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London Mayor secures planning change for the city
The Mayor of London has welcomed the UK Government's decision to reconsider planning proposals that would have potentially seen valuable office space in the city turned into homes. Boris Johnson has been actively lobbying the Government to amend proposals that he believes would have put the capital's key business districts at risk by allowing office space to be converted into homes without developers applying for planning permission for the change of use. Now the Minister for Housing and Planning, Brandon Lewis, has announced that he will amend the original proposals to ensure London is able to maintain a stock of quality office space in existing key areas, and allow the city to continue to attract jobs and growth. Last year the Mayor successfully negotiated for defined areas of central London to be exempt from a Government policy that allowed office space to be converted into homes without developers applying for change of use planning permission. These areas covered the Central Activities Zone which incorporates the City of London, the South Bank, parts of Kensington and Chelsea, the West End, the commercial area north of the Isle of Dogs and London's Enterprise Zones in the Royal Docks, plus the part of the City Fringe in east London which makes up the emerging Tech City opportunity area. However new proposals announced by the Government would have removed these exemptions which Johnson believes potentially threatened London's internationally important business locations. Lewis said that the Government will allow local authorities to bring forward special planning regulations known as Article 4 directions if they wish to continue determining planning applications for the change of use. This will ensure that London's commercial heartlands will be protected from planning changes. ‘I am delighted that Government has put policies in place that will lead to the protection of our thriving business districts. Removing the planning exemption in those areas would have put the future economic growth of this city at risk, but by agreeing to amend their proposals the Government are ensuring we will be able to maintain the full stock of quality office space required for our city to continue to prosper,’ said Johnson. The Mayor is firmly on track to deliver 100,000 affordable homes over his two terms, with more than 94,000 already built. In the last year there were almost 18,000 affordable completions, the most in any year in London since 1991 and the equivalent of a new affordable home built every 30 minutes. Since the Mayor took on 670 hectares of public land in 2012 some 99% has been released for development, in line with the Mayor's 100% target by the end of his term in 2016. Land already released by the Mayor includes east London's Royal Docks, the Beam Park site in Rainham, and the former Cane Hill hospital site in Croydon. The current exemptions will remain in place until May 2019, providing time for these local authorities to make an Article 4 application to remove the rights… Continue reading
House prices rise in Scotland as market shakes off effect of new property tax
House prices in Scotland increased by 1.1% in August, only the second month of growth since the new Land and Building Transaction Tax was introduced in April. It takes the average house price to £167,426, back above December 2014 levels and the annual rate of growth was also 1.1%, the data from the Your Move index shows. When it comes to transactions it was the strongest August for sales in eight years with activity up 7.5% on an annual basis and Scotland saw faster annual sales growth over the summer than anywhere else in the UK. The data also shows that it is semidetached homes that are driving price rises and sales growth followed by a 4% increase in flat purchases compared to a year earlier. In contrast, sales of more expensive detached properties are down 4% year on year. Christine Campbell, Your Move managing director in Scotland, said that the market is starting to shake off the side effects of April’s LBTT after the tax change caused a three month decline in house prices between April and June. ‘LBTT has slowed high value property sales considerably. The number of million pound property sales has fallen to an average of four per month over the last five months, down from 12 in 2014. But it’s not just at the very extremes that this has had a dampening effect and the brakes have been applied to all sales above £254,000,’ she explained. ‘As a result of the tougher top end tax rates, the most expensive parts of the country have recorded price falls year on year, and this is starting to close the price gap between Scotland’s preeminent cities,’ she added. The index also shows that on an annual basis, house prices in Glasgow have increased by 6.5% to reach £141,871, compared to a 3.4% decrease of property values in Edinburgh since last year. ‘As the area with the highest house price across Scotland, Edinburgh’s price fall encapsulates the current trend of declining house prices in high value areas qualifying for higher rates of transaction tax,’ said Campbell. But the middle and the lower tiers of the market have been boosted by the LBTT which has stimulated demand at the bottom and middle rungs of the property ladder. ‘Overall, the activity emanating from the bottom of the property market means that from June to August 2015, Scotland has experienced the strongest year on year increase in property sales of any other part of Britain, with sales climbing 6%,’ said Campbell, adding that sales volumes were down by 2% across England and Wales and seven regions saw sales fall over the same period. Continue reading
Home lending in UK fell in August but experts say it is a normal seasonal trend
Lending to first time buyers, home movers, home owner remortgage and buy to let borrowers in the UK in August but levels are still higher than a year ago, the latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows. Bob Pannell, CML chief economist said that this is a normal seasonal trend, with August typically less strong for mortgage completions and the underlying picture is of improvement in lending levels on a year by year basis. ‘Seasonal factors pushed all categories of lending lower in August compared to July. However, the mortgage market continues to see year on year growth, and we expect this to continue over the coming months,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures shows that lending fell by volume and by value for the first time since April this year. However, this was the third consecutive month that lending for house purchase increased year on year by volume and by value. Pannell pointed out that it was the highest house purchase lending activity level for the month of August since August 2007. However, volume levels this month were still only 60% of what they were in August 2007. Overall in August, home owner loans for house purchase accounted for 57% of gross lending, the same as in July, while remortgage activity accounted for 21% compared to 24% in July. Home owner loans as a share of gross lending have increased since the New Year while remortgage activity has edged down. Buy to let lending as a proportion of total gross lending remained at 17%, a consistent level since the beginning of the year, but up from 13% in the same period last year. First time buyers accounted for 44% of total house purchase lending volumes, a much higher proportion than pre-crisis levels of 30% of the number of loans for house purchase and it was the highest monthly first time buyer lending level by volume and by value in the month of August since 2007, but the number of loans was only 78% of the August 2007 levels. The proportion of first time buyer gross household monthly income in August to service capital and interest payments stayed the same month on month at 18.5%, but remained considerably lower than 19.7% in August last year, and much lower than the most recent high of 24.8% in December 2007. This was the highest home mover lending level by volume and by value in the month of August since 2007, although this month's volume levels are still only 51% of the volume levels in August 2007. Home movers spent 18.1% of their monthly gross household income to pay capital and interest repayments, up slightly on last month but down on the same period last year. Like first time buyers, this is still much lower than the most recent peak of 23.8% in December 2007. Remortgage activity dropped month on month in August 17% by volume and 18% by… Continue reading
