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High speed broadband becoming more important for UK home movers
House buyers might have a dream kitchen on their wanted list or an extra bathroom but an increasing number want fast broadband and they are willing to pay extra for it. Some would pay an extra 8% or £14,000 for their property if it was guaranteed to have broadband with a speed of at least 100Mbps, a new survey has found. Research carried out by ultrafast broadband provider Hyperoptic polled prospective home buyers on the importance of a quality internet connection, and found that this is valued more strongly than many other factors when moving house. Two thirds of those questioned said that having a good broadband connection was just as or more important than living next door to nice neighbours and a third would give up an extra bedroom if it meant having a quality broadband service. According to Hyperoptic vice president for products Steve Holford, the poll results ‘categorically proves’ that broadband has become a key deciding factor when moving home. ‘Ultrafast broadband makes a property more marketable; people are increasingly reliant on their connection and need it to cope with their current and future bandwidth demands,’ he said. Holford pointed out that an increasing number of consumers are now checking average broadband speeds in areas before moving there, and that this will only continue as data demands and reliance on technology increase. The survey found that 61% of UK house buyers currently check their potential broadband speeds before renting or buying a property, with anything less than 6Mbps being a deal breaker, while 31% do not officially move house until broadband is up and running in the new home. Respondents said 14Mbps would be the bare minimum speed, but something closer to 100Mbps would be far more attractive, with a connection of this quality preferable to a swimming pool for half of consumers. Holford said one of the best ways to check the broadband speed in an area is to contact the provider directly, adding that online speed tests also offer an indication of whether internet speeds are up to par before people buy their new property. Continue reading
New home sales dip down in Australia, latest data shows
Seasonally adjust new home sales in Australia were down marginally by 0.4% in July but the market overall is in strong shape, the latest report from the Housing Industry Association shows. This is because overall new home sales are at historically high levels, according to HIA chief economist Harley Dale. ‘It appears that the cyclical peak for total new home sales occurred in April, but the subsequent downward trend is very mild,’ he said. But he explained that key leading indicators of home building, including HIA new home sales, suggest little prospect for further growth in new home construction in the 2015/2016 financial year. ‘However, following three consecutive years of strong growth which has propped up the domestic economy considerably, both HIA new home sales and ABS building Approvals signal another healthy year for new home construction,’ he added. Indeed, the data shows that detached house sales increased by 0.7% in July this year but the annual peak for detached house sales has passed. Over the three months to July this year detached house sales fell by 2.8% and are 3.4% lower when compared to the three months to July 2014. Multi-unit sales peaked in May this year and fell by 4.2% in July following a decline of 2.9% in June. Over the three months to July this year multi-unit sales increased by 8.3% but it was the strength of the May result that drove the quarterly outcome. A breakdown of the latest data shows that in the month of July 2015 detached house sales increased by 4.2% in New South Wales but fell by 2.3% in Victoria and by 4.9% per cent in Western Australia. Sales were close to flat for the month in Queensland with a marginal fall of 0.6% and South Australia they were down by just 0.2%. Continue reading
First time buyers and university accommodation boosting Welsh property market
First time buyers and parents investing in property for their offspring going to university are among the factors boosting the residential housing market in Wales, a new report suggests. Across Wales first time buyer numbers are up, particularly in the new build markets in Cardiff and Newport, according to the latest spotlight report from real estate firm Savills which covers the South of Wales. Savills deal book data for South Wales shows 49% of buyers were aged under 40 in 2014 and other sources confirm the trend, with the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) data for Wales covering the final quarter of 2014 showing a 14% year on year increase in loans to first time buyers compared to a 4% rise in home mover loans over the same period. Official data also shows that the Help to Buy Wales scheme has assisted almost 1,400 completions since it was launched in January 2014 of which 74% were sales to first time buyers. Indeed, the average age of buyers in the scheme is 30, with an average sale price of £178,000. Some £48.7 million of the available £170 million funding has been spent so far, and a Government announcement on the possible extension of the scheme beyond the scheduled March 2016 closing date is expected later this year. The report explains that along with the boost provided by Help to Buy, the wider economic recovery has led to an improvement in market sentiment, with potential buyers more confident and finding mortgage availability much improved. ‘Help to Buy can also be credited with opening up the idea of purchasing a new build for younger buyers who may not have considered it previously,’ the report added. According to the report flats are the most popular new build product in Cardiff, due to first time buyers and downsizers both being key markets. In Cardiff flats make up over 70% of the new property sales recorded by the Land Registry in the year to February 2015 compared to 15% across Wales as a whole. Even in the cities of Swansea and Newport less than a quarter of new homes are flats, reflecting the unique nature of Cardiff’s market. The report also says that in Cardiff it is the city’s universities that are a key driver of activity, with parents buying property for their student children. ‘Good yields and strong demand for rental property around the university sites mean that these are often kept as investments following graduation,’ the report says. It also points out that Cardiff is expected to have the fastest growing population in Wales, according to the official projections, adding over 20,000 households a year on average over the next 25 years. ‘Our projections show a majority of these will be added in the private rented sector. The number of households in the private rented sector in the city doubled between 2001 and 2011, and we expect that further increases are likely,’ the report added. Indeed, Cardiff is… Continue reading
