Tag Archives: real-estate
House price growth in England and Wales at slowest since 2013
House price growth in England and Wales is at its slowest since 2013 but despite this average property prices set a new record of £275,123, the latest data shows. March saw the smallest annual change in house prices in 16 months at 5.6% or £14,620, according to the LSL England and Wales house price index. The slowdown was more prevalent in the south as London was hit by the threat of higher stamp duty charges and a potential mansion tax after the general election. Month on month prices were up 0.2% and the annual change when London is excluded from the calculation was slightly lower at 4.9% but the difference has narrowed considerably. While sales were up 11.6% in March this was only half of the typical monthly upswing expected to take place at this time of the year and sales in the first quarter of 2015 were down 5% year on year. Adrian Gill, director of Reeds Rains and Your Move estate agents, said that annual house price growth has now been waning for half a year, and hasn’t been this sluggish since November 2013. He also pointed out that this is far from typical as the general election next month means that cautious buyers are holding back to wait and see what happens with whoever forms the next government and property regulation is a hot topic in one of the most uncertain UK elections in a generation. ‘Examining the regional pattern of movement, it becomes apparent that we’re seeing less of a downturn than a convergence. The radical stamp duty overhaul has greatly boosted the prospects of buyers across the country, and injected new life into areas where prices have been stalled and the recovery yet to show its face,’ he explained. ‘But the small minority of those negatively affected by the restructuring of the old slab system are disproportionately concentrated in the more expensive, southern regions of England. Naturally, London has been the hardest hit at the sharp end of this reform, and also most directly threatened by future mansion tax, possessing the lion’s share of high-end property, and the clustering of properties in the million pound price bracket mirrors the locations where price rises have cooled most quickly,’ he added. He also pointed out that between January and February, the South West has seen annual house price rises fall back from 5.5% to 4.4%, the most marked slowdown across England and Wales, and closely followed by London and the South East, which both experienced falls of 0.9%. ‘While values in London and the South West are no longer at their peak, the East and West Midlands and East of England are instead among those setting new price records in February,’ said Gill. ‘For so long, London has been the workhorse dragging up overall measures of UK house price growth, but we’ve reached a new equilibrium. While house price growth is more measured than it was a year… Continue reading
House sales flatten in UK due to forthcoming general election, says RICS
Buyer enquiries and house sales have flattened in the UK in the run up to the general election, according to the latest monthly market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In most parts of the country, the supply versus demand imbalance led to 21% more surveyors reporting a rise in house prices in March, up from 15% in February, and 15% more surveyors expecting prices to increase over the next three months compared with 10% in February but the results for both are significantly lower than in March 2014. Nationally, Northern Ireland continues to outperform the rest of the UK with the strongest house price growth in March and the highest price expectations over the next three months. However, across much of the rest of the UK, particularly in Wales and Scotland, price gains over the next three months are expected to be much more moderate. In London, a lack of prospective buyers saw enquiries and the number of agreed sales both fall for the eleventh consecutive month and 24% more surveyors reported a decline in the number of new properties coming onto the market for sale. However, compared to the start of the year when 42% more surveyors reported a decrease in prices, just 13% more surveyors saw prices fall in March and across the whole of the UK, the average surveyor sold 19.5 properties, reflecting activity since Autumn, although it remains some way down on where it was in the early part of 2014. The boost that was given to the housing market by the Help to Buy scheme has begun to dissipate and activity levels have slipped back as a result, according to Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist. ‘Even more worrying are the tentative signs that price momentum could be set to pick up once again as the supply of stock to the market continues to fall. Anecdotal evidence does suggest that election uncertainty may be having some impact on the market, but underlying the trends visible in the latest survey is a very real housing crisis which will urgently need to be addressed by the next government,’ he explained. ‘It is significant that price expectations nationally are accelerating both at the three and twelve month time horizons and at the latter they are at their highest level since the spring of last year,’ he added. Continue reading
Improved economy and political stability boost Cairo property markets
All sectors of the Cairo real estate market have witnessed a positive performance and improved sentiment during the first three months of 2015 due to stronger confidence and investment appetite created by increased economic and political stability. A new analysis from international real estate firm JLL says that this confidence is most clearly illustrated by the recent announcement of the mega real estate project Cairo Capital which will serve as an extension for New Cairo and will draw the centre of gravity further to the East of the existing city. The report shows that residential sale prices have continued to increase across Cairo in the first quarter of the year with office rents increasing in New Cairo and retail rents edging further upwards over the past quarter. The hotel sector has also recorded improved performance with tourist numbers and hotel occupancy rates improving. The performance of both the tourism sector and other parts of the real estate market are expected to continue to benefit from increased levels of foreign investment into Egypt, committed at the recent Economic Summit in Sharma El Sheikh in March 2015. The report points out that Cairo’s residential market continues to recover with improved sales figures as a result of the recovering economic and political sentiment. Apartment and villa sale prices increased during 2015 across all the areas monitored by JLL as many residential developments have few units left and have increased prices accordingly. Performance in the rental sector remains more mixed, with some properties experiencing an increase while others are experiencing a reduction due to the unstructured nature of the rentals market in Egypt. An extra 31,000 units are planned to be delivered during 2015 of which 11,000 are in New Cairo and 19,000 are in the 6th of October. ‘The positive economic outlook arising from the Economic Summit is expected to result in additional investment in the residential sector, strengthening the market further in 2015,’ the report says. During the first quarter of the year some 250 units were completed in Al Rehab City, New Cairo, in addition to 640 units in the Zayed complex, increasing the current supply to around 106,000 units. A further 31 residential developments are expected to complete in the rest of 2015 ten of which will be in the second quarter, adding an extra 30,000 units to the current supply. The report points out that the Palm Hills Development is notable, with five of their developments planned to be delivered in the second quarter alone. ‘Despite this additional supply, the positive sentiment is expected to result in increased selling prices over the coming year,’ it adds. Cairo’s office market witnessed a slight improvement during the first quarter of 2015 as rental rates increased significantly in New Cairo due to relatively higher demand. Rental rates in Central Cairo and West Cairo remained unchanged. The major completion in the first quarter of2015 was Park Avenue located on the Cairo… Continue reading
