Tag Archives: european
It takes almost a year to settle into a home in the UK, survey finds
Most Britons take almost a year to fully settle into a new home with unfinished packing and decorating delaying the process, new research shows. Over half, some 51%, still have unpacking to 304 days after moving and three quarters of slow unpackers admit to being stressed about unfinished unpacking and half of those saying it has caused arguments. One in four have at least one mystery box that remained packed since their last move and non-essential kitchen equipment such as sandwich toasters and cocktail shakers are most likely remain boxed. Kettles, phone and tablet chargers and bathroom essentials are first to be unboxed, according to the research from London removals and storage firm Kiwi Movers. Waiting to decorate is the most common excuse for not unpacking fully and people aged between 30 and 35 most likely to take the task somewhat slowly. The research also found that 75% of those who hadn’t fully unpacked after 10 months of later said that they found having belongings still in boxes stressful, while half of those said the boxes had started to cause arguments. Some 18% of movers said it took them between 12 and 18 months to get things fully organised, while a small minority of seven percent said they still had things in boxes after two years of living somewhere. At the other end of the spectrum, a super organised and motivated 3% claimed to have fully unpacked within a day of moving in, while seven percent said they’d got the job done within a week. The biggest cause for failing to unpack was the need to decorate, with 44% of respondents saying they’d planned to unpack once they’d completed decorating tasks while 31% said the delay in unpacking was due to having insufficient storage, while 12% said they couldn’t agree with their significant other on where to put things. Some 13% blamed themselves, with 7% saying they were too busy to fully unpack and 6% admitting to being too lazy to finish the job and men living on their own are the most likely to have full boxes lying around, with 79% saying they still had unpacking to do by month ten in their new pad. Single women were far less likely to let their belongings gather dust, with just 21% with unpacking after 10 months. Single women were also most likely to get the job done inside week one, with 20% claiming to have successfully found a home for all of their belongings. Regan McMillan, director of Kiwi Movers believes a lot of movers are making their lives unnecessarily hard by packing items they don’t actually need. ‘If a quarter of people are saying they’ve got boxes they never unpacked since their last move, you’ve got to wonder if they really need what’s inside,’ he said. ‘We recommend having… Continue reading
Hong Kong residential property prices reached record high in May
Residential property prices in Hong Kong reached a record high in May, increasing more than 20% compared with the same month last year. The growth in values continues despite the government’s series of property market cooling measures. The transaction volume of new homes reached over 8,700 for the first half of 2015, the data from the Rating and Valuation Department shows. According to an analysis by international real estate firm Knight Frank it is a result of strong housing demand, ample liquidity partly attributable to the previous rally in the Mainland and Hong Kong stock markets and the continual return of wealthy Mainland investors to the city’s residential sector. Amid positive market sentiment, property developers have been actively acquiring residential sites this year, in line with the government’s target to boost housing supply. In early July, a large residential site in So Kwun Wat in Tuen Mun, estimated to require an investment of up to HK$8 billion, was sold for HK$3.82202 billion, representing the second highest ever accommodation value in the area. During the third quarter of this year the Hong Kong government will release three residential sites for sale. It has indicated that additional land may be launched by the end of September, depending on the market situation and progress of preparatory work. ‘The annual private housing supply target of 19,000 flats is considered achievable this year. Despite the rising supply, we expect home prices to continue rising this year, as it will take time for the new sites to be developed into flats,’ the Knight Frank report concludes. Meanwhile in Greater China the Grade-A office market remained active in June, driven by continual expansion demand from Chinese financial institutions, most notably fund and asset management companies. Knight Frank believes that Grade-A office rents in Central will continue rising steadily in the second half of 2015. Last month, with rents in prime retail districts softening, mid-range retailers gained opportunities to enter high profile streets at lower rents. Retail sales are not expected to recover in the near term. Knight Frank says that prime retail rents will continue to come under downward pressure for the remainder of the year. Continue reading
Extensions and alterations add £6.5 billion to the value of UK homes
Home owners in the UK have added an estimated £6.5 billion to the value of the country’s housing stock in the 12 months to March 2015, according to new research. Some 220,000 owner occupiers in the UK extended or altered their home in past year, equivalent to one in 74 home owners, the report from international real estate adviser Savills also shows. Based on the assumption that the average extension or alteration adds 10% to the value of the average home, this would create an average uplift of £30,000 per property, the report points out. By contrast mortgaged home movers are still only at half the level they were 10 years ago pre credit crunch, at 358,400 in the year to the end of March 2015, according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). ‘The cost of taking the next step up the housing ladder and the difficulties in acquiring the mortgage finance to do so appear to have encouraged a significant proportion of owner occupiers to extend or alter their existing home,’ said Lucian Cook, head of Savills UK residential research. ‘Changes made by the mortgage market review and increased stamp duty for properties over £1 million are both likely catalysts to home improvements, impeding the rate and volume of transactions in the market,’ he added. The report also suggest that there is a far greater propensity to alter or extend in high value markets. Savills estimates one in 44 home owners did so in London the year to end March 2015, while £3.6 billion of the £6.5 billion was added to the value of housing stock of London and the South East. ‘High value markets have generally been the strongest performers post credit crunch. Extending has therefore been both more financially viable, with owners recouping the money spent on home improvements through house price growth and more attractive given the relative costs of upsizing,’ said Cook. The research also shows that Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea top the list of local authorities with the highest propensity to extend, both creating an uplift in property values of over £100 million before fixtures and fittings are taken into account. Beyond London, areas such as St Albans, Cambridge, Winsor and Maidenhead and Guildford have all seen significant numbers of home owners extending their home. Continue reading
