Tag Archives: news
Some 200,000 new homes announced for the east of London
A new masterplan has been unveiled that will see 200,000 new homes built in the east of London, adding to a number of major developments already taking place in the area. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced the City in the East masterplan which includes development from London Bridge to the Isle of Dogs and Greenwich Peninsula, right through to Ilford in Essex and Dartford in Kent. He said that it is designed to bring together a vast number of major developments that are already taking place in the capital, known as designated Opportunity Areas, which have been identified as London's major source of brownfield land with significant capacity for new housing, commercial space and other development. In 2004, the Mayor's Office estimated East London had the capacity for 52,000 new homes. But detailed modelling, which includes linking 13 Opportunity Areas, carried out by City Hall but now a minimum of 203,500 homes could be delivered over the next 20 years. The City in the East document also contains a series of maps, which for the first time brings to life how the city is moving eastwards, covering much of the Thames Gateway, and could benefit from improvements to transport infrastructure such as Crossrail and HS1. Plans show an overground extension to Barking Riverside, which will enable the creation of 10,000 new homes and could be operational by 2020. The blueprint also includes longer term potential to place the A13 in a tunnel, deliver a new station and build new homes in the area. These projects are one of a number being made possible by Transport for London's Growth Fund, which is designed to target transport improvements in areas where there is potential to unlock new homes and jobs. It envisages how land across East London could be split up for commercial and industrial use and suggests where new schools, work space and hospitals could be located. ‘East London is already enjoying incredible growth and the City in the East plans reflect how we make the area an even better place to live and work over the next 20 years,’ said Johnson. ‘This blueprint reflects identified areas of land in London to build on and it will allow us to co-ordinate not only housing and commercial developments, but significant transport infrastructure to ensure this part of the capital can continue to flourish with hundreds of thousands of new jobs that will help the capital to remain the best big city in the world,’ he added. According to Alex Williams, director of borough planning at Transport for London, said that east London is expected to be one of the largest growth areas in the capital, with the population set to increase by 600,000 in the next 15 years. ‘Transport schemes such as the Overground extension to Barking Riverside and new river crossings will truly transform the area. London's transport network is vital to the economic and social wellbeing of this city… Continue reading
Home owner confidence in UK housing market up 4% year on year
UK home owners’ confidence home owners in the property market has risen 4% year on year with expectations that prices will rise by more than 7% in the coming six months, new research shows. Some 92% are anticipating prices in their area to rise within the next six months, a steady increase from a year ago when only 88% were confident, according to the latest Zoopla Housing Market Sentiment Survey. The research also found that almost half of home owners, 41%, were planning to improve their property. In addition, 9% of respondents said they plan to refinance their house, a 3% increase from the end of 2014, as mortgage rates remain at historical lows. The proportion of respondents planning to sell property has risen to 19% having bottomed out at 15% last year as more home owners look to capitalise on rising prices. The East of England has the highest percentage of optimistic home owners, with 97% expecting the price of property in their area to rise over the next six months. Home owners in London and the South East are almost as confident, with 96% of respondents across those regions expecting price appreciation. Despite home owner confidence around house prices, sentiment around the accessibility of funding is more volatile. While the percentage of respondents declaring it harder to get a mortgage now than three months ago has almost halved from 49% to 26% since the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) was introduced in April 2014, the fact that more than a quarter of homeowners have noticed a recent increase in difficulty suggests that it isn’t all plain sailing, the report says. It also suggests that with ongoing speculation around when the Bank of England will raise interest rates and lenders maintaining a watching brief, it may well be that competitive products aren’t quite as freely available as they were in the earlier part of the summer and borrowers previously spoilt for choice are noticing the change. ‘As the end of the year approaches, homeowners are the most optimistic they have been in some time. With the brightening national economic outlook this bodes well for the property market in 2016,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla. ‘While traditionally the estate agency market tends to take a break over Christmas in terms of completions and viewings, home owner confidence shows no sign of slowing down and many individuals use the end of the year as a landmark to evaluate how much their property has appreciated over the calendar year,’ he explained. ‘The only slight chink in the armour is the fact that a sizeable number of people still feel securing a mortgage is becoming more difficult, despite the fact that the MMR was implemented with consumers’ best interests at heart,’ he pointed out. ‘It could also be an indication that the supply of… Continue reading
Demand from overseas buyers in the Alps rising, says latest index report
Demand for Alpine property is rising, spurred on by a more resilient Eurozone, greater clarity over tax and the second home cap in Switzerland, as well as a weaker euro, the latest index report says. Val d’Isere and Meribel in France have seen the biggest annual growth in property prices with a rise of 5.8% and 4.5% respectively, according to the 2015 Ski Property Index from international real estate firm Knight Frank. The index, which tracks the price performance of prime ski chalets across 15 key resorts in the French and Swiss Alps, indicates that prime sales activity in the French Alps is focussed between €1.5 and €2.5 million with resorts such as Chamonix and Courchevel 1550 increasingly popular. It also shows that the number of sales completed in Megeve in the first half of 2015 was double the number of sales agreed during the whole of 2014 and adds that previous uncertainty in the Swiss market is giving way to renewed optimism as clarity emerges surrounding taxation and the second home cap. Overall it says that the market is broadly stable with only 13% percentage points separating the strongest and weakest performer and currency movements have played a pivotal role in determining demand across the region. French resorts occupy the top five rankings this year as uncertainty surrounding Lex Weber in Switzerland dampened sales, and as a result price growth. In the past year ski homes in Europe’s top resorts have continued on the same trajectory that they have been following since 2008; no radical acceleration or deceleration just small single digit shifts year on year. Overall, the index proved largely static with only a marginal 1% fall recorded in the year to June 2015 and explains that in the case of a resort like Val d’Isere, for example, the length of its ski season explains its long standing appeal, particularly with British buyers. Few other Alpine resorts can guarantee sufficient snow to ski during both the Christmas and Easter holiday periods, it continues and in Meribel’s case, a combination of its location in the heart of The Three Valleys and its pricing explains its annual growth. Meribel provides better value than Courchevel 1850, but can compete with 1550 and 1650 in terms of facilities. Investment in the form of new residential developments such as Olympe in Les Allues and Point de Vue in Meribel Village has also helped to build confidence amongst buyers. In real price terms, the exclusive resorts of Courchevel 1850 and Gstaad come out on top, with prime prices typically around €25,000 and CHF30,000 per square meter respectively. A prime ski chalet in Gstaad is, on this basis, four times the price of an equivalent property in the French resort of St Gervais. The report also shows that in the French Alps, the focus of sales activity in the last 12 months has been within the €1.5 million and €2.5 million price bracket. The super prime market at… Continue reading
