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Major UK parties but housing at top of election agenda
Housing has become one of the major issues in the UK’s forthcoming general election with all the major parties making pledges to attract voters. The Conservative party said it will extend the Right to Buy scheme and the Liberal Democrats have announced plans to build 300,000 more homes a year and ensure everyone has a decent place to live. The Labour party says it will build at least 200,000 new homes a year by 2020 with first priority for local first time buyers and introduce three year housing tenancies with a ceiling on excessive rent rises. Prime Minister David Cameron said that the £18billion extension of Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy scheme will be extended to 1.3million families living in housing association properties. It would be funded by requiring councils to sell off the most expensive social housing when it becomes vacant, replacing it on a one to one basis with more affordable property. The existing Right to Buy allows tenants living in council owned properties local authority tenants to buy houses and flats at a discount of as much as 70% up to a maximum of £102,700 in London and £77,000 across the rest of England. Around 500,000 housing association tenants currently have no purchase rights and 800,000 who qualify only for much less generous discounts of £16,000 or less. But the reaction has been mixed. The Conservative plans will not necessarily boost house building and could weaken the future capacity of the social renting sector to provide a safety net for those who cannot afford to house themselves via the private market, according to Peter Williams, executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA). ‘The risk is that in this manifesto along with others we will get more short term initiatives and that politicians will continue to avoid owning up to the need for a fully formed housing strategy that balances support for people across all forms of housing tenure. Delaying the inevitable will only result in more difficulties in the long term,’ he explained. Adam Challis, head of residential research at JLL, described as good politics, but terrible policy. ‘This is exactly the kind of short termist thinking that the countries' 4.7 million households in social housing don’t need, not to mention the same number again of aspiring owners in private renting,’ he said. ‘Right to Buy benefits a select few while condemning the vast majority to longer waiting lists and fewer choices. At a time when we are building barely half the homes this country needs, we need a government that is interested in genuine solutions to the housing crisis rather than cheap vote winners,’ he added. Colleague Richard Petty, head of affordable housing at JLL, said that extending the Right to Buy to housing associations will seriously damage their ability to help the country build its way out of the housing crisis. ‘They rely on private finance to build now, not government grant. The… Continue reading
UK house prices up 7.2% year on year, latest ONS data shows
UK house prices increased by 7.2% in the year to February, down from 8.4% in the year to January 2015, according to the latest official figures from the Office of National Statistics. House price annual inflation was 7.4% in England, 1.1% in Wales, 6.4% in Scotland and 14.2% in Northern Ireland. The data confirms that annual house price growth is showing signs of slowing across the majority of the UK. Annual house price increases in England were driven by an annual increase in the East of 10.7% and in London of 9.4%. Excluding London and the South East, UK house prices increased by 5.9% in the 12 months to February 2015. The data also shows that on a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased by 0.6% between January and February 2015. In February 2015, prices paid by first time buyers were 7.4% higher on average than in February 2014. For owner-occupiers (existing owners), prices increased by 7.2% for the same period. It suggests that actions taken by the Bank of England’s Policy Committee to dampen the growth of last year have done their job and put the housing market on a more stable footing for the short term at least, according to Peter Williams, executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA). ‘Seeing annual price rises dip below an annual increase of 6% outside London and the South East is a step in the right direction to improve affordability,’ he said. ‘However, in part the slowdown has only been possible by squeezing potential buyers out of the market by restricting access to finance, creating some extra breathing space for politicians to get to grips with the fundamental supply/demand imbalance,’ he added. Continue reading
UK residential property market activity strong as valuations rise
Last month saw the strongest activity on record for property valuations in any month since 2007, up 36% on a monthly basis and annual growth of 42%, new data shows. After a 36% increase in activity on a monthly basis, the total number of valuations carried out in March 2015 has grown by 42% compared to March 2014. First time buyer activity increased by 33% in March compared with the previous month and was up 40% from the same month last year, according to the latest research from Connells Survey and Valuation. Activity on behalf of those further up the property ladder also saw rapid growth, but at a slower pace than for first time buyers. Valuations on behalf of established home movers picked up by 32% on a monthly basis and by 23% over the last 12 months. ‘New announcements like the Help to Buy ISA have combined with existing government schemes to boost interest from first time buyers. In the short term this is mainly about sentiment, but extra support has been consistently focused at this end of the market for years now, with a longer term impact too,’ said John Bagshaw, corporate services director of Connells Survey & Valuation. The data also shows that remortgaging in March has outperformed the overall housing market, posting 54% growth on an annual basis, following a 33% month on month rise and Bagshaw pointed out that record low interest rates are likely to stay for several more months. ‘Many households with a mortgage that seemed extremely competitive just a few years ago could find it in their interests to refinance, even to the security of a fixed rate. Such a recalibration of the mortgage market is working alongside a resurgent property purchase market to stoke demand for valuations,’ he explained. ‘Of course a little further ahead, there is still the prospect of interest rate rises. In fact deflation caused by a volatile oil price could make a turning point for interest rates more dramatic as and when this occurs. So there is no space for complacency although that isn’t stopping people looking for the best deals,’ he added. With by far the strongest monthly increase, buy to let activity in March was 54% stronger than in February. This takes the number of valuations carried out on behalf of buy to let landlords to levels 64% ahead of March 2014. The firm believes that landlords are responding to a pick-up in demand from tenants and a noticeable improvement in rental yields in some hotspots. It’s also possible this is another artefact of a booming jobs market, as people move to take up jobs. ‘Landlords are generally low LTV borrowers who tend to have reliable finances away from their property investments, so for lenders they offer a sound investment in a similar way to many… Continue reading
