Tag Archives: stumbleupon
Home sales in England and Wales up 13% month on month in July
Monthly home sales in England and Wales increased by 13% in July with growth driven by transactions in the North, the latest housing index shows. House prices increased by 0.3% compared to the previous month, taking the average price of a home to £279,515, according to the LSL house price index. On an annual basis the index shows an increase of 3.7%, rising to 4% if London and the South East data is excluded. The data also shows that house prices increased across six regions, led by East Anglia which saw an annual increase of 6.3%. While in Reading prices have risen by 15.2% in the last year which the firm believes is due to it being on the route of the new London Cross Rail project. And in 27% of local authority areas in England prices have reached new peak levels, including Warrington, the West Midlands, Milton Keynes, Bristol, and Devon. It means that England and Wales have experienced their strongest July for home sales since 2007 monthly sales surpassed 2014 levels for first time this year. According to Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, the housing market recovery is well established although London is no longer leading the growth. Indeed, London is eighth out of the 10 regions in England and Wales in terms of annual rises. London ranks only above the North and Wales with 1.8% price growth year on year in June 2015, which has halved from 3.6% in May. Sexton said that this downtrend in London is now lowering the average growth for England and Wales as a whole. ‘London has been stalled by more aggressive graduated Stamp Duty and taxation levied at the highest rungs of the property market, plus the rising value of Sterling compared to the Euro,’ he explained. The data shows that in the most expensive boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster sales during the second quarter of 2015 were down 33% and 31% respectively year on year. But there are signs of the market bouncing back with property values recording healthy monthly rises of 2.3% and 2.1% in Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster. ‘Overall homes sales reached 90,000 in July, a boost of 13% from the previous month. This marks the first time this year that sales levels have overtaken the equivalent month in 2014 and is actually the strongest July since 2007, when the market was building up to its pre-crisis peak. Sales were 35% higher then, standing at 120,845 in July 2007,’ Sexton pointed out. The North and Yorkshire and Humberside have seen the fastest sales growth, with transactions in the second quarter of the year up 29% and 25% respectively on the previous quarter. It is purchases of detached properties which have seen the biggest quarterly boost and in the North sales of this type of home increased by 41%. However, first time buyer sales have slowed since the start of 2015, and sales of… Continue reading
£26 million fund announced to boost UK starter home programme
A £26 million fund for house builders in the UK has been launched to pave the way for the first wave of new starter homes aimed at first time buyers. Communities Secretary Greg Clark said high quality homes will be available for first time buyers and the fund will make sure that a range of different types of properties can be accessed. The fund will support architects, developers, councils, housing associations and small builders to build properties that will increase the quality of design as the government delivers on its pledge to build 200,000 starter homes by 2020. It will be used to acquire brownfield sites to provide land for starter homes. Money from the sales of these sites will go back to the government, securing good value for the taxpayer. In a further move to support aspiring home owners the government has also made available up to £10 million for local authorities to prepare more brownfield land for development of starter homes. ‘We are committed to delivering 200,000 starter homes by the end of this Parliament, providing a real boost to aspiring young first time buyers. This competitive fund will build homes that will clearly show the wide range of new properties that will be available for first-time buyers as they take their first step on the housing ladder,’ said Clark. ‘We are also helping bring back into use more brownfield land for development, keeping the country building and delivering the homes our communities need,’ he added. Helping young people achieve their dream of home ownership is a priority for the government, according to Housing Minister Brandon Lewis who added that already more than 100,000 households have been helped to buy a home through the flagship Help to Buy scheme and starter homes should be another game changer. ‘This fund will help kick start that change and show young people across the country the quality they can expect when they buy a starter home. It’s further proof that this government’s long term economic plan is on track,’ he added. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), said it will support the starter home initiative by offering its land and development expertise and this will help even more first time buyers into affordable home ownership. ‘We look forward to working with our key delivery partners including councils, developers, housing associations, small builders and architects in taking this forward, through the identification and purchase of land suitable for exemplar starter home sites,’ said HCA chief executive Andy Rose. According to Stephen Stone, chief executive of construction firm Crest Nicholson, the announcement will not only help first time buyers get onto the property ladder, but it will also accelerate further output across the industry at a time when housing need is at an all time high. The government’s new Housing Bill and proposed national planning policy changes will introduce a series of planning reforms that will ensure hundreds of thousands of starter homes will be built. These include requiring local… Continue reading
Land owners in Scotland urged to register voluntarily for new mapping process
Registers of Scotland (RoS) is to work with Scottish Land and Estates to make sure that landowners in Scotland are part of the process that will see all privately owned land registered and mapped by 2024. The Scottish Government has asked RoS to complete the country’s land register by 2024 for privately owned land and property and by 2019 for publicly owned titles. At the moment, around 58% of all Scottish properties are on the register and around 27% of Scotland's land mass. Almost all the remaining properties are held on the General Register of Sasines. Property currently transfers from the Sasine to the Land Register through change in ownership, or by the owner voluntarily applying for registration. However from April next year this register will close to standard securities, such as a remortgage, and any change to title will automatically come on to the land register. Landowners are being urged to register their land voluntarily with officials pointing out that benefits will include clarity of title on the map based system, which provides greater certainty and security about what is owned. A voluntary registration also includes a state backed warranty of the information contained in the title deed. The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland has a new lever known as Keeper Induced Registration (KIR) where she can register land and property with no involvement of the owner. The details of how this process will work have yet to be finalised and a public consultation will be held later this year. ‘Our commitment is to take reasonable steps to ensure that ownership of land is visible and to ensure that landowners or their named representatives are accessible and contactable,’ said David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land and Estates. ‘As owners and managers of land, members are concerned about the process and professional costs of voluntary or keeper induced registration of title and in particular the impact of any changes from a practical perspective. In general, we are concerned to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the land register for landowners across Scotland and will continue to work closely with Registers of Scotland as it progresses this work to achieve its target,’ he explained. Charles Keegan, head of Land Register Completion at Registers of Scotland, said that when titles are added to the map based public register, RoS will provide a title sheet that provides greater clarity on what is owned and should make any future transactions quicker and easier. ‘We look forward to continuing to work with Scottish Land and Estates members going forward on registering their titles and would encourage anyone with an interest in voluntary registration to get in touch with the team,’ he added. Continue reading
