Tag Archives: real estate
Rent rises in England and Wales slowing but reach record high
Residential rents have eased across England and Wales, slowly up to reach an all-time record high as the rental market approaches its autumn peak, according to the latest buy to let in The average residential rent across England and Wales is now £761 per month, some £3 higher than the previous record £758 set in October 2013, the data from lettings agent networks Your Move and Reeds Rains shows. On a monthly basis August rents are on average 1.1% higher than was seen in July, an increase of £8 which leaves monthly rents 2.4% higher than a year ago. In absolute terms this annual growth represents an increase of £15. ‘Autumn is when more people move to take up new opportunities, to build new careers and to start new chapters. That is what the rental market is all about for many people by providing flexibility and it’s what it does well at a cost that’s risen in line with inflation for at least half a decade,’ said David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services. ‘No year is the same, and already 2014 has been like no other. The reawakening of mortgage lending startled the property market into a new spring of life earlier in the year. The benefits have been felt across the board, not just for first-time buyers but for tenants too. Investment means rents are now only 1% higher in real terms than at the start of 2010,’ he explained. He pointed out that now that the independence vote is over in Scotland the main issue is over tenant fees. ‘Banning tenant fees in Scotland pushed up rents by £312 per year, or multiple times what a tenant would have paid at the start of a tenancy. Across every corner of Britain this should serve as a lesson in fully thought through policy making,’ said Brown. A breakdown of the data shows that rents in seven out of 10 regions of England and Wales are higher than a year ago. This is led by the South West, where rents are up 3.5% on an annual basis, followed by the South East at 3.4%, and the North West with a 3.3% annual rise. London was not in the top three, with annual rent rises of only 3% while rents in the North East are in fact 1.6% lower than a year ago, while the West Midlands and Wales experienced annual falls of 0.4% and 0.1% respectively. On a monthly basis rents in the North East have by contrast matched London, with both seeing a 1.5% increase in rents since July. Only rents in the South East and the South West of England grew faster on a monthly basis, up 1.7% from July. In total three regions are now seeing lower rents than in July. Alongside annual falls, rents in Wales and the West Midlands are lower… Continue reading
Survey reveals opposition to big housing developments in UK
With general agreement that a major uplift in new home building is crucial to resolution of the UK's housing crisis, half of the population would oppose a major house building programme if it was in their immediate neighbourhood, a survey has found. Some 49% of Britons would be opposed to building more than 300 properties in their neighbourhood and 53% are anti-developments of 100 and 299 properties, according to the Property Tracker survey from the Building Societies Association (BSA). But when asked how much of the UK they believe should be ‘urban’, which is defined as housing, gardens, train lines and parks, nine out of 10 said more than 10% of the country should be developed when currently just 7% of the country is. The majority of Britons are only willing to support developments of one to 10 properties being built in their local area. Against that, the research also shows that Britons are increasingly open to the types of properties they want to live in and want greater diversity in the types of properties and tenures available to them. One in five people say they would be open to buying a shared ownership property, living in an off the shelf kit home, living in a converted retail or office space and even renting long term. And despite the fact that less than 10% of properties built in the UK are custom build, more than a third of Britons are open to building their own home. The research also shows that access to mortgage finance is now the single biggest barrier to owning a home among first time buyers, rising above raising a deposit for the first time since 2012. Now 57% of these buyers say that getting a mortgage is the most difficult hurdle to overcome, compared to 41% in June 2014 and 33% in September last year. Difficulty in accessing finance for home movers has been marginally less striking, rising from 42% in September 2013 to 51% in September 2014. Substantial press coverage around the changes to mortgage regulation implemented in April may be one of the reasons why first-time buyers are especially concerned about getting a mortgage. Recommendations from the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) to bring in a cap of 15% on the total number of mortgages available at or above 4.5 times a borrowers' income may also have affected confidence, especially to those buying for the first time in London and the South East. ‘These consumer views results illustrate the major barrier that governments has to overcome when it comes to boosting housing supply in the UK. People are open to new developments and even different types of housing and tenure, but the message is clear: not in my backyard,’ said Paul Broadhead, head of Mortgage Policy at the BSA. ‘Local opposition is a major barrier to any government building its way out of the current housing crisis and is why we need the position of Housing Minister to be a full Cabinet position… Continue reading
New report warns only well-off will be able to afford to buy a home in the UK
Only the wealthiest of the next generation will be able to buy a home if current trends continue in the UK, according to a new report from the National Housing Federation. It shows that first time buyers now have to pay, in real terms, 10 times the deposit needed in the early 1980s as well as earn more, borrow more, and rely more on family wealth than even a generation ago. The average first time buyer today needs a £30,000 deposit, and has an average income of £36,500compared to the average salary for first time buyers in the 1980s of £20,000. A first time buyer has to borrow 3.4 times their annual income on average, compared to first time buyers in 1979 who needed to borrow just 1.7 times their income and two thirds of first time buyers receive financial help from parents, a figure that has doubled in five years. As a result home ownership is being pushed out of reach of average earners including nurses, firefighters and plumbers. And with the number of home owners falling and first time buyers not getting considerably older, it indicates that the pool of those buying homes is shrinking to those with the greatest wealth. The struggle younger generations face is being felt across the country. In separate polling by YouGov on behalf of the National Housing Federation almost 80% of people in England think it's harder to own a home now than it was for their parents' generation. Eight out of 10 people polled also didn't believe any of the main political parties would effectively deal with housing. Younger people whose parents can't help financially, can find themselves stuck living in their childhood bedrooms or paying high private rents that make it almost impossible to save. The National Housing Federation also highlights that fewer first time buyers in the future could slow down the wider housing market and make it harder for 'second steppers' to move up the ladder. ‘With the high salary, and huge deposit younger generations now need to buy even a modest home, home ownership is quickly becoming an exclusive members club. Sadly, it will depend on the wealth of the family you were born into as much as your own hard work,’ said David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation. ‘We've found that eight out of 10 people don't believe any of the main political parties will effectively deal with housing, but they still have the chance to put that right. With a bold long term government plan for house building our housing crisis is solvable. We desperately need politicians from all sides to commit to ending the housing crisis within a generation,’ he explained. Continue reading
