Tag Archives: london
Number of UK tenants in arrears rises but still a small proportion overall
Progress for UK residential tenants significantly behind on rent halted in the first quarter of the year with those in arrears up 4% since a year ago. In the first three months of 2015 there were now 70,900 tenants facing more than two months of unpaid rent, some 1,500 more households than in the previous quarter, when 69,400 tenants were over two months behind on rent, or a quarterly increase of 2.2%. Since the same point last year the number of tenancies in such a position has grown by 4%, with 2,700 additional households falling into this most serious category of late rent, according to the latest tenant arrears tracker by estate agency chains Your Move and Reeds Rains, part of LSL Property Services. This setback represents a levelling off in the number of tenants in the most dire financial situation. Compared to the worst peak of serious rent arrears in third quarter of 2012, when 116,600 households faced more than two months in late rent, this has moderated significantly, to the tune of 45,700 fewer such cases in the first quarter of 2015. However, the report points out that progress has now been incremental or even backwards for over 18 months with the fourth quarter of 2013 still the best calendar quarter on record, when just 63,500 struggled with serious rent arrears. Despite a lack of progress since the end of 2013, the chance of a given tenant falling so far behind on rent is extremely low. As a proportion of all tenants, just 1.4% owed more than two months’ rent in the first quarter of 2015, the same as in the fourth quarter of 2014. This compares to 2.9% in the first quarter of 2008 even before the worst of the financial crisis and recession. A setback for the most severe cases of rent arrears comes despite a more encouraging trend among those who fall more incrementally behind on payments. As of March 2015, 7.4% of rent is now in arrears of any length, down from 7.6% in February 2015 and down from 7.8% of all rent late a year before in March 2014. As with severe arrears, rent arrears of all lengths remain considerably lower than in previous years, since peaking at 14.6% in February 2010. ‘Tenants are now far less likely to be out of work than at this point last year but many tenants are still struggling to keep up with household expenses in the face of extremely modest wages. There are some signs on the horizon this will improve, but in the meantime a small but significant minority of households are facing a real challenge to find the rent every month,’ said Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains. ‘Other factors are at play too. There are also more cases of severe arrears, in absolute terms, because there are more people renting their home overall. The chance of a… Continue reading
Annual UK house price growth puts on a spurt, especially in Scotland
UK house price growth is increasing again with the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics showing an annual rise of 9.6% in the year to March 2015. This is up from annual growth of 7.4% in the year to February 2015 and some parts of the country have seen record increases. House price annual inflation was 9.4% in England, 5.7% in Wales, 14.6% in Scotland and 7.5% in Northern Ireland. This is the highest annual increase in Scotland since July 2007. Annual house price increases in England were driven by an annual increase in the East of 11.4%, London 11.2% and the South East 11.2%. Excluding London and the South East, UK house prices increased by 8.1% in the 12 months to March 2015. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased by 1.1% between February and March 2015 and prices paid by first time buyers were 7.8% higher on average than in March 2014. For existing owners prices increased by 10.3% for the same period. But there are concerns that house price growth is so strong. ‘House prices are going up four times faster than people’s wages. No wonder mortgage approvals are falling and first time buyers are struggling to save a large enough deposit. And we all know that housing bubbles burst and cause economic chaos,’ said Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Council. ‘There is no sign the government yet understands the challenge of ending the housing crisis. Their headline policy is an incredibly unpopular plan to sell off social housing to the private market. This would reduce the supply of affordable homes when we should be adding to them as quickly as possible,’ added O’Grady. Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, pointed out that it is worth bearing in mind that these figures concentrate on March. ‘The country was still convinced that we had a close-run election on our hands and vendors and buyers in London were holding their breath about what impact mansion tax and other possible policies might have,’ he said. ‘Now the reality is far different, a frisson of excitement has returned to the high-end market,’ he added. Continue reading
New home building not meeting demand for housing in Australia
Despite a record level of home building activity in Australia, this is still falling short of the current demand for new homes, according to the Housing Industry Association, the voice of Australia’s residential building industry. The HIA Autumn 2015 National Outlook report shows new housing construction is at record levels and is single handedly propping up Australia’s domestic economy. But HIA chief economist, Harley Dale, said that on-going momentum in 2015 is narrowly driven compared to last year, in terms of both geographical area and dwelling type. ‘It is disappointing that despite record new housing supply, many Australians are being priced out of the market due to the excessive and inefficient taxation and regulation governments’ impose on the new housing sector,’ he pointed out. ‘Super low interest rates are doing their job, but there is a lack of complimentary policy reform. The detached house construction cycle had peaked well below its potential because households can’t pay the cost of waiting up to 14 months for titled land, or multiple months for a simple building approval, or borrow the additional amount required to cover government-imposed gold-plating of user pays infrastructure,’ he explained. ‘A lack of focus on housing policy reform is shutting Australians’ out of their new home at a time when they could borrow responsibly at attractive interest rates and be part of the great Australian dream,’ he added. New dwelling commencements are projected to see a third consecutive year of growth in 2014/205. An increase of 12.9% is forecast to bring commencements to an all-time high of 205,490. The ultra-low interest rate environment means that there is some upside risk to this forecast. The latest projections indicate that dwelling commencements will fall by 10.6% in 2015/2016, with a further reduction of 4.7% in 2016/2017. The bulk of the decline will be concentrated in the ‘multi-unit’ market segment. The further upward momentum to new home building in 2015 is confined to two states, New South Wales and Queensland. The report also says that detached house commencements have peaked for the cycle at a level of 112,232. There is unrealised demand for detached housing due to a lack of shovel-ready land and a plethora of other supply side obstacles. Detached house commencements would have increased further in 2015 without these barriers to supply. Across the distinct types of new dwellings constructed, the upward momentum in 2015 is most evident for units of four or more storeys. There is some upward momentum evident for semi-detached/townhouse product. Housing renovations continue to struggle, increasing by just 0.8% during 2014. For 2014/2015 as a whole, the report expects that the volume of renovations will fall by 4.1% to $27.4 billion. That will be the lowest value since 2001/2002. Continued low interest rates and an economic recovery will eventually start to lift the renovations market. During 2015/2016 growth of 2.3% is forecast followed by a slight increase of 0.5% during 2016/2017. A further rise of 2.5%… Continue reading
