Tag Archives: news
Number of retired people renting in UK soars in last four years
The number of people living in private rented accommodation in retirement in the UK has soared by more than 200,000 in the last four years, according to a new poll. Overall, the survey from the National Landlords Association (NLA) shows that the proportion of retired private renters has grown by 13% since 2012 as more and more people turn to the private rented sector. Some 17% of the retired private renting population live in the South East, the area with the highest proportion across the UK. However, just 3% live in London which is the area with the smallest proportion area across England and Wales for renting in retirement. There are almost four times as many retired renters in the North West at 15% compared to the North East at 4% and twice as many retirees rent property in the West Midlands at 8% compared to the East Midlands at 4%. However, the proportion of landlords who let to retired renters has almost halved during the same timeframe, with 9% of landlords saying they currently let to retirees compared to 19% in 2012. The findings suggest that it could become harder for those approaching retirement to find suitable rented accommodation in the future, especially in high demand areas, according to Carolyn Uphill, chairman of the NLA. ‘More and more people are turning to private rented housing at every stage of their lives, including in retirement. Landlords appreciate the stability and assurances often provided by older households, but are finding it increasingly difficult to build businesses around the needs of potentially vulnerable tenants,’ she explained. ‘Successive cuts to the welfare budget, uncertainty about pension provisions, and the devastating impact of the Government’s tax changes are likely to mean that private landlords will soon be unable provide homes in high cost areas like Central London for anyone without a well-paying job,’ she pointed out. ‘As the proportion of retired renters continues to grow there’s a real worry that homes won’t be available in the private sector, forcing people to look further afield, leaving communities they have known and contributed to for decades,’ she added. Continue reading
Hove named as most desirable place for young professionals to buy a home
The seaside town of Hove is the most desirable location to buy a home in England and Wales for young professionals for the second year in a row, according to the latest research. It is the BN3 postal district in the town on England’s south coast that tops the research from Lloyds Bank with neighbour Brighton’s BN1 postal district coming in as the seventh most popular place to live for aspiring 25 to 44 year olds. Attractive factors include a diverse population, the availability of music venues, theatres, independent shops, bars and restaurants, and the fact that it is under 70 minutes train ride to London, have made Brighton and Hove one of the most sought after places for young professionals to live. London itself continues to prove popular with young professionals, with 16 of the 20 areas with the most property sales to this group being located in the capital. Some 10 of these areas have a SW post code and include locations such as Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Battersea, Balham and Clapham. Away from south London, the most popular areas for young professionals are Hampstead, Kilburn, Paddington and Islington while the RG1 area of Reading is the 20th most popular place for aspiring young urbanites, drawn by a combination of Reading’s short commuting time to London, close proximity to technology businesses and the planned opening of Cross Rail in 2019. Beyond London and the South-East, Didsbury in south Manchester is the most popular hotspot for young professionals. This bustling area has become a magnet for commuters due to its proximity to Manchester city centre and major motorway networks. Around the regions, the other popular hotspots for career minded young people include the CB4 area of Cambridge, West Bridgford in Nottingham, Jesmond in Newcastle, Cardiff Central in Wales and Broomhill in Sheffield. However, on average young professionals pay a premium of £88,000 for a home in the most popular postal districts compared to the wider city or town in which they are located. But the average house price in the most popular postal district of BN3 is £33,972 lower than in the whole of Hove at £352,718 compared to £386,690. In other areas of London the price premium is considerably larger. In the W4 district of Chiswick the average house price of £866,492 is £390,388 higher than in local area district of Hounslow. And, in the N1 area of Islington houses are trading at an average premium of £267,891 compared to the whole of the Islington borough. Even outside London young professionals face hefty prices for a home in the most popular areas. In Didsbury homes trade at a premium of £106,383 compared to Manchester at £266,105 compared to £159,722. In Clifton the average house price of £397,599 is £132,163 higher than in Bristol as a whole and in Harborne they trade at a premium of £101,592 compared to the whole of Birmingham. The three most expensive areas for young professionals all command an average… Continue reading
More than 50% of UK developers and builders plan to increase construction this year
More than half of developers and builders in the UK are planning to increase housing starts and completions over the next 12 months, according to a new survey report. Some 56% said they were planning to recruit more skilled workers in the next three years but many want to see more resources in local authority planning departments, the House Building Report 2016 from real estate consultants Knight Frank shows. Indeed, some 30% said making the planning process for public sector land more streamlined would help boost development numbers and 57% said they had not seen an increase in access to public sector land. On top of this 73% said the cost and availability of labour will have a negative impact on future housing supply at a time when it is at the centre of the national and local political debate. The expanding UK population, a structural historical undersupply of new housing and a slowdown in movement up and down the housing chain is now injecting a sense of urgency into the need to deliver more new build property, the report points out. . Over the last five years, the UK Government has made significant changes to the planning system, introduced schemes to boost development and put pressure on local authorities and public bodies to sell surplus land. While there has been an increase in housing delivery, but the supply of new build homes is still lagging demand on an annual basis, disregarding the historical shortfall. The country’s largest housebuilders, along with the Home Builders Federation (HBF), have recently pledged to help deliver one million homes by 2020, recognising that there needs to be ‘significant further action from the housebuilding industry’. The report assesses the next steps required to address the need for housing over the coming years. For example, the need to address the increasingly onerous levels of pre-commencement conditions applied in some planning permissions and the length of time taken to sign them off. The report points out that official house building data released each quarter from Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) shows that some 152,440 new homes were completed across the UK in 2014/2015 and Knight Frank estimates that this will rise to around 172,000 in 2015/2016. New quarterly data on English new build completions show a 12% rise in 2015/2016 to just under 140,000. However, separate retrospective data published by the DCLG shows that 155,080 new homes were completed in 2014/2015. ‘This suggests that the quarterly data is underestimating total house building across England,’ said Grainne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank. ‘Whatever data is considered, there has been a significant step up in the delivery of new homes over the last few years and large house builders are now constructing 60% more homes than in 2010,’ she added. She explained that on an annual basis, Knight Frank estimates a 12% rise in new build completions in the last year. However, on both… Continue reading
