Tag Archives: real estate
Report reveals key sites in London that could realise at least 100,000 new homes
At least 100,000 homes could be built on public land in London but sites will need co-ordinated planning to maximise delivery, a new analysis suggests. London needs tens of thousands of new homes to be built every year to cope with demand for both owners and tenants as steep population growth coupled with years of undersupply of new homes means that London is bearing the brunt of the UK’s housing crisis. With the city’s population expected to surpass its previous 1939 peak of 8.9 million early next year and continue climbing to 11.3 million by 2050, the need to make full use of public sector assets is pressing, according to the report from real estate firm Savills. It reveals that the process of identifying and co-ordinating the delivery of sites is more advanced in London than in other part of the country. ‘The position of the Greater London Authority (GLA) as a major landowner as well as Mayoral powers to facilitate land assembly are key to delivering more homes. Boroughs are also becoming more proactive at managing their assets and building more homes,’ said Susan Emmett, director of residential research at Savills. The firm’s analysis of the GLA’s asset database, which includes land belonging to Transport for London (TfL), London Legacy Development Corporations (LLDC), London Fire Brigade (LFB) and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), has identified enough public land for at least 100,000 new homes in London. Many of these sites are operational. However, this number also includes sites for the 40,000 new homes previously earmarked by the GLA when it acquired the London property assets of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) worth £365 million in 2012. Of the 635 hectare portfolio inherited at that time, 85% has been developed, committed for development, or is being marketed. Since April 2012 contractual commitments have been entered into for over 145 hectares of land, with an estimated gross development value in excess of £3.6 billion. The Mayor is committed to having an exit strategy in place for all of the GLA’s current landholdings by 2016 and the process is well advanced, the report explains. The analysis of GLA sites marked for disposal showed that many of the saleable sites are grouped in lower value areas to the east of Canary Wharf. ‘Lower value, post-industrial land with poor infrastructure links can be difficult to bring forward through traditional development routes. A co-ordinated approach with the Mayor at the centre is essential to open up new neighbourhoods,’ it adds. It points out that the GLA aims to assist in the regeneration of areas by investing in infrastructure and site decontamination and better transport links and investment in the public realm are also important to encourage development, especially in new areas. ‘There are some good examples of public land already being used in regeneration schemes to bring forward more homes. One major site delivering a substantial number of homes is Barking Riverside with plans for up to… Continue reading
Ski property market in French Alps likely to be boosted by low interest rates
With snow finally arriving across the French Alps a flurry of interest is expected in ski property, especially since interest rates offered by lenders in France are so low. Rates below 3% were available in 2014 and the beginning of 2015 may herald even lower rates in France as the long term outlook for growth in Europe remains weak, according to John Busby, private clients director of French Private Finance. He pointed out that the TEC 10 index dropped below 1% for the first time in December, hitting 0.86%. ‘It is worth stressing again that this is now the rate investors will receive when lending to the French Government for a 10 year period. Hopefully this drop will continue to make it through to retail mortgage rates and so buyers will continue to benefit, said Busby. He also pointed out that it seems that the controversial social charges of 15.5% which were added to French capital gains and rental income tax are in fact illegal under European law and many people who sold a property during 2014 are now making cases to reclaim the tax which they have overpaid. ‘This is also reassuring news for those looking to buy over the busy ski property season,’ added Busby. According to Francois Marchand, general manager at Erna Low Property, the ever lower interest rates offered by the French Banks and a weakening Euro versus the Sterling has triggered earlier property searching by clients in the French Alps. ‘Enquiries from savvy investors are up 20% year on year since the end of the summer. Site visits have been taking place since the beginning of September,’ he said. He explained that over the past 12 months, many exciting new developments have appeared in the French Alps with a few new hot spots for investors for example Châtel, part of the Portes du Soleil ski area. Erna Low Property has sourced a few new property developments ready for this ski season or for next December 2015 with leaseback options. Les Gets, also part of the Portes du Soleil and a short drive from Geneva Airport, having been short of new property developments for sale for a few years, due to a need to upgrade the draining systems and water supplies, now has a greater variety of new properties for sale. Tignes les Brevieres has long been popular for its flexible leaseback investment with the British market, with direct access to the world renowned Espace Killy ski domain and in the same ski area, La Plagne has a new leaseback property investment, ski-in ski-out, of fully furnished apartments ready in December 2016. ‘Over the past two years, we have experienced a great increase in activity levels, the winter season has started in the middle of summer for us, which is something we last saw in 2008,’ said James Ross, sales manager at Erna Low Property . ‘It appears that the French Alps is enjoying a renaissance as a favourite… Continue reading
US home owners more confident than those who rent, new analysis suggests
Home owners in the United States are generally more confident than renters in their local housing market’s performance, according to the latest research from Zillow. But this confidence gap is widening in areas with rapid home value growth and narrowing in areas with more restrained growth, the firm says. Overall home owners have become more confident about their decision to invest in a home where home values in their area have increased more rapidly. By contrast, renters feel that they cannot escape renting and have lowered their aspirations for homeownership in areas where home values have increased more rapidly. Rapidly rising home values have powerful psychological effects on both home owners and renters and research has shown peoples’ expectations about the future are strongly anchored in recent experience. Rapid asset price growth can contribute to what has sometimes been labelled ‘irrational exuberance’, or overly optimistic and self-perpetuating positive feedback in price trends. Zillow’s Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) is designed to be a forward looking measure of housing market health by gauging the beliefs and aspirations of home owners and renters towards the future state of the housing market. There are two groups, those that have experienced rapid recent home value growth in excess of 9% annually between July 2013 and July 2014, when the survey was last conducted, and those that have experienced more restrained growth of less than 9% over the same period. By this classification, nine metro areas have experienced rapid home value growth and in general, the ZHCI is higher for home owners than for renters. The firm says this is not surprising since, relative to renters, home owners typically have higher incomes and a more optimistic perspective about the economy and housing market. But as the economy has improved, the gap between home owners’ and renters’ confidence index levels has widened in metros where home value growth has been rapid, and narrowed in metros where home value growth has been more restrained. Home owners and renters have very similar perspectives on the overall housing market and the ZHCIs for both groups tend to move together. A larger improvement in outlook among renters is the primary driver of converging optimism levels in slow home value growth markets. But the opposite is true in markets where home values are growing more rapidly. In these markets, optimism levels are diverging. Because home owners’ wealth is largely tied to the value of their home, slower home value growth results in a smaller change in home owners’ housing market outlook. In markets where home values are appreciating at a slower pace, renters have become increasingly optimistic about their potential for future home ownership. The Home ownership Aspirations Index, which measures how optimistic owners and renters are about their future home ownership prospects, increased more for renters in slow growth markets than for home owners. But in markets where home values are rising rapidly, renters are becoming increasingly disillusioned, as they likely see the possibility for future… Continue reading
