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Housing supply in UK fell significantly in July, new index shows
The number of UK home owners putting their properties on the market fell dramatically in July, down 13.2% across the UK and almost 15% in London, according to the latest property supply index. The majority of locations have seen new stock levels fall in the past month with Glasgow and Edinburgh seeing new property listing fall by 30.3% and 29.7% respectively while supply was down 28.2% in Milton Keynes and 28.1% in Sunderland The index from online estate agent House Simple, which used new listing on Rightmove in July compared to the previous month of more than 100 major towns and cities and all 32 London boroughs, also shows that while Swindon saw a 40.5% rise in new property listings in June, they fell 25.2% in July. Meanwhile, a quarter of the towns and cities that saw the biggest falls in new property listings in July were in the south west of England. A fifth were each in the south west of England and the West Midlands. In London new property listings fell 14.9% in July and only the borough of Bromley saw increase in new stock, but this was still less than 1%. Bexley saw new property listings fall by 31.4%, while new stock levels in Kensington and Chelsea, a favourite with foreign buyers, fell by 24.5% ‘Any hope that sellers were finally returning to the market seems to have been a vain one for the time being,’ said Alex Gosling, chief executive of House Simple, adding that the reasons are not easy to ascertain but it could be due to prices rising. ‘Or maybe they’re not confident about market conditions, despite the strength of the economy and the highly competitive mortgage rates on offer at the moment. Somehow, sellers need to be encouraged back to the market because there are buyers galore waiting when they do. It’s a very attractive market right now for motivated sellers,’ he pointed out. ‘The next few months are going to be important as the property market looks to gather momentum heading into the last quarter of the year. We fully expected activity to drop off in the summer months, but come the Autumn the market needs to replenished with stock to realign the supply versus demand balance,’ he concluded. Continue reading
UK properties with an address in a lane are much more expensive, new research shows
UK home owners in a street with the name ‘lane’ have a property worth over £100,000 more than those on a ‘street’ according to new research. The data, generated by findings provided by property market specialists Hometrack shows that the first line of an address really can say something about the value of a home. The results of the research by Barclays Mortgages show that while homes on lanes have an average property value of £245,906, some 22% higher than the national average while homes on streets come towards the bottom of the list with properties averaging £142,374 or 29% under the national average and 42% below lanes. After lanes the next most expensive addresses are found in ways and roads with average values of £218,742 and £212,717 respectively, followed by closes and avenues at £204,964 and £192,344. Regionally, there’s also some significant variation revealed by the figures. The biggest divide in direct cost between street name prices occurs in the South East, where properties on lanes are an average of £137,145 more expensive than those on streets. The most pronounced gap in price in relative terms is actually in Wales, with properties on streets barely reaching half the value of those on lanes with a price difference of 53%. By contrast, the region with the least fluctuation in price is the East of England, where prices vary between the above street names by just 36%. Comparing this to data released in 2001, all of the street names have massively increased in average value in the last 15 years. The average price for a lane property has doubled, from approximately £123,000 in 2001 to the £246,000 of last year, while even streets have jumped up from £92,000 to £142,000. ‘As this data highlights, the last few years have been incredibly buoyant for the housing market and economy, and this is great news for buyers and sellers across the nation,’ said Craig Calder, Barclays Director of Mortgages. ‘While this data paints a clear picture of victory for ‘lanes it’s interesting to see the varying statistics from around the country, and a huge growth in value overall,’ he added. Continue reading
Home prices rising steadily in most metro areas in the US, new data shows
A climb in home sales throughout the United States amidst insufficient supply caused home prices to steadily rise in most metro areas during the second quarter of 2015. The median existing single family home price increased in 93% of measured markets, with 163 out of 176 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) showing gains, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors. Just 13 areas or 7% recorded lower median prices from a year earlier and the number of rising markets in the second quarter increased compared to the first quarter, when price gains were recorded in 85% of metro areas. The data also shows that 34 metro areas or 19% experienced double digit increases but this was a decline from the 51 metro areas in the first quarter while 19 or 11% double digit increases in the second quarter of 2014. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said that the housing market has shifted into a higher gear in recent months. ‘Steady rent increases, the slow rise in mortgage rates and stronger local job markets fuelled demand throughout most of the country this spring,’ he explained. ‘While this led to a boost in sales paces not seen since before the downturn, overall supply failed to keep up and pushed prices higher in a majority of metro areas. With home prices and rents continuing to rise and wages showing only modest growth, declining affordability remains a hurdle for renters considering homeownership, especially in higher priced markets,’ he added. The national median existing single family home price in the second quarter was $229,400, up 8.2% from the second quarter of 2014 when it was $212,000. The median price during the first quarter of this year increased 7.1% from a year earlier. The five most expensive housing markets in the second quarter were the San Jose, California metro area, where the median existing single family price was $980,000, followed by San Francisco at $841,600, Anaheim-Santa Ana, California at $685,700, Honolulu at $698,600, and San Diego at $547,800. The five lowest cost metro areas in the second quarter were Cumberland where the median single family home price was $82,400, Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio, at $85,000, Rockford, Illinois, at $94,700, Decatur, Illinois at $96,000, and Elmira, New York at $98,300. Total existing home sales, including single family and condo, increased 6.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.3 million in the second quarter from 4.97 million in the first quarter, and are 8.5% higher than the 4.89 million pace during the second quarter of 2014. ‘The ongoing rise in home values in recent years has greatly benefited homeowners by increasing their household wealth,’ said Yun. ‘In the meantime, inequality is growing in America because the downward trend in the home ownership rate means these equity gains are going to fewer households,’ he added. At the end of the second quarter, there were 2.3 million existing homes available for sale, slightly above the 2.29 million homes for sale at the… Continue reading
