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UK flagship Help to Buy reaches 131 new home owners a day
The UK government’s flagship Help to Buy schemes have created 131 new home owners every day since April 2013, according to the latest figures to be released. Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said that the data shows Help to Buy is an important part of the government’s efforts to ensure anyone that works hard and aspires to own their own home has the opportunity to do so. Since the launch of the schemes, over 100,000 people have used the Help to Buy equity loan, mortgage guarantee and NewBuy schemes at a fraction of the deposit they would normally require. The data also shows that four out of the five of these were first time buyers and 94% of the sales were outside of London, alleviating concerns expressed at the launch of the schemes that they would not reach out to the most needy. Launched in 2013, the Help to Buy: equity loan and Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee schemes were set up to support people who could pay a mortgage, but struggle to save the deposits required by lenders following the financial crisis. The Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme offers 95% mortgages for those buying new build homes and the number of new home owners has reached 101,972. Overall since 2010, over 225,000 households have been helped to buy and reserve a new home through government-backed schemes. ‘The figures clearly show the continuing success of the Help to Buy scheme in supporting many credit worthy, hardworking people who want to buy their own home. Our long term economic plan has turned this country around from the one we inherited, now numbers of first time buyers are at their highest since 2007, house building continues to climb and over 225,000 households have been helped to buy or reserve property since 2010 through government backed schemes,’ said Lewis. According to Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, Help to Buy continues to drive demand for new homes, and its extension to 2020 is a huge boost. ‘That demand is being met by the house building industry which is increasing output at the highest rate for decades,’ he said. ‘With this support for buyers in place, house builders are planning greater investment in land, labour and supply chains to maintain and sustain this increased level of activity. Delivering more, high quality houses will provide the next generation with decent homes, create jobs and boost local economies across the country,’ he added. The data also shows that the average price of homes under the scheme is £213,954, well below the £271,000 UK average. The scheme has also brought down the average deposit needed. Some of the main towns and cities benefiting from the Help to Buy schemes include Leeds with 1,477 sales, Birmingham with 1,301 sales, Wiltshire with 1,242 sales, County Durham with 1,169 sales and Bedfordshire with 1,128 sales. The government has already announced the extension of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme to 2020, to help… Continue reading
Research reveals differences between landlords and tenants on maintenance
There is significant confusion when it comes to where responsibilities lie in rental properties when it comes to issues relating to property maintenance and care, new research shows. The biggest discrepancy between what tenants and landlords believe relates to providing meter readings at the beginning and end of the tenancy period. Some 73% of landlords correctly think it is their tenants’ job to do this, but only 35% of tenants think so. The research from landlord and tenant insurance provider Endsleigh also shows that 60% of tenant respondents consider it as the landlord’s responsibility to touch up paintwork, yet 45% of landlords cite it as the tenant’s. Tenants and landlords are also unclear when it comes to the responsibility for pest control. Some 32% of landlords believe pest control is the tenant’s responsibility, yet 84% of tenants consider it as the landlord’s. Endsleigh, together with the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS), has created a responsibilities guide to clear up the confusion when it comes to rental property maintenance and care. ‘Relationships between landlords and tenants can become strained when rental responsibilities aren’t fulfilled,’ said Marcus Latchford, Endsleigh's lettings and landlords manager. However, sometimes it’s just a case of one side being unaware of their responsibilities. Individual contracts will often spell out who should be taking care of what, but the small print is often the last place people look,’ he added. Jessica Alomankeh, projects coordinator at the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS) said that while most of the responsibilities for landlords and tenants are well understood by both parties but some things are still confusing. ‘Landlords deal with repairs to fixtures and fittings, boiler servicing, as well as arrange buildings insurance if the property is furnished. Tenants look after tasks such as keeping the garden in check and the internet installation. For tasks such as pest control and touching up paintwork, the landlord is responsible,’ she explained. ‘What’s more, at the beginning of a tenancy, landlords should provide tenants with an inventory pack, containing contact details of the current service providers. It’s then up to the tenant to check metre readings and set up new payments with the suppliers,’ she added. Continue reading
Cash sales of homes in the United States falling, latest figures show
Cash sales made up 34.6% of total home sales in the United States in March 2015, down from 39% in the same month in 2014, according to the latest data available. The year on year share has fallen each month since January 2013, making March 2015 the 27th consecutive month of declines, the report from real estate form CoreLogic shows. Month on month the cash sales share fell by 2.8% compared with February but the firm pointed out that due to seasonality in the housing market, cash sales share comparisons should be made on a year on year basis. The cash sales share peak occurred in January 2011 when cash transactions made up 46.5% of total home sales nationally. Prior to the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total home sales averaged approximately 25%t. The report predicts that if the cash sales share continues falling at the same rate it did in March 2015, the share should decrease to 25% by the middle of 2016. A breakdown of the figures shows that real estate owned (REO) sales had the largest cash sales share in March 2015 at 56.2% followed by resales at 34.5%, while short sales accounted for 31.6% and newly constructed homes 14.9. While the percentage of REO sales that were all-cash transactions remained high, REO transactions made up only 8.4% of all sales in March. In January 2011, when the cash sales share was at its peak, REO sales made up 23.9% of total home sales. Resales make up the majority of home sales at about 80% and therefore have the biggest impact on the total cash sales share. Florida had the largest share of all cash sales at 51.8 followed by Alabama at 50%, New York at 46.5%, New Mexico at 42.2% and Michigan at 41.3%. Of the nation’s largest 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, Philadelphia had the highest share of cash sales at 60.7% followed by West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Florida at 59.9%, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida at 59.5%, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida at 59.3% and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Florida at 58.3%. The data also shows that Colorado Springs had the lowest cash sales share at 16.1%. Continue reading
