Tag Archives: finance
UK buyers taking longer to make up their minds than a year ago
Property buyers in the UK are taking longer to make up their mind about a home with many taking a second or even a third viewing before making an offer, new research has found. On average it now takes 53 minutes of viewing a property, up from 38 minutes a year ago, according to the research from online estate agent eMoov. Indeed, just 6% make an offer after the first viewing. The majority of buyers, 53%, return for a second viewing, with a further 41% feeling the need to view a property more than twice. Buyers in London are more likely to seek a third viewing. The research also suggests that buyers undertake a considerable amount of research before they view a property. Some 67% read the full property description before arranging to view and 59% look at other properties listed in the area. It also found that 56% check out the road where the property is on Google street view, 53% take a detailed look at the floor plan and room sizes, 49% research the local amenities, 44% research the historic value of a property or surrounding properties and 25% check out schools. ‘UK buyers are taking that extra bit of time viewing a property, before submitting an offer. Although demand is still high in a number of areas, particularly London and the surrounding areas, the market isn’t quite as competitive as it has been in previous years, so many potential buyers are opting for a second or third viewing before committing to a property,’ said the firm’s chief executive officer Russell Quirk. ‘It makes sense given the enormity of such a decision and with buyers not feeling as pressured, there is no need to rush to submit an offer and secure a property after the first viewing,’ he added. But he pointed out that the data shows that there are still those 6% of buyers that will view a property for less than 10 minutes, before deciding to buy it. ‘This still amazes me but highlights the speed the market can move at, in the areas where demand is still outstripping supply,’ said Quirk. Continue reading
US property sales set to grow at a more moderate pace in 2016
Following the housing market’s best year in nearly a decade, existing home sales in the United States are forecasted to expand in 2016 at a more moderate pace. Pent-up buyer demand is expected to combat affordability pressures and meagre economic growth, according to the latest monthly report from the National Association of Realtors. Indeed, Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist believes that demand, sustained job growth and improving inventory conditions are the main reasons for an expected gain from 2015 in new and existing home sales. Despite his forecasted increase in sales, Yun cites rising mortgage rates, home prices still outpacing wages and shaky global economic conditions as headwinds that will likely hold back a stronger pace of sales. ‘This year the housing market may only squeak out 1% to 3% growth in sales because of slower economic expansion and rising mortgage rates. The continued rise in home prices will occur due to the fact that we will again encounter housing shortages in many markets because of the cumulative effect of homebuilders under producing for multiple years. Once the spring buying season begins, we'll begin to feel that again,’ Yun explained. With one month of data remaining for 2015, Yun expects total existing homes sales to finish the year up 6.55 from 2014 at a pace of around 5.26 million, the highest since 2006, but roughly 25% below the prior peak set in 2005 of 7.08 million. The national median existing home price for all of 2015 will be close to $221,200, up around 6% from 2014. In 2016, existing sales are expected to grow between 1% and 2%, 5.3 to 5.4 million and prices between 5% and 6%. Continue reading
Demand from buy to let landlords for remortgages likely to rise in 2016
Buy to let remortgage transactions outstripped purchases by more than two to one in 2015 but this could be reversed in 2016, according to the latest industry sector index report. Remortgages for vanilla buy to let property accounted for 64% of transactions with Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and Multi-Unit Freehold Blocks (MUFBs) seeing even greater remortgage activity at 78% and 88% of transactions respectively, the data from specialist brokers Mortgages for Business shows. The results aren’t surprising, according to David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business. ‘For some time now landlords have been making considerable savings through remortgaging. Many have also been releasing equity to make improvements and plan further purchases,’ he said. ‘However, I anticipate that we will see a reversal of this trend in the first quarter of this year as landlords hurry to expand their portfolios before the stamp duty surcharge kicks in on 01 April,’ he explained. ‘The number of enquiries for purchase finance is already well ahead of where we were this time last year, particularly from those looking to sell their personally owned property into a corporate vehicle,’ he added. Although yields across all property types rallied in the fourth quarter of 2015, in real terms they continue to plateau as rental income fails to keep pace with rising property prices. However, returns for the more complex properties remain healthy and well above the psychologically important 6% mark. The number of lenders operating in the market remained static at 33. However, the number of buy to let mortgage products available to borrowers grew slightly to an average of 975. ‘It is unlikely that this average figure will be topped going forward unless new lenders enter the market, or some of the existing providers start to offer products to limited companies. Of course, that figure is only an average, at one point at the beginning of December our tracking system showed 1,168 products,’ Whittaker pointed out. Continue reading
