Tag Archives: real-estate
Confidence in UK housing market falls to lowest level for a year
After staying high and steady for the last year consumer confidence in the UK housing market has fallen to its lowest level in 12 months. According to the latest quarterly Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker, this dip mirrors a small fall in confidence over the outlook for the economy in the coming year. However the overall picture for house prices remains relatively robust as the difference between those who think it is a good time to buy and those who think it is a good time to sell has converged, which points to a period of fairly stable house prices. ‘In the last three years consumer confidence in the outlook for the housing market has increased significantly,’ said Craig McKinlay, mortgages director at the Halifax. ‘For the last year however, it seems to have reached a ceiling and, with speculation as the strength of the economy increasing in the last few months, confidence has fallen to its lowest level in 12 months,’ he explained. ‘However, the national figures mask big regional differences, and more than half of people in London, 55%, think the next 12 months will be a bad time to buy compared to compared to 37% of Britons overall,’ he added. A breakdown shows that regionally, those in London have the most positive outlook for the average UK property price, with 79% expecting a rise in compared to 68% overall. This is no doubt a contributing factor for London also being the only region where a greater proportion think it’ll be a bad time to buy, than those who think it’ll be a good time to buy at 55% and 33% respectively. This is the second consecutive quarter there has been a net negative figure for Londoners’ buying sentiment. The most frequently mentioned perceived barrier to buying is being able to raise enough deposit, with 57% saying this is an issue. However, this has fallen from the 63% who said this one year ago, in the third quarter of 2014. In the last three months, the proportion citing household finances as a barrier has risen eleven percentage points from 28% to 39%. Meanwhile, 19% mention concerns about interest rate rises as a barrier to buying. This is in line with the second quarter of 2014 when this figure was 18%, but higher than this time last year when it was 11%. Since the last quarter there has been a significant decrease in the proportion expecting the average UK property price to rise over the next 12 months, from 71% in the second quarter of 2014 to 68% in the third quarter. While the proportions expecting a small rise of up to 10% higher have remained stable, the proportion expecting an increase of 10% or more but less than 15% has fallen from 11% in the second quarter of the year to 9%. Continue reading
September real estate market moves on from election in New Zealand
There has been a notable increase in activity in the New Zealand residential real estate market with buyers and sellers putting the general election behind them. Sales in September increased by 7.8% compared with the previous month but are still 12% down on a year ago, according to the latest index from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ). The national median price was $420,000 for the month of September, an increase of $20,000 or 5% compared to September 2013, and steady from August 2014. The index also shows that days to sell improved by three days to 35 days compared to August, and eased four days compared to September 2013 ‘The real estate market appears to have moved on from the election, with a noticeable increase in activity over the last 10 days of the month,’ said REINZ chief executive Helen O’Sullivan. But she pointed out that despite stronger activity in the latter part of the month, sales volumes were again well down on the same time last year, meaning that sales volumes compared to last year have now fallen for 11 months in a row. Also, the pace of price increases has eased significantly, with the annual rate of price increase now only 5% compared to more than 10% in April. ‘A key theme reported by agents across the entire country is a lack of new listings. Unusually, listing levels are low even in Auckland where prices are at historically high levels, with the increased prices not tempting vendors into the market,’ said O’Sullivan. ‘There has been some pick up in listings in line with the start of spring, albeit not at the usual levels for this time of year. This may in part be a lag effect from the election. As with sales activity, listing interest is reported as having picked up in the last week of the September. We will be closely watching listing levels in October as a continued lack of choice is frustrating would be buyers,’ she added. Sales Volumes A breakdown of the figures shows that 10 regions recorded an increase in sales volume compared to August with Otago recording the largest percentage increase of 25.4%, followed by Northland with 19.1% and Hawkes Bay with 14.6%. Compared to September 2013 all 12 regions recorded a decrease in sales volume with Taranaki recording the largest fall of 31.5%, followed by Auckland and Nelson/Marlborough with a fall of 17.1%. While the total number of sales was down 12% compared to September 2013, the number of sales below $400,000 fell by 18.2%. This follows a fall in sales below $400,000 of 24.8% between August 2013 and August 2014. Nine regions recorded an increase in the median price and 68% of the increase in the national median price compared to September last year occurred in Auckland, with Canterbury/Westland contributing 20% of the increase and Waikato/Bay of Plenty contributing 5%. Together these three regions accounted for 92% of the increase in the… Continue reading
Prime central London rental values up for seventh month in a row
Rental values in prime central London rose for the seventh consecutive month in September, though at a slower rate than in recent months, the latest index shows. An increase of 0.2% took annual growth to 1.6%, which is the highest rate in two and a half years as the rental market in prime central London continues to recover, according to an analysis from real estate firm Knight Frank. The recovery, which began at the start of the year, comes as the UK economy returns to health after the financial crisis. Last month, the Office for National Statistics said the country’s economy was 2.7% larger in the second quarter of the year compared to its pre-crisis peak. It also revised its second-quarter growth figure higher to 0.9%. Similarly, the rental value index is fast approaching the pre-Lehman Brothers peak recorded in March 2008. Rental values fell before rising in 2011 to exceed that peak due to a supply squeeze but had been in decline since September 2011 until the start of this year due to the fragile UK economy. The number of new prospective tenants in September was 22% higher than the same month last year and the total for the first nine months of the year was 19% higher than the same period in 2013. Meanwhile, the high number of new tenancies agreed by Knight Frank in September meant the total in the first nine months of the year was 48% higher than 2013 while the number of tenancies commenced was up 55% over the same period. However. Tom Bill, head of London residential research at Knight Frank, the rentals market will also benefit as the uncertainty of next May’s general election dampens demand to some degree in the sales market. ‘While there is no marked trend of vendors deciding to become landlords and buyers becoming tenants, it is happening to some degree and there are increasing instances of properties being marketed to both the sales and rentals market,’ he said. He pointed out that annual growth for rental values in the £1,500 per week and above category was 1.9% while it was 0.9% for properties below that figure. Rental yields also continued their recovery in September, rising from 2.82% to 2.84%. ‘It is not high by historical standards but it was the largest monthly increase in more than three years,’ added Bill. Continue reading
