Tag Archives: real estate
NLA reminds UK landlords about upcoming immigration checks
The National Landlords Association is reminding UK landlords about the importance of conducting tenant checks shortly before new legislation will require them to check the immigration status of every new tenant. As of the 01 December 2014 landlords in the West Midlands where a pilot scheme is being introduced, will be responsible for carrying out ‘right to rent’ checks in order to identify if a potential tenant has the right to reside in the UK, before they grant a tenancy. If the checks are not carried out landlords could face a fine of up to £3,000. The new rules, set out in the Immigration Act, will be rolled out around the rest of the UK in 2015. The NLA recommends that landlords always check potential tenants thoroughly in order to reduce the risk of letting to unreliable tenants and minimise the risk of rent arrears. Services such as the NLA Tenant Check give landlords the ability to vet their tenants and be confident it has been done to a professional standard. ‘In some areas as early as this December, the Immigration Act will place a legal responsibility on landlords to help prevent illegal immigrants from accessing private rented accommodation,’ said NLA chairman Carolyn Uphill. ‘It has always been best practice to conduct a thorough check on prospective tenants, but if landlords don’t do their due diligence on tenants they could be in line for a hefty penalty,’ she explained. ‘The NLA exists to support all landlords to make a success of their lettings business and to ensure they comply with the law,’ she pointed out and added that to see how the NLA can help with this forthcoming requirement landlords can go online to the NLA Tenant Check website. Meanwhile, Harrison Murray Lettings (HM Lettings), the lettings arm of the Nottingham Building Society, said it aims to lead the way in ensuring all potential tenants are eligible to live in the UK. ‘We want to safeguard and support the rights of both landlord and tenant whilst ensuring we are operating in line with the latest legislation,’ said Group Lettings controller Paul Offley. The Home Office has not yet issued specific instructions but it is likely that British passport holders will only need to show their current passport and those without passports will have to produce alternative documents including birth or adoption certificate in combination with a National Insurance number, driving licence, naturalisation certificate or a right of abode certificate. Citizens of the 27 member countries of the European Union plus Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, are expected to show as evidence a passport and national identity card or evidence of receipt of UK benefits. People from other countries should have a Biometric Residence Permit which clearly states the time limit on their stay but foreign visitors staying for less than six months cannot obtain a Biometric Residence Permit and would need to show a passport containing a UK immigration stamp with a time limit that is still valid. Continue reading
US residential property price growth moderates for eleventh month in a row
Residential real estate prices saw moderating price growth for an eleventh month in a row, according to the latest figures from property data provider Clear Capital. Nationally, yearly gains decreased from a high of 11.7% in October 2013 to just 7.8% through September 2014. This trend is amplified in the West, where annual gains are cut nearly in half, from highs of 19.5% in October 2013 to 10.9% in September 2014. The firm said that if the ongoing moderation in the West, still the recovery leader, continues at its current pace it will be a foreboding sign of future declines but added that metro market trends will continue to keep buyers on their toes, as national and regional recoveries wane at varying velocities. For example, in Detroit discounted opportunities helped push prices up 21.9% year on year in September. Meanwhile the Hartford MSA saw declines of 1.1% over the quarter and 0.4% over the year, highlighting the type of market performance disparity that characterises the present market. The data also shows that each of the lowest performing 15 markets posted less than a 1% gain over the last quarter. This group remains subject to short term declines which could eventually turn into yearly losses. The report also shows that discounted distressed deals continue to dry up, down from a national high of 38.4% in 2011 to just 16.5% in September 2014. While this is generally a positive sign, Clear Capital points out that distressed sales helped drive the investor demand that kick started the recovery. ‘Historically, we’ve observed rising prices as distressed saturation declined. While reduction of distressed saturation is a healthy move for markets long term, over the short term it removes a key demand segment at a time when full buyer momentum has yet to be established,’ the report explains. It adds that the correlation between drastic declines in price gains and declines in distressed saturation is most visible in the West. Distressed saturation was at an all-time high of 50.5% in 2009 falling to just 12.6% in September 2014. As distressed saturation fell, so did price gains. Yearly price gains in the West have fallen to 10.9%. This nearly 50% drop in price gains since October 2013 is in sync with declines in distressed saturation. Clear Capital also says that future home price gains are more dependent on owner occupied purchases as the rising price floor and dwindling discounted deals leave investors with fewer opportunities and owner occupied demand is in part driven by consumer sentiment, among other key drivers, like jobs. While consumer sentiment levels reached a 14 month high in September, according to the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment index, momentum has tempered like home prices. Consumer sentiment yearly growth rates have softened 7% over the last seven months. Each of the last two times consumer sentiment rates have seen negative yearly changes, prices have declined. As housing seeks stability, moderating rates of consumer confidence and price gains foreshadow a third potential dip. ‘Heading into… Continue reading
Foreclosure and distressed property sales in the US fall considerably year on year
There are fewer homes in the United States being sold which are in foreclosure as the real estate market continues its recovery. The national foreclosure inventory fell by 33% year on year in August 2014 to approximately 629,000 properties, or 1.6% of all homes with a mortgage, down from 936,000, or 2.4% in August 2013. According to the data from CoreLogic this marks 34 months of continuous year on year declines in the inventory of foreclosed homes, including 19 straight months of declines greater than 20%. Also in August, the 12 month sum of completed foreclosures continued to decline, dropping 20% from a year ago to 576,000. The seriously delinquent inventory fell to 1.6 million loans, a 21.7% decline from August 2013. The five states with the largest year on year drop in the foreclosure inventory were Utah which was down 46%, Idaho down 45.6%, Arizona down 44.5%, Florida down 43.6% and Iowa down 42.6. The data also shows that 49 states posted declines in the foreclosure inventory from a year ago, with 44 states showing decreases of more than 20%. Only the District of Columbia and Wyoming saw year on year increases in foreclosure inventory. Florida has seen the biggest improvement, falling 7.3% from its February 2011 peak level of 12.5% to its August rate of 5.2%. The foreclosure rate in New Jersey peaked in March 2013, much later than in Florida and the state has a 1.6% improvement in the foreclosure rate from its peak rate. Both New York and Hawaii experienced peak foreclosure rates in September 2012, and have experienced similar declines in foreclosure rates, with New York falling 0.9% from its peak and Hawaii falling 1.1% from its peak. Distressed sales (Real Estate Owned and short sales) accounted for 11.1% of total home sales in July 2014, the lowest share since December 2007 and a strong improvement from the same time a year ago when this category made up 15.5% of total sales. Within this category, REO sales made up 7.1% of total home sales, and short sales made up 4% of total sales in July. At its peak, the distressed sales share totalled 32.5% of all sales in January 2009, with REO sales making up 28% of that share. CoreLogic says in its report that the ongoing shift away from REO sales is a driver of improving home prices, as REOs typically sell at a larger discount than do short sales. There will always be some amount of distress in the housing market, so one would never expect a 0% distressed sales share, and by comparison, the pre-crisis share of distressed sales was traditionally about 2%. Michigan had the largest share of distressed sales of any state at 26.3% in July, followed by Florida at 23.3%, Illinois at 23.3%, Nevada at 21.9% and Georgia at 19.8%. California experienced a 13.7% drop in the distressed sales share from a year earlier, the largest of any state. California also saw the largest improvement from peak distressed… Continue reading
