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Survey reveals majority of UK tenants are satisfied with current landlord
Some 81% of UK tenants renting their home in the private rented sector are satisfied with their current landlord and 70% believe their rent is value for money, new research has found. The survey also found that 82% said they consider the property they rent to be their home, a fifth of respondents said in the long term they plan to buy their own home and 35% said they expect to stay in the PRS. The survey, carried out during the first quarter of the year for specialist buy to let lender, Paragon Mortgages also revealed that 12% of tenants felt uncomfortable approaching their landlord about extending their tenancy agreement and 6% who had asked for a longer tenancy were refused. However, 57% said they had always been happy with the tenancy offered and 17% had asked for a longer term and their landlord had agreed. ‘The research is really interesting. It is important that we understand the world from the tenant’s viewpoint so we can continue to deliver products that support better standards in the private rented sector,’ said John Heron, the firm’s director of Mortgages. ‘There has been a lot of noise around the need for longer term tenancies for some time and I think there is a common misconception that landlords are not willing to be flexible in the tenancies they offer. Our landlord research demonstrates that many are more than willing to extend terms and in 71% of cases it was the tenant who chose to end the tenancy and not the landlord,’ he explained. ‘We are big supporters of offering longer term tenancies and we were one of the first buy to let lenders to announce we would support the Government’s new model lease and allow landlords to offer 36 month tenancies to those tenants who need that extra security, as we believe this is our social responsibility,’ he added. Continue reading
Spanish property market still on a roller coaster
The roller coaster nature of the Spanish property market recovery is laid bare with the latest data on prices showing that the slowdown has not yet gone, nor has the difference between official figures and those from real estate firms. The latest figures from valuations company Tinsa show that at a national level property prices are still falling although there are regions where they are rising while the latest data from the Housing Department show prices falling slightly. The Tinsa data for May, based on the company’s own valuations, shows that average national house prices were down 3.6% year on year but this global figure hides considerable regional variations. For example the biggest price falls are in provincial capitals and large cities with a decline of 4.9%, while house prices on the Mediterranean coast were down 2.3% and in the Balearics and Canaries there was a fall of 2.1%. However, year on year house prices on the coast are up 1.4% compared to May 2014 but are still down 48.8% compared to the peak of the market and according to Tinsa the national average peak to present fall is 42.1%. According to the government figures the average price for Spanish property fell a 0.11% in the first three months of this year, the smallest quarterly decline since the economic crisis began and down from a fall of 0.36% in the last quarter of 2014. This takes the average property price to €1,458 per square meter and this is down 36.3%, adjusting for inflation, since the peak of the market in 2008 when it was €2,100 per square metre. A regional breakdown of the figures shows that seven autonomous regions registered year on year price growth led by the Canaries up by 3.56%, Aragon up 1.9%, Madrid up 1.67%, the Valencian Community up 0.69%, Extremadura up 0.57%, the Balearics up 0.1% and Andalusia up 0.05%. The rest of Spain is still seeing annual price decreases. In Asturias prices have fallen by 6.53 year on year, by 3.72% in Castilla-León, by 3.15% in Navarra, by 2.29% in Galicia, and by 1.47% in the Basque Country. According to the Housing Price Index (HPI) published by the National Statistics Institute, the price of homes rose by 1.5% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period of 2014, which is below the 1.8% price increase recorded at the end of 2014. But the index has recorded four consecutive quarters of year on year increases following six years of declines. The index also shows that prices for new homes are rising faster than others. Second hand homes say a rise of 1.1% in the first quarter of the year while new home prices rose by 4%. Continue reading
Housing rents up across the whole of the UK, latest index data shows
Residential rental prices increased in every region of the UK in the three months to May taking the average rent to £935 a month or £738 excluding London. The latest HomeLet rental index shows that the pace of growth in London has picked up again after a period of slower growth, with average rents agreed on new tenancies in May 2015 exceeding £1,500 per month for the first time. With rents now 10.7% higher than the same time last year, it is only the third time that rents have risen across the country since the index began, once in October 2014 and once in December 2010. The South West of England saw the largest increases, with average rent prices 13.6% higher than a year ago while Scotland saw growth of 9.6%, the South East of England 9.4% and Greater London 9.2%. In Greater London, the average rent now stands at £1,472 for the three months to May 2015, however, when looking solely at new tenancies agreed in the month of May, the average rent has exceeded £1,500 for the first time in the history of the Index. The average rent on new tenancies signed during May 2015 was £1,506 per month. ‘Rental values are now increasing year on year across the country, with no exception. After a short period of London rents rising more slowly, when it seemed the rest of the UK may catch up or even exceed the capital in the speed at which rent prices were increasing, we now see the rate of price rises in London returning towards double digit growth, while the rest of the UK continues to rise steadily,’ said Martin Totty, chief executive officer of Barbon Insurance Group, the parent company of HomeLet. ‘With the whole of the UK experiencing increases in rent prices agreed on new tenancies, it is possible this is an early indicator of a post-election private rental market where both landlords and tenants might expect rent prices to keep rising as demand continues to grow,’ he added. Continue reading
