England and Wales which are worth £1 million or more and located outside of London has increased by 38% over the last year, new research shows. Using sales data from the Land Registry and price performance at a local authority level over the year to September 2014, real estate firm Knight Frank has identified the areas where the largest number of property millionaires have been created over the last 12 months. The biggest growth, in terms of households, has been in markets on the outskirts of the capital such as Elmbridge, Guildford and Windsor and Maidenhead. These markets have been the biggest beneficiaries of price growth rippling out from central London, while rising demand for family homes from both Londoners looking to move out of the capital and buyers wishing to trade up in the local area has helped to boost property values. The UK’s economic resurgence over the last year, which has played its part in boosting buyer’s confidence, together with increased activity in the mainstream property market have also been factors, the report suggests.. The data also shows that the number of properties sold for £1 million or more outside of London during the first six months of 2014 was 44% higher than the corresponding period last year. Overall country house prices have risen in value by 5.6% since the market low in 2009 and currently sit 16% below the previous peak. In contrast, in prime central London prices have grown by 74% and are 32% above their previous peak, making the country good value for those wishing to trade up and out. In the Midlands and Wales the number of £1 million plus sales over the year to June 2014 rose by 78% year on year, while in the north, where the housing market recovery since the downturn has been slowest, the number of sales in this sector was 24% higher compared to the previous year. However, in terms of the number of sales, the bulk of prime activity during the first half of 2014 was concentrated on southern England and the Home Counties with the majority located around the transport corridors of the M3, M4 and the M40. These markets benefit from their proximity to London and excellent transport links back to the capital, good schools and local amenities. Agents report that demand has been bolstered by an increase in the number of buyers looking to take advantage of the gap between urban and rural values, particularly those moving from London. Prime prices in the country look good value on a historical basis having experienced several years of static or modest growth since the end of the financial crisis. But while the number of property millionaires in England and Wales may be rising, it is worth noting that the number of homes worth over a million pounds outside of London still only accounts for less than 1% of the total housing stock. ‘These increases confirm the long held belief that property in the… Continue reading
Call for empty UK homes to be used to help young onto the housing ladder
More than three quarters of British adults believe the government should prioritise the issue of empty homes, according to a new poll. Some 36% said that empty homes are a blight on their local area and 74% believe their local authority should place a higher priority on tackling empty homes, according to the research from the Halifax and the Empty Home Agency, a national charity. The research, published to mark national empty homes week, also highlighted that those people surveyed severely underestimated the number of empty homes in England, with 80% of English adults believing there were fewer empty properties in England than there actually are. The survey found people on average thought there were around 377,000 empty homes in England, whereas statistics from the Empty Homes Agency show the figure is over 610,000. Young first time buyers are clearly a concern for the British public, as two thirds of respondents said that empty homes should be used to help young people get on the housing ladder. Just a third of respondents, 34%, believe that turning empty homes into usable homes is not going to help solve the housing crisis. ‘Halifax has adapted its lending policy to allow greater flexibility around uninhabited, mortgaged properties. In order to assist with returning empty homes to a habitable condition, requests for consent to enter into Private Sector Leasing arrangements are now considered once eligibility has been confirmed by the local authority,’ said Craig McKinlay, Halifax mortgages director. ‘With over 610,000 empty properties in England alone there is a real opportunity to introduce a range of incentives for owners to bring these properties back into use. A lot has been achieved over the last few years, but there is a need for all affected parties to continue to work together to address the issue of empty homes,’ he added. Helen Williams, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency, wants all political parties to pledge that if they form the next government they will adopt a plan to tackle empty homes within their first year as part of a wider approach to tackling housing need. ‘There appears to be widespread recognition amongst political parties of the need to build more homes. However, we now need political parties to catch up with public opinion and also give a priority in the future to bringing empty homes back into use to help young people and others access the housing they need, at a price they can afford,’ she said. Continue reading
New home sales in Australia on the up again, latest HIA data shows
New home sales in Australia experienced a modest rise in October after remaining flat the month before, according to the latest report from the Housing Industry Association (HIA). Total seasonally adjusted new home sales increased by 3% and growth was driven by a growth in the sale of detached houses in Victoria and Western Australia. HIA chief economist Harley Dale pointed out that after a relatively sharp decline of 5.7% in July, driven by both detached houses and multi-units, total new home sales have mounted a modest recovery ‘Sales are still off their cyclical peak reached back in April this year, but the overall volume of new home sales is still at an elevated level. That augurs well for healthy new home construction activity persisting into 2015,’ he explained. ‘Australia is on track to commence a record number of homes this year. While undesirable lags in the availability of Australian Bureau of Statistics data prevent confirmation of this outcome until well into next year, the fact is that 2014 is drawing to a close,’ he said. ‘We now want to be seeing evidence pointing to a healthy prognosis for new home building activity in 2015. In this regard we have positive signals coming from three key leading indicators. HIA new home sales and ABS building approvals are past their peaks but remain at elevated levels. Lending for new housing is still trending higher and doesn’t appear to have peaked yet,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures show that detached house sales increased by 4.7% in Victoria and by 24.8% in Western Australia but fell by 3% in New South Wales and were down by 7.8% in Queensland and 1.7% in South Australia. Over the three months to October 2014 detached house sales increased by 3.7% in New South Wales, by 1.2% in Queensland and by 1.7% in Western Australia. They fell by 13.4% in Victoria and by 6.3% in South Australia. Continue reading
