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UK govt Help to Buy schemes continue to be a success, latest data shows
The number of people joining the housing ladder in the UK using government support schemes continues to grow as new figures show more than 77,000 homes have been bought under the flagship Help to Buy schemes. Overall the figures show more people are getting a home of their own through the scheme and as a result house building levels continue to climb. Some 41,533 households were helped into new build homes under the Help to Buy equity loan scheme up to December 2014 and of these 83% are first time buyers. Also, 94% of total sales were outside London. The figures also show that 30,269 households were buying new and existing homes through the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme and 5,588 households were supported into a new build home through the Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme. It means that in total more than 77,000 households have been supported under Help to Buy up to December 2014. Sales through the Help to Buy have been strong across the country, with Wiltshire at 748 seeing the highest number. The top five other areas that have a strong number of Help to Buy sales include Leeds at 669, Central Bedfordshire at 650, Milton Keynes at 567, Peterborough at 564 and Birmingham at 527. ‘The figures show clearly that Help to Buy supports aspiring homeowners and is a key part of our drive to help hardworking people who want a home of their own. To date, Help to Buy has helped over 77,000 households to purchase a home with just a fraction of the deposit they would normally require,’ said Housing Minister Brandon Lewis. ‘The scheme has also helped get the country building again, with private house building up 20% over the last year, and it’s highest since 2007. Industry figures showing 100,000 new house building jobs have been created in just the last 18 months, show clearly that Help to Buy is a success,’ he explained. The recent steep increase in house building activity has seen builders across the country recruiting heavily, according to Home Builders Federation executive chairman Stewart Baseley. ‘The industry needs skilled and ambitious people in a range of areas including bricklayers, site managers, engineers and finance professionals and offers an exciting and rewarding career for anyone who wants to help build the communities of the future,’ he said. Continue reading
Private rents up an average of 1.7% in 2014 in Britain, official data shows
Private rental prices paid by tenants in Britain rose by 1.7% in the 12 months to December 2014, according to official figures from the Office of National Statistics. A breakdown of the figures show that private rental prices increased by 1.8% in England, 2% in Scotland and 0.2% in Wales in the 12 months to December 2014. Rental prices increased in all the English regions over the year to December 2014, with rental prices increasing the most in London at 2.4%, followed by the South East at 2.1%. A spokesman for the ONS pointed out that improved methodology means that the annual growth rate has been revised upwards considerably. ‘Improved methodology has been implemented leading to revisions to the full IPHRP time series. The latest data uses the new methodology,’ he explained. David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, said it is no surprise as those in the industry have seen rents rising much faster than the ONS previously estimated. He pointed out that even a plain vanilla buy to let property now commands an average yield of 6.3%, according to our the firm’s latest Complex Buy to Let Index, while a larger, multi-unit freehold block can provide a landlord with a 9.3% rental yield. ‘But rents still aren’t rising much faster than inflation. We’re talking an average annual rent rise of 2.1% over the last couple of years instead of 1.2%. Affordability of renting, like the affordability of most things in an unprecedented economic slump, has been squeezed. But the culprit hasn’t been excessive rent rises,’ he explained. ‘That’s thanks to the vast investment that landlords are pouring into this industry, supported by a healthy buy to let mortgage market. More homes to let are keeping rents from rising at an unhealthy pace,’ he added. He also pointed out that the latest figures from the Bank of England showing approved mortgage increased in December 2014 for the first time since June, only goes to show the importance of investing in the private rented sector. ‘The mortgage market has continued on a mainly stable trajectory, going in the right direction but not taking off. Private renting will continue to dominate the housing market, and as an industry it needs all the investment and financial support it can get,’ he concluded. Continue reading
UK regional prime property markets outperform London
For the first time since the credit crunch, the UK’s prime regional property markets marginally outperformed London in 2014 with growth averaging 3.2%, according to the latest analysis. The new rates of stamp duty introduced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement in December 2014 brought mixed blessings for different parts of the market, the analysis report from real estate firm Savills shows. ‘For all buyers below £937,500, stamp duty rates have fallen and this is reflected in levels of annual price growth. Above this margin, the increased rates of stamp duty resulted in an adjustment in values at the top end of the market in the final quarter, most notably in the higher value extended commuter belt of London,’ said Lucian Cook, director residential research Savills. He also pointed out that given a strong performance earlier in the year, these commuter markets showed the highest level of annual growth. Prices rose by 4.6% in the London suburban markets such as Esher, Rickmansworth and Loughton and by 3.7% in the inner commuter zone in the likes of Sevenoaks, Guildford and Beaconsfield. While the markets within the commuter zone, up to an hour from London, are all now at or above their 2007 peak, the regions beyond these areas are some way below this level. Prices remain on average 10% below their 2007 peak across the remainder of the South of England and over 20% below across Scotland as an average. The markets of the Midlands and the North falls between the two with a decline of 14.8%. In the sub £1 million prime market that predominantly benefits from a cut in stamp duty, average prices rose by 4.6% in 2014, fuelled by particularly strong growth in the first six months of the year. ‘These lower value prime markets, particularly those well connected to London, are forecast to see the strongest growth over the next year and into the midterm,’ explained Cook. Higher value homes in the £2 million plus range recorded marginal 0.8% falls over 2014, but values fell by 3.1% in the last three months of the year. The report also says that the other overriding feature of the regional market remains the stronger performance of properties in urban locations. Annual growth in prime cities across the UK, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, York, Chester and Edinburgh, averaged 5.8% price growth over 2014 compared to an average increase of 3.1% in their surrounding villages and 0.9% in rural locations. Meanwhile, prime London house prices rose by an average of 2.6% in 2014. However, 2014 was a year of two halves with prices rising by 4.9% in the first half and falling by a net figure of 2.2% in the second half. Savills said this was predominantly due to the stamp duty changes introduced in the Autumn Statement which particularly impacted the higher value markets. The strongest performers in 2014 were the markets up to £1 million and in the £1 million to £2 million… Continue reading
