Tag Archives: real-estate
More people in UK back new homes being built I their area, new survey shows
Support for new house building in the UK has almost doubled in the past four years and there is more support for aspiring home owners, new figures show. The data from the British Social Attitude survey reveals that 56% of those questioned support new home being built in their area, some 27 points higher than in 2010. Similarly, the numbers opposed to local house building have more than halved during the same period, from 46% in 2010 to just over one in five now. Housing Minister Brandon Lewis welcomed the figures and said that house building and efforts to help aspiring home owners are central to the government’s long term economic plan. He pointed out that over the past year, housing starts have increased by 10%, while the numbers of first time buyers are at their highest for seven years. ‘Since 2010 the government has scrapped top down targets that pitted neighbours against developers, and replaced them with locally led development through local and neighbourhood plans,’ said Lewis. Councils have also received over £3.4 billion in New Homes Bonus payments to reward communities for building new homes and in the year to October, planning permission has been granted on 240,000 new homes across the country,’ he added. The figures show that those strongly supporting new house building in their area has tripled, from 5% in 2010 to 16% in 2014, while strong opposition has fallen by nearly a third over the same period. The figures also show strong support for efforts to help aspiring home owners, with 38% of those surveyed citing financial support for first time buyers as the best thing the government can do to make homes more affordable. Lewis also pointed out that to date, the Help to Buy scheme has helped over 88,000 households to buy with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require and the new Starter Homes initiative will also enable young first time buyers to purchase a newly built home with a 20% discount. The survey also shows that another 27% backed moves to allocate funding to councils and housing associations to build more homes and since 2010, nearly 217,000 affordable homes have been delivered while council house building starts are at a 23 year high. Continue reading
Asking prices up across UK led by Scotland and East Anglia
Asking prices have risen across all regions in England, Scotland and Wales over the last month, reflecting widespread positive sentiment across the UK, the latest index suggests. However, higher prices are also tempting vendors to put their properties on the market and the supply of property for sale in London, for example, has overtaken demand, according to the latest index from Home.co.uk. This is shown by a steep rise in the typical time on market which is currently 71 days, some 24 days longer than in March 2014, the report points out, although supply rises in other regions are much more muted. Asking price rises are led by East Anglia and Scotland, both with a monthly rise of 1.4%, and annual rises of 6.2% and 8% respectively. The report also says that an optimism abounds as even in the least well performing areas of the North East and Wales, prices have risen 0.4% and 0.3% respectively since February. A breakdown of the figures show that asking prices in London prices increased a further 2.1% despite rising supply and are up 31% year on year. While asking prices have increased by 1.1% overall in England and Wales during the last month but the average annual appreciation has fallen to 6.8%. Overall, the current mix-adjusted average asking price for England and Wales shows that properties on the market are valued 6.8% higher than they were in March 2014. The typical time on market for England and Wales is now 119 days, which is eight days less than this time last year, and shows that the market continues to gain momentum overall. ‘House prices are surging again, over and above seasonal expectations. The key market drivers of low mortgage interest rates and low supply remain very much in place,’ said Doug Shephard, Home.co.uk director. He pointed out that so far, the market correction in prime central London has not affected sentiment elsewhere in the country, and the flow of mortgage credit to homebuyers and property investors alike continues unabated. ‘We maintain that the best prospects for stable growth this year and next probably lie in regions such as East Anglia, East Midlands, the South West, West Midlands and perhaps Yorkshire. It may be argued that these regions are still in the throes of the recovery phase, as supply remains low and prices have not yet risen out of reach,’ he explained. ‘There are also further indicators that the recovery will, at last, lift the northern regions out of the misery of price stagnation. Those markets are gaining momentum and above inflation price rises look highly likely over the coming months,’ he added. He also pointed out that while prospects for price growth are poor for prime central London this year as an abundance of unsold stock has been whittling away at property values, for the time being, prices do appear to be stabilising. ‘The investment outlook for Greater London remains mixed but will slowly turn… Continue reading
Sales transactions down while lettings thrive in prime London property market
Sales in London’s prime property market have continued to fall for the second month in a row in 2015, with transactions down 22% year on year. According to real estate firm W.A. Ellis, a JLL company, this comes on top of a 34% year on year fall in sales recorded in January. A breakdown of the figures shows that the most dramatic reduction is sales of houses within Belgravia, Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Kensington which have dropped by 100% from 40 sales in 2014 to 19 in the same period this year. ‘Whilst at first glance, these figures may sound alarming, it is always the same in the run up to an election, particularly when property and potential taxation surrounding it, has been at the forefront of all parties’ manifestos,’ said Richard Barber, director at W.A.Ellis. ‘That said, if one uses the same parameters, namely houses sold in the preceding postcodes in previous election years, 2010 and 2005, 47 and 38 houses were sold respectively. He pointed out that an interesting trend that the firm has observed recently is the off market sales sector. ‘With sentiment amongst domestic buyers so cautious, it is not surprising that vendors wish to keep their houses away from the internet, where its exposure and time on the market can so easily be measured,’ he said. ‘There have certainly been several off market sales recently, but these will not contradict the general downward trend in transaction levels,’ he explained, adding that while the top of the prime central London market may be undergoing a weaker period in the face of the election, London’s suburbs are still experiencing strong growth, fuelled in part by buy to let investors benefitting from a reduction in lenders stress testing. He explained that loans of up to 75% (LTV) can now be acquired and the stress test for rental income has in some cases been reduced from 125% to 110%. ‘This is good news for investors, however one must remember that the government, as of 06 April, will be clawing back greater Capital Gains Tax revenues from both foreign owners and corporate structures on all capital gains made after this date,’ said Barber. ‘whilst the outlook for the market over the next 64 days remains tentative, we are still registering strong international interest at the very upper end of the market which is indicative of London’s perception as the number one safe haven and front runner for long term capital growth over the next 10 years,’ he added. In the lettings sector Lucy Morton, director and head of agency at W.A.Ellis, said that the firm is seeing both savvy investors and a cautious buyers entering the lettings dynamics. ‘The savvy investor is looking to buy to let to increase their portfolio prior to the election foreseeing that there could well be a boom in the sales market once the uncertainty is over and a government in place… Continue reading
