Tag Archives: crisis
New research reveals annual housing costs in England and Wales now above £5,500
The total annual cost of housing across England and Wales is approximately £133 billion, with households paying an average of £5,593 per year according to new research. While mortgage interest and repayments make up 49% of the total cost, private rents now account for 36% of housing costs, the research from international property adviser Savills shows. However, there is significant regional variation around this figure, reflecting a wide geographical divide. In London there are relatively few households who own their own home mortgage free, private rent makes up almost half of the total cost of housing, bringing the average cost per household to £11,329. Meanwhile, in the North East where housing is comparatively less expensive in each tenure group and 24 per cent of the cost of housing is in the form of social rent, the average cost per household is £3,450. ‘London households foot the bill for over a quarter of the total annual cost of housing in England and Wales, due to a combination of the most expensive housing and the smallest percentage of homes owned outright,’ said Lucian Cook, head of Savills UK residential research. ‘Other major cities such as Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool and Southampton also have some of the highest levels of households with housing costs, but the availability of more affordable property across all tenures reduces the total cost per home in these locations,’ he added, At a more local level, of the 30 most expensive places to live by total cost per household, only six are outside London, namely Elmbridge, South Bucks, Winsor and Maidenhead, Epsom and Ewell, St Albans and Guildford. The least expensive locations reflect not just lower value housing markets, but also where there are relatively high proportions of older home-owning households who have paid off their mortgage, such as Powys, Staffordshire Moorlands and Eden Continue reading
House prices in England and Wales up 0.9%, month on month, latest index shows
House prices in England and Wales increased by 0.9% in April and 5.1% year on year to an average of £179,817, according to the latest index from the Land Registry. But price are still below the peak of the market in November 2007 when prices averaged £181,014. The April data also shows that the London market continues to grow with prices up 2.3% month on month and 10.9% year on year, taking the average price of property in the capital to £474,544. The North East saw the only annual price fall with a decrease of 0.6%. However it is Yorkshire and the Humber which has experienced the greatest monthly price rise with growth of 2.7% while Wales saw the largest monthly decrease with a fall of 1.1%. Overall the number of property transactions has decreased over the last year. From November 2013 to February 2014 there was an average of 73,156 sales per month. In the same months a year later, the figure was 64,196. Government investment in the north of England could be responsible for the boost in some northern regions, according to experts. According to Nicholas Leeming, chairman of national estate agents Jackson-Stops & Staff. ‘London continues to outperform the rest of the country, even though sales levels over £1 million were down year on year in February, probably due to the threat of mansion tax. But increased investment in Yorkshire, Humberside and the evolution of the Northern Powerhouse in Manchester have contributed to a surge in confidence in these areas. Greater Manchester is shaping up to be a great place to invest as major London companies continue to establish a presence in the City,’ he explained. Continue reading
UK housing market confidence falls slightly
Confidence in the UK housing market has fallen slightly despite the fact that interest rates were held again and average house prices continued to increase. According to the latest monthly Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker the headline House Price Outlook balance, that is the difference between the proportion of people across Britain that expect the average property price to rise less the proportion who think it will fall, slipped to +58 compared with +64 in March 2015. At the same time the net proportion of consumers who now believe the next 12 months will be a good time to buy has increased from +21 in March to +26 in April. Conversely, the net proportion who think that the next year will be a good time to sell has fallen from +33 to +30. The research found that 63% expected the average property price to be higher in one year’s time which is significantly lower than the 67% who said this in March and this is despite a number of positive short term factors. These include the emergence of record low mortgage rates, falling swap rates, GDP growth falling to its slowest pace in three years and Office of National Statistics figures showing negative inflation of 0.1% in April. MPC minutes also showed a unanimous vote to keep rates on hold at 0.5% in the latest meeting. These, along with other factors, such as rising employment levels, should start to see the consumer housing outlook improve over the next few months, according to Craig McKinlay, Halifax mortgages director. ‘With inflation now at its lowest level since records began, unemployment falling, and the economy still growing, the fundamentals for the housing market remain positive. Going forward the key factor in how consumers adjust to any changes in rates will be the way in which they manage their disposable income,’ he said. Continue reading
