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Property price growth in some rural areas catching up with cities
Property price growth in the English countryside is almost neck and neck with price rises in cities, according to the latest research. Overall home values in towns and cities across the UK have increased by 5.7% over the last year, but rural England has seen 5.1% annual property price growth in countryside areas over the same period. The research from Zoopla also shows that the average value of a rural home in England now stands at £264,338, some £51,737 or 24% higher than the typical urban property outside of London. Rural homes in the East of England have seen the biggest uplift in value over the past year, with prices up 6.5% or £17,098. This is closely followed by country properties in the South East, which have climbed in value by 6% or £22,157 in the last 12 months, meaning that home buyers in the region can expect to pay £66,100 more to live in a rural part of the South East, as opposed to a bustling town or city. The premium buyers pay to live in a rural location is highest in the West Midlands, with countryside properties costing £73,982 more than homes in a town or city while Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire is the most expensive rural area in England, with average homes currently worth £817,376, up from £773,726 a year ago. City properties ads in the East of England and South East experienced the strongest annual growth of 7.5% and 6.7% respectively, outpacing rises in London. But the most expensive urban location across the country is Kensington and Chelsea, with the typical pied-a-terre in W8 now valued at £2,654,512. ‘Urban areas had a head start in the housing recovery with demand propped up predominantly by employment opportunities. This drove price growth in these economic hubs and left countryside markets by the wayside,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla. ‘Over the past year house price growth has spread and rural retreats which are commutable to the amenities and jobs of urban centres have become highly sought after. But they come with a significant premium to have the best of both worlds, with the extra outdoor space and seclusion that rural living gives you. Those looking for the good life in the country might want to escape the rat race sooner rather than later,’ he added. Continue reading
UK govt moves to end blanket licensing of landlords by councils
Local councils in England will no longer be able to licence landlords across a whole area without government approval, it has been confirmed. Housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis has taken action after a rush of complaints about councils introducing compulsory licensing for landlords costing hundreds of pounds per property. Reforms to the Selective Licensing scheme will now restrict local decision making powers from 01 April. Councils will need government approval before implementing a licensing scheme if they plan to license a large area or proportion of the market, likely to be above 20% of either the geographical area covered by the council or the local private rented sector (PRS). The decision comes after sustained lobbying efforts by the National Landlord Association (NLA) since 2010 and after the NLA published its report on the state of landlord licensing across the country, in February. The report revealed a boom in the number of blanket licensing schemes since 2010 but highlighted a lack of enforcement actions being taken by local councils. It also showed a correlation between the political control of a council and their tendency to license landlords. ‘We’ve argued solidly since 2010 that councils have been abusing their power to push through blanket licensing schemes,’ said Richard Lambert, NLA chief executive officer. He explained that the announcement means that if a council intends to licence a large proportion of its housing it will first need to show the case stands up to independent scrutiny. ‘The government was the first to see a copy of our licensing report, and we’re delighted they have listened to our case because at present the driving force behind licensing landlords seems to be the political will of a given local council, regardless of the evidence,’ he pointed out. ‘Many local councils won’t like this decision one bit because until now they’ve been their own judges, and the only way for landlords to challenge them has been through the difficult and complex route of judicial review,’ he said. ‘Landlords are getting fed up with being unfairly targeted and made responsible for problems such as anti-social behaviour when in reality they have little effective control over the issue, except by eviction. Hopefully this now means that councils who are serious about tackling poor property standards and anti-social behaviour will first look to the extensive existing legal powers they already have to combat the issues,’ he added. Continue reading
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
