Tag Archives: middle-east
Home movers in the UK have seen average savings of £5,000 due to stamp duty change
Stamp duty changes have resulted in UK home movers seeing average saving of £5,000 since 2010 but fewer people are moving home, new research has found. The number of people moving house in 2005 stood at 365,000, slightly behind the 366,400 who moved in 2014, according to the latest Lloyds Bank Home Mover Review report. Whilst the 2015 levels are 16% higher than the 2009 market low of 315,800, they are just half of the 2006 peak level of 712,000, the data also shows. Over the past five years the average price paid by home movers has grown by 30% from £210,252 in 2010, to £273,491 in 2015, an increase of £63,239, equivalent to a monthly increase of £1,054. This was a marginally faster rise than the increase in average house prices across the whole market which was 29%. The average deposit put down by a home mover has increased by 22% in the past five years, from £74,649 in 2010 to £91,020 in 2015, equivalent to 33% of the average price paid by home movers. London continues to see stronger growth than the rest of the UK, as average prices paid by home movers in the capital have increased by 51% to £515,004 in the past five years. London home movers have also put down the largest average deposits at £183,353, which is 36% of the average property value. At the other end of the scale, Northern Ireland saw the average price paid by a home mover drop 4% to £157,368, and also the smallest average deposit of £43,380. Stamp duty changes, introduced in December 2014, provided home movers across the UK with a boost by providing buyers with an average saving £4,530 on purchases. The largest savings last year were made by home movers in East Anglia, where someone buying at the average price of £255,028 paid £2,751 in stamp duty fees compared to £7,650 before the change, a difference of £4,899. Buyers in three other regions also made substantial savings of over £2,500. In London the saving was £4,850, in the South West it was £4,654 and in the South East it was £2,767. ‘The 2015 stamp duty changes, low mortgage rates and rising real pay growth, provided more favourable conditions for home movers in 2015, although that hasn’t translated to any increase in numbers,’ said Andrew Mason, Lloyds Bank mortgages director. ‘2015 brought good news to home movers. We might have expected the change to the stamp duty structure to have resulted in a greater numbers. The ongoing increase in house prices throughout the year will have been especially welcomed by those who bought at the peak of house prices, who have been looking to rebuild their equity in order to make their next move,’ he added. The Lloyds Bank Home Mover Review tracks conditions for those who already own a home and is based on data from the Lloyds Banking Group house price database, the Council of Mortgage Lenders,… Continue reading
Family homes sales reached new all-time high in Miami in 2015
Sales of family homes in Miami, one of the most popular US markets with overseas and domestic buyers, set an all-time annual record in 2015. And sales for all existing properties posted the third most transactions in history, according to the latest data from the Miami Association of Realtors. ‘Miami’s strong local jobs market, population increase, historically low mortgage interest rates and South Florida’s continued growth as a world class global region all played key roles in the strong sales. We see many of these factors carrying over to 2016,’ said Mark Sadek, the association’s board chairman. The monthly report also shows that existing single family homes finished 2015 with a median sales price of $265,000, up 8.2% from $245,000 the previous year. The Miami median price for existing condominiums in 2015 was $200,000, an increase of 5.3% from $190,000 in 2014. The median number of days on the market for Miami single family homes fell 4.4% to 43 days in 2015 from 45 days in 2014 and the median number of days on the market for condominiums sold in 2015 was 60 days, a 5.3% increase from 57 days in 2014. In 2015 some 51.8% of sales were to cash buyers which is more than double the national average, but down from 57.2% in 2014. However, Miami’s high percentage of cash sales reflects South Florida’s ability to attract a diverse number of international home buyers, who tend to purchase properties in cash. Condominiums comprise a large portion of Miami’s cash purchases as 65.4 compared to 36.4% of single family home sales. The data also shows that inventory of single family homes decreased 3.5% in 2015 while condominium inventory increased 10.2%. Inventory for Miami single family homes stood at a 5.2 month supply, a 6.8% decrease from 5.6 months in the previous year while for condominiums at the end of 2015 it was 9.5 months, a 13.2% increase from 8.4 months in 2014. Total active listings at the end of 2015 increased 5.4% year on year, from 17,695 to 18,645. Active listings remain about 60% below 2008 levels when sales bottomed. New listings of single family homes increased 0.6% compared to 2014 and for condominiums they increased by 0.6%. Continue reading
Scotland sees strongest house price growth for seven months
Property prices in Scotland increased 0.8% in December month on month and 2.5% year on year, according to the latest index figures. It is the strongest year on year increase since May 2015, taking the average house price to £170,641, with the typical property up by £4,000, according to the index from Your Move. But Aberdeen recorded a steep fall in house prices, down 6.8% year on year as demand fell due to the falling oil price. Overall sales were strong with transactions up 21% in December 2015 compared to the same month in 2014 and the top end of the market is recovering, with 11 million pound home typically sold each month by the end of 2015. But Christine Campbell, Your Move managing director in Scotland, pointed out that the increase over the year to December is still below the 4.4% rise in 2014, as growth was skewed by the introduction of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT). She also pointed out that the average house price has now broken through the £170,000 barrier again for the first time since May and 2015 was a turbulent one for some parts of Scotland. Aberdeen experienced the biggest dip in house prices with property values in the area falling 6.8% or £15,551. ‘This decline has been driven by the drop in demand for homes in the area, as the tumbling oil price reduces employment and investment into the city,’ said Campbell. ‘Aberdeen has also felt the negative affect of the introduction of the LBTT, as it’s home to a large number of higher value properties which the tax hit hardest. The city has now slipped to sixth in the house price rankings, down from third at the end of 2014,’ she explained. Total sales for the year were 6% higher than in 2014, in stark contrast to England and Wales where sales are down 2.6% year on year. In Scotland, the type of homes selling swiftest were flats, up 18.4% in the last quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. The smallest increase was in pricier detached properties, but sales still rose 8.8% over the same time period. ‘As typically the cheapest type of property on the market, flats have benefited most from the switch to LBTT which removed tax paid on purchases under £145,000. With an extra 3% surcharge on second homes coming into force in April, we can expect another jump in sales during the first quarter of 2016, as sellers hurry to beat the tax hike,’ Campbell said. The million pound property market has seen the most extreme changes this year. Overall, there has been a 30% annual increase in the sale of high value homes in 2015. Half of these sales came in March, as owners rushed to beat the introduction of the LBTT. This was followed by a short term drought which saw the average number of million pound… Continue reading
