Tag Archives: london
UK home owner confidence dips as mortgage concerns rise
Home owners in the UK are less confident about further house price growth in the next six months and many are concerned about getting a mortgage, new research shows. The housing market sentiment survey from Zoopla reveals that confidence has now fallen a 15 month low and it also found that 39% of respondents believe it is harder to get a mortgage than it was three months ago. Overall the survey found that the proportion of home owners expecting property prices in their area to increase over the next six months has fallen from 92% three months ago to 88%, the lowest level since July 2013. Home owners in the East of England are the most bullish about continued house price rises, with 91% expecting property values to increase over the next six months. The South West has seen the most significant drop in confidence over the past three months, with the proportion of home owners anticipating further price gains falling from 95% three months ago to 85% today. Following the implementation of stricter affordability criteria for borrowing, 39% of those homeowners surveyed stated that they thought it was more difficult to get a mortgage now than it was three months ago. ‘The property market signals are somewhat harder to decipher at the moment than they were a few months ago,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla. ‘With the lengthier funding approval process following the Mortgage Market Review and fewer homeowners predicting that house prices will continue to rise in the short term, the coming months will be crucial to determine if the housing market recovery has stalled or simply paused for breath,’ he added. Continue reading
Developers struggling to meet demand for luxury homes in London
The number of luxury homes currently being planned or under construction in London hit a record high this year, with around £60 billion of properties currently due to be delivered over the next decade. This is a 20% increase on 2013. However, with significant capacity issues at every level of the capital’s construction industry, a huge proportion of these properties are unlikely to be built on time, according to a new report from EC Harris. It reveals that this year, the capital’s 10 year pipeline of high end property has grown by around a quarter to a record 25,000 homes. However, with developers and investors struggling to keep pace with seemingly insatiable buyer demand, up to half the new homes planned in the next five years could end up falling well behind schedule due to a lack of available contractors to deliver the required quality of work. ‘With the UK economy back on track and London deemed a safe haven for international property investors, it’s not surprising that demand for luxury homes is fuelling ever increasing development,’ said Mark Farmer, EC Harris head of residential. ‘Where we are starting to observe real problems, though, is in the construction process. There is simply not the capacity out there to meet demand and many projects will undoubtedly fall by the wayside or experience delivery difficulties due to sheer lack of resources,’ he explained. ‘Many developers and investors, when in a position to do so, are therefore looking to jump the queue and are paying premiums for construction so they can deliver on promises they have already made to their purchasers,’ he added. In terms of location, the South Bank is proving the most popular area of the capital for development, accounting for around a third of new projects. This is closely followed by Chelsea and Fulham and the City. The report points out that the appetite for high end residential property continues to reach well beyond the traditional West End heartland, with high profile developments such as One Blackfriars and Bishopsgate’s Heron Plaza demonstrating the spread into a much broader swathe of central London. Therefore, to avoid losing out on investment returns in the current strong sales market, some developers are being forced to pay premiums to contractors in order to secure their services. It concludes that this rush to market has provoked significant price inflation in the construction sector as developers seek to urgently get building work underway with the best available tradesmen and project delivery expertise. Continue reading
Home sales in Spain up over 12% on a quarterly basis
The number of homes sold in Spain increased by 12.1% in the second quarter compared to a year earlier and was boosted by an increasing number of foreign buyers. Data from the Ministry of Public Works shows that a total of 91,338 homes were sold in the quarter, the best second quarter since 2010. It also shows that 16.4% of the sales were to foreign residents, as the number of purchases by non-Spanish citizens rose for the 12 quarter in a row. In the 12 months from July 2013 to June 2014, some 337,115 homes were sold in Spain, a 12.2% increase from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry’s data. The gains were led by a 12.2% increase in the Canary Islands. Other areas continued to see sales declines but much more moderate than in previous quarters. Meanwhile, a judge in Almeria has awarded €135,000 damages to three British families who bought illegal homes a decade ago in Albox, in a case which might open the door for similar legal action around Spain. The judge ruled that they bought their homes in ‘good faith’ and decided that they deserved compensation for living with the possibility of losing their home. The judge also awarded €7,800 to another British family, whose savings were trapped in a home that was half built before work was stopped. It is estimated that more than 250,000 homes were built illegally in Andalusia during the boom years, creating an emotional and complex issue for local authorities. A plan was approved by the ruling junta in 2012 to legalise homes, but there has been little progress. A few weeks ago junta president Susana Díaz announced an additional 25,000 homes could be saved from destruction, under a new amendment to the plan. But there is still uncertainty about the fate of and ultimate legal status of the homes. For years owners, many of them expats, have not known whether their homes would be demolished. In many cases they could not rent or resell their property with the legal case ongoing. Last month prosecutors called for the demolition of 93 homes in Albox but the local mayor said the homes would likely be saved by the new legislation. ‘This whole drama of illegal homes remains a terrible stain on the reputation of Andalusia as somewhere to invest, discouraging fresh money and ultimately impoverishing the local community,’ said Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight. ‘People who bought in good faith and ended up with illegal homes through no fault of their own have been treated appallingly by the Spanish authorities,’ he added. ‘It’s very probable that the homes might be legalised in a time frame that depends upon administrative procedures,’ the sentencing judge said but the judge in the Albox case went a step further, awarding damages to the owners. Developers and architects are liable for the payments. But if they can’t pay, the judge ordered the local town hall to pick up the bill for failing to control the situation and… Continue reading
