Tag Archives: crisis

Downward house growth trend in UK continues, says latest index report

UK house prices increased by 0.3% in May and the annual price growth figures moderated to 4.6% from 5.2% in April, according to the latest index figures. The data from the Nationwide Building Society confirms a gradual downward trend that takes the average price in the country to £195,166. Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, pointed out that this general trend has been in evidence since the summer of 2014 but was briefly interrupted in April when price growth edged up to 5.2% from 5.1% in March. However, annual house price growth is now running at less than half the pace prevailing in the middle of 2014. ‘Over the longer term we would expect house price growth to converge with earnings growth, which has typically been around 4% per annum. However, much will depend on supply side developments and in recent years the rate of building activity has remained well below that required to keep up with population growth,’ Gardner explained. The index report shows that cash transactions remain relatively high in the UK residential market. ‘We estimate that the share of cash purchases in the housing market reached an all-time high of 38% in the first quarter of 2015,’ said Gardner. ‘Continued healthy demand from cash buyers has helped to support transaction levels in recent quarters, since mortgage lending has remained relatively subdued. For example, in the first quarter of 2015 overall housing transactions were down by around 5% compared with the first quarter of 2014, while mortgage completions were around 11% lower,’ he pointed out. ‘Although the 38% share was a record, it was only modestly above the average of 36% prevailing in 2014. The significant rise in the share of cash transactions occurred in the wake of the financial crisis, where a tightening in credit conditions and a deterioration in the labour market limited the number of people able to buy with a mortgage,’ he added. Gardner also said that the current low interest rate environment is likely to have supported the flow of cash into other asset classes in recent years, including UK residential property. The Nationwide data suggests that the share of cash purchases in London is not out of line with the rest of the UK, which can be regarded as a surprise, given the greater involvement of investors, both domestic and overseas, in the London property market. ‘A limiting factor may be that house prices in the capital are over twice as high as the rest of the UK at £408,780 versus £188,566 in the first quarter of 2015,’ added Gardner. Continue reading →

Posted on June 3, 2015 by tsiadmin | Posted in Investment, investments, London, News, Property, Real Estate, Shows, Taylor Scott International, TSI, Uk | Tagged africa, asia, barcelona, crisis, energy, facebook, investment, news, property, real estate, yahoo | Comments Off

Few people consider the energy rating of a property when they move in the UK

Just one in 10 people currently consider the energy efficiency rating of a property important when moving house with parking and local amenities considered more important, a new research poll has found. This is despite a poor rating potentially resulting in wasting thousands of pounds worth of energy per year, according to the study from construction and regeneration company, Keepmoat. The energy efficiency rating of a home is found on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) that is required whenever a property is bought, sold or rented. EPCs not only rate properties between A and G but also include information on how much energy a property uses, typical energy costs and how to reduce energy usage. Among the factors considered more important than a good energy efficiency rating were being close to local amenities for 35.9%, parking for 30%, good transport links for 35.9% and green space for 26%. The only factor on the poll considered less important was investment potential mentioned by 10%. The results suggest that awareness of the importance of energy efficiency is low across all regions of the UK, however, Nottingham was home to the highest percentage of respondents who considered a good rating a priority when moving house at 16%. While people in Edinburgh were least likely to rank energy efficiency as a priority at 4%. ‘For many households, energy bills are one of the biggest expenses and understanding much energy a new house or flat will use, as well as what they can do to reduce these bills, can go a long way to reducing their outgoings,’ said Nigel Banks, sustainability director at Keepmoat. ‘However, the results of our survey clearly show many people are not prioritising the energy efficiency rating of a property when moving home and this could well be a decision they regret when they get their first winter energy bills. People should try and consider the total cost of living in home, including mortgage repayments or rents as well as bills,’ he added out. He also pointed out that buying a new home can also mean a huge reduction in household bills as they are generally six times more energy efficient than older homes. He said that living in a new home can reduce gas and electricity bills by more than £500 per year. Continue reading →

Posted on June 3, 2015 by tsiadmin | Posted in Investment, investments, London, News, Property, Real Estate, Shows, Taylor Scott International, TSI, Uk | Tagged africa, crisis, css, facebook, guides, middle-east, news, property | Comments Off

Capital city property prices down, but expected to be short lived blip

After an increase in values of 3.8% over the first four months of the year, prices in key Australian cities fell 0.9% in May, according to the latest residential index. The CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index recorded its first month on month fall since November last year and it comes at a time when values have been trending higher. According to CoreLogic RP Data head of research, Tim Lawless, the growth has been driven by exceptionally strong housing market conditions in Sydney, and to a lesser extent in Melbourne and he expects May’s dip to be short lived. ‘Other market indicators are also pointing to stronger conditions for the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets with auction clearance rates remaining at or close-to record highs throughout May along with low advertised stock levels across the largest cities, particularly for Sydney,’ he said. ‘The negative May result is likely due to a natural correction from the previously strong month on month results. Added to this is the market stimulus due to lower interest rates, and a well-received federal budget in May, all of which are likely to keep momentum going in the market,’ Lawless explained. The May indices results also marks the three year anniversary for the current growth cycle which commenced at the end of May 2012. Since that time, Lawless noted that capital city dwelling values have increased by 24.2% with Sydney values rising a significant 39.3% since values bottomed out in May 2012. Melbourne dwelling values have seen the second highest rate of growth over the current cycle, increasing by 22.4% while in Darwin, values are 18.3% higher. Perth values are up 13.2% followed by Brisbane at 10.6%, Adelaide at 9.9%, Canberra at 8.3% and Hobart at 7.7%. ‘While every capital city has seen some level of capital gain over the growth cycle to date, the past 12 months’ performance has been more diverse. Dwelling values are down by 2% in Darwin and 1% lower in Hobart, while Perth is narrowly avoiding an annual correction with dwelling values up by just 0.7% over the past year,’ Lawless said. At the same time, he added that lower interest rates and high levels of investor interest have fuelled a rebound in the annual rate of dwelling value growth across Sydney and Melbourne where dwelling values are 15% and 9% higher respectively over the past 12 months,’ he pointed out. Both Sydney and Melbourne are also seeing their strongest economic conditions, coupled with the highest levels of new housing supply, particularly in the new apartment sector and according to Lawless the higher supply levels are likely to be a primary reason why unit values are rising at a much slower pace than house values in Sydney and Melbourne. ‘The pace of growth in unit values across Sydney is about half that being recorded across the detached housing sector, with house values up 16.4% over the year compared with an 8.8% rise in unit values,’ said Lawless. In… Continue reading →

Posted on June 2, 2015 by tsiadmin | Posted in Investment, investments, London, News, Property, Real Estate, Shows, Taylor Scott International, TSI, Uk | Tagged africa, asia, australia, barcelona, crisis, facebook, guides, house, investment, investments, news, property | Comments Off