Tag Archives: news
Well over half of UK home buyers rent before they can buy a property
Some 64% of aspiring home owners in the UK rent a property before they pick up the keys to their very own home, new research has found. Saving a deposit is one of the biggest financial hurdles facing potential first time buyers and the survey found that renters are less likely to benefit from help from family, with only 41% receiving any financial assistance, compared to 62% of those who are living with their parents or family members. Building up the necessary deposit is also challenging for those who are paying rent as the research revealed an average monthly rent in the UK of £681.70, according to the research from Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks. Of those who live with their parents before buying their own property some 21% don’t pay rent with a third of these potential home buyers putting this money towards their deposit instead. However 52% do pay a fixed amount every month to their family landlords while 22% contribute towards food and bills and others simply pay what they can afford on a monthly basis. The research also found that those in rented accommodation find getting on the property ladder more stressful as 28% admit to putting themselves under pressure compared to just 16% of those who are still living with their parents and are in less of a rush to flee the nest. ‘Buying a first home is one of life’s most significant financial milestones and the banks can work with the individual needs and circumstances of potential first time buyers to help make their dreams of becoming a homeowner a reality,’ said Steve Fletcher, head of customer banking networks at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks. Meanwhile, separate research commissioned by Royal London shows that almost five million renters in the UK have no plans in place to cover their rent if they became too ill to earn for three months or more, even though recent cuts to housing benefits could leave them at risk. This is despite the fact that some 27% of renters in paid employment said they knew someone who had struggled in this situation and the survey found 34% admit they don’t know how long they could survive. The research also found that 60% of those who had some idea said that they could only survive on their savings for three months or less. Some 53% said their first move would be to apply for state benefits, some 47% would reduce their household expenses and 39% start using their savings. Only 7% of renters in paid employment have ever consulted a financial adviser. The most common place people turn to for financial advice is their family and friends. ‘Renters who assume that housing benefit will be there when they need it could find the reality is very different. A series of cuts to housing benefit means that more people would not get their rent paid in full if their income fell unexpectedly,’ said… Continue reading
Housing market activity in Auckland, New Zealand, slowed in March
Auckland house sales activity quietened in April after a busy March, with only a marginal increase in the average price, and sales numbers down significantly. The latest data from agents Barfoot & Thompson shows that the average price in April was $878,599, up 0.8% from March and up 8.6% compared to April 2015. ‘Auckland house prices have pulled back from breaking into new territory. For the past year we have been looking at monthly year on year increases of around 12%,’ said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson. He pointed out that sales numbers at 944 for the month were also down significantly, falling 29.6% on those for March and down 11.8% on those for April last year. It means that in April the firm sold the lowest number of homes we have sold in an April in four years, and the likely cause of this was caution around current pricing and the low number of properties on the market, restricting choice. The data also shows that the median sales price for the month at $820,000 was up 2.8% on that for March and also up 8.8% on that for April last year. ‘In part, the climb in the midway price point (median price) can be attributed to the low number of homes sold in the month for under $500,000. In April only 7.1% of all homes sold were in this price category compared to 10.9% in March,’ Thompson said. He also pointed out that while house sales above the $1 million mark were the second highest for seven months, overall, activity in April could best be described as restrained. New listings in April at 1,496 were down 20.2% on those for March and down 5.3% on those for April last year. April’s new listings were the lowest in an April in three years. ‘For the third consecutive month the number of properties on our books at month end declined, and at 2,846 fell 8% below where they were at the end of March. The number of homes on our books at the end of April was the lowest they have been in an April for more than 15 years,’ Thompson explained. ‘While choice across all price segments was low, interest in top end homes remained high, and 355 properties, or 37.6%of all homes sold, attracted a price in excess of $1 million,’ he added. Continue reading
Property supply stagnates in UK, as new property listings slow
Property supply stagnated in the UK in April, with new property listings across the country rising just 0.5% compared with the previous month, the latest supply index shows. This comes on top of a 4% fall in supply recorded in March, according to the date from the index from HouseSimple which tracks the number of new properties marketed every month in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all London boroughs. Although more than half, some 60%, of towns and cities actually saw an increase in supply last month, in many areas the increase was marginal and some of the UK’s most populated towns and cities experienced large falls in new property listings in April. New property listing dropped the most in Inverness, Scotland, down 29.1%. Supply was down 22.6% in Hereford, down 22.3% in the London borough of Wandsworth, down 19.2% in Rugby, down 18.6% in Chichester and down 16.9% in Ipswich. London did not see much of a change with listing down by 0.8% while the biggest increase was in Bexley with a rise of 58.9%, in Winchester new listings were up 35.6%, up 25.4% in Southport, up 24.5% in Maidstone and up 23.1% in Chelmsford, up 21.2% in Bradford and up 20.9% in Swansea. In the rest of London Ealing saw a rise in new listings of 43.4%, Tower Hamlets up 37.2%, Greenwich up 27.6%, Barnet up 25.7%, Westminster up 18.4% and Lambeth up 15.1%. However, more than half of London’s 32 boroughs saw a month on month decline in supply, highlighting the ongoing shortage of new properties being marketed in London. ‘Although 60% of UK’s towns and cities saw an increase in property supply in April, these rises weren’t nearly material enough to make a dent in the stock shortage. There’s simply not enough new stock coming onto the market to meet demand,’ said Alex Gosling, the online estate agents’ chief executive officer. He pointed out that April saw the stamp duty hike on second homes at the start of the month feed through to a massive rise in the supply of rental properties. ‘The residential sales market could do with a similar spurt in supply. However, there is a possible knock on effect for the sales market,’ he said. ‘with an expected drop off in buy to let investors purchasing properties because of the 3% surcharge on second homes and buy to let properties, this may help to redress slightly the demand supply imbalance, offering first time buyers in particular opportunities to purchase, until the supply tap is turned on again,’ he explained. But any hope of a prolonged period of rising supply could be affected by uncertainty over the referendum on the future of the UK in the European Union which is just a month away. ‘We may well see a spike in supply in May as home owners try to sell their properties before the vote on 23 June, but supply could well dry up… Continue reading
