Tag Archives: yahoo
Stamp duty hike hits prime property market in UK, research suggests
Sales of homes worth over £1.5 million in the UK have reached a plateau and are set to fall for the first time in two years due to property tax change, according to a new report. This is despite growth in this price sector of 36% year on year from 2012 to 2014, says the latest market analysis report from national estate agents Jackson-Stops & Staff. ‘The wider UK residential property markets are reasonably buoyant now that we have the general election behind us and the uncertainties that any potential political changes bring,’ said Nicholas Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops & Staff. ‘However, the revision to stamp duty rates late last year has contributed to the widespread stagnation of the higher valued markets in 2015, both in London and the country, where many properties are finding it difficult to attract buyers,’ he explained. ‘Sale volumes have plateaued across the country in response to high transaction costs, reflecting the fact that the UK has one of the highest taxed property sectors in the world,’ he pointed out. Under new stamp duty legislation the value portion between £925,001 and £1.5 million has resulted in an additional 10% bill, and anything above £1.5 million added another 12% charge. ‘We have an ageing house owner population with too few younger entrants onto the property ladder. Mortgage funding is difficult to raise for people in their forties, even if they have been previous house owners, irrespective of their credit history,’ Leeming said. ‘We need to encourage trading down so that larger houses are released to families needing more space. The changes to inheritance tax will incentivise older house owners to trade down, but we also need to enable property owners to move without new restrictions to mortgage funding and reduce the top levels of stamp duty to free up the higher value markets at no net loss to the Exchequer,’ he added. Alastair Hancock, the firm’s director at its Sevenoaks office, revealed that over a third of available stock is priced in excess of £1.5million and this is due to a lack of incentives for buyers at the mid to high end of the market. ‘Since the stamp duty hike last December, we have seen a significant decline in volume of sales at this level as the 12% continues to penalise the country house market, which is still struggling to recover from the recession,’ he said. Continue reading
Annual house price growth in England and Wales past peak of 2007
Annual house price growth in England and Wales was 5.4% in June, taking values to a new high of £181,619, according to the latest official property data from the Land Registry. This surpasses the previous peak of £180,983 in November 2007 and month on month prices increased by 1.1%, the data also shows. A regional breakdown of the data shows that the largest annual price growth was in London where prices were up 9.2% and the North East experienced the greatest monthly rise with a rise of 3%. Yorkshire and The Humber saw the lowest annual price increase of 1.4% and also saw the largest price fall month on month with values down 0.9%. Sales and repossessions during April 2015, the most up to date figures available, show that the number of completed house sales in England and Wales decreased by 19% to 57,180 compared with 70,244 in April 2014 The data also shows that the number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million decreased by 22% to 874 from 1,114 a year earlier and repossessions in England and Wales decreased by 48% to 505 compared with 974 in April 2014. In the North East prices were up 3% month on month and 2.4% year on year to an average of £102,064 and in the North West they were up 0.2% month on month and 3.6% year on year to £114,754. In Wales prices increased 1.7% month on month and 2.7% year on year to an average of £181,619 while in the East Midlands the rise was 0.7% and 5% to £134,965 and in the West Midlands prices fell 0.2% but are still up 2.1% year on year to £137,209. The South West saw a month on month rise of 0.8% and an annual rise of 5.2% to an average of £189,850, the South East saw prices rise 0.4% month on month and 8.4% year on year to £247,375 and in London there was a 1.8% monthly rise and an annual increase of 9.2%, taking the average price of a home in the capital city to £481,820. In the East of England prices fell 0.8% month on month but are still up 7.8% compared with June 2014, taking the average property price in the region to £203,428 while Yorkshire and Humber also saw prices fall month on month by 0.9% but up 1.4% year on year to £121,070. A breakdown of the figures by property type shows that detached house have increased by 5.4% year on year to £284,478, semi-detached by 5% to £171,154, terraced homes by 5.4% to £137,123 and flats by 5.6% to £174,523. Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, described then figures as ‘healthy’. ‘Confidence at the bottom of the market is particularly strong and it is the region with the lowest average house price, the North East, that has seen the biggest monthly improvement in prices, as cheaper mortgage finance and government support… Continue reading
Revamped parliamentary group to make recommendations on UK housing
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is to take a lead role in supporting a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Housing and Planning to address the national housing emergency in the UK. The APPG for Housing and Planning, previously chaired by MP Tim Yeo, will now be chaired by James Cartlidge, Conservative MP for South Suffolk, and tasked with recommending wide ranging, innovative solutions to reshape the housing market. It will also look at ways of increasing the housing stock for both rental and private ownership, and speeding up building of sustainable housing in the UK, which now faces an annual shortfall of 130,000 homes. The APPG will consist of MPs from a range of urban and rural constituencies. RICS, which comprises over 90,000 professionals in the UK working across the construction, land and property markets, will support the group as Secretariat. ‘Housing is increasingly becoming one of the most critical policy challenges facing local and national government, and with a Housing Bill pending, it is likely to become more political and controversial,’ said Cartlidge. ‘In this context, a cross party Parliamentary group focused objectively on the national policy challenge of housing offers a vehicle for taking the debate forward in a way that is both positive and constructive,’ he explained. ‘Having spent my working life in the shared ownership housing sector, I am acutely aware of the challenges facing first time buyers, particularly in London. Equally, as a rural MP, I recognise the need for development to be sustainable. Ultimately, there are a whole raft of complex issues in housing and planning today but I hope that our APPG can make a real contribution to the debate,’ he added. RICS chief executive Sean Tompkins pointed out that in the region of 245,000 homes need to be built every year to address the UK's housing crisis. ‘The solutions we need must be innovative and wide ranging, but also grounded within a political framework which allows them to be implemented,’ he said. ‘A coherent housing strategy is also central to many other key issues for the country. For example, a decent roof over your head can enhance your health, academic achievement, job success and social inclusion,’ he added. He also pointed out that the organisation’s Royal Charter and public interest mandate makes it well placed to provide the framework for the constructive debates and broad conversations that must happen across the political spheres in order to develop the solutions. ‘Our expertise, research and market data will all be made available to the Group. The RICS believes there are solutions to be found and we look forward to assisting this new APPG with its valuable agenda,’ Tompkins concluded. Originally formed under the last Parliament, the APPG for Housing and Planning will look to deliver its first set of recommendations later this year. Continue reading
