TSI
Property and building industry welcomes details of UK’s new housing bill
The UK is to see an increase in the supply of new starter homes to be exclusively offered to young first time buyers under the age of 40, it has been announced by the government at the opening of the new parliament. The Queen’s Speech included a number of issues relating to the nation’s property markets which have been met with a positive reaction. The new starter homes for first time buyers will be offered at a 20% discount below their open market value and the current Right to Buy levels of discount will be extended to 1.3 million housing association tenants. To help with the chronic lack of housing local authorities will be required to dispose of high value vacant council houses which would help fund the Right to Buy extension discounts and the building of more affordable homes. The government will also take forward the Right to Build scheme, requiring local planning authorities to support custom and self builders registered in their area in identifying suitable plots of land to build or commission their own home. A statutory register for brownfield land will be introduced to help achieve the target of getting Local Development Orders in place on 90% of suitable brownfield sites by 2020. Along with this the neighbourhood planning system will be simplified and speeded up to support communities that seek to meet local housing and other development needs through neighbourhood planning. The reaction from the property and housing industries has been positive as all agree that there is a pressing need to build hundreds of thousands of new homes across the country and particularly in London. However, Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, questioned whether these new schemes are setting sights high enough. ‘Building a home in Britain is about 18% more expensive than in Ireland, for example. Preliminaries like planning fees account for 12% of the total costs in the UK, compared to 10% in Ireland. Reforming the red tape surrounding the house building process may be one of the only safeguards around steadier house price rises,’ he said. ‘Home ownership is still a key life milestone and aspiration for UK households, so any measures that bring this goal closer into view will be very welcome. The Right to Buy extension sounds good on paper –but we’ve yet to see how this will translate in practice, and the reality is that authorities will have to sell off existing stock first before they can fund and deliver this new promised land of affordable properties,’ he explained. ‘At the same time, tenant demand for housing will be accumulating, and this could spill over into the private rented sector, and artificially push up prices and competition for rental homes,’ he added. According to Charles Haresnape, chairman of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), the government must work swiftly with the mortgage industry to ensure finance is available to help consumers with their purchases. ‘If not,… Continue reading
Greater London sees fall in home lending in first quarter of the year
There was a decline in in house purchase lending in Greater London in the first quarter of 2015 but increased remortgage activity, according to the latest regional data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. First time buyers in Greater London borrowed £2.4 billion representing 10,100 loans, down by 16% in value and down 16% in number of loans compared to the last quarter of 2014. Compared to the first quarter of 2014, the total number of loans was down 14% and the amount borrowed decreased by 11%. Home movers saw a decrease in numbers to 7,200 loans advanced in the period, valued at £2.5 billion, which was down 18% by volume and down 15% by value on the previous quarter. Year on year comparisons show a decrease of 18% by volume and down 11% by value. Remortgage lending increased totalling 10,800 loans at £2.9 billion, which was up 10% by volume and up 13% by value. Compared to the first quarter of 2014, remortgage lending in London was up 2% by volume and 8% by value. According to Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, the lending market has calmed down from the heady heights of 2014 and the general election earlier this month also had an impact. ‘But cheaper mortgage rates are now making waves in the market, and with the wealth of products now available, we can expect this to ripple out into a stronger summer of lending,’ he said. He believes that the election result means political certainty and that along with a greater choice of homes on the market, and incentives like reduced stamp duty and Help to Buy support schemes at the lower rungs of the ladder will keep the market going. Continue reading
Scotland sees boost in interest from buyers at home and abroad
There has been a clear increase in interest and property viewings across Scotland from local, national and international buyers, according to an independent consultancy. The traditionally busy spring period has been followed by even stronger growth in the first few weeks of summer with property valued up to £500,000 selling especially well, says CKD Galbraith which has offices across the country. However, homes valued above the £500,000 level are still tending to stay on the market for longer and overall the market has experienced the natural peaks and troughs in activity in the run up to events such as elections, referendums and holiday periods. But overall CKD Galbraith said its offices have witnessed a considerable increase in buyer activity recently with many sales resulting in competitive bidding and closing dates. ‘We have seen an especially strong surge in activity across the country recently and believe this is due to a number of factors. Political uncertainty has eased and potential buyers and sellers have a renewed confidence in the property markets from the south of England to the north of Scotland,’ said John Bound, partner at CKD Galbraith. ‘There has been increased activity right across Scotland and in Edinburgh demand for high end city centre property continues to rise. The Inverness office is experiencing some extremely positive movements. We were instructed on 26 new properties in the past three weeks and we are being invited to pitch for more on a daily basis. There have been over 50 viewings in a fortnight with prime property on the west coast continuing to do very well indeed,’ he pointed out. The Edinburgh property market made an extremely strong and promising start to 2015 and shows no signs of slowing down, despite any uncertainty which surrounded the general election, according to Lorna Donaldson from CKD Galbraith’s Edinburgh office. ‘During the first three months of 2015 the Edinburgh residential team sold over 40% of its city centre offerings to cash buyers, with just under half of all city sales going to closing date, and with properties achieving up to 14% over the home report valuation,’ she said. ‘May has definitely marked a return of confidence and increase in interest from buyers who are ready and able to act fast and pay a premium for the right property in their preferred location,’ she added. The firm’s Perth office has also reported a notable boost in activity with three properties having gone under offer in the last week alone and rising viewing figures for properties sensitively priced across all price brackets. The team in Perth is also preparing to launch a further 16 properties to the market and expect interest from buyers both locally and national, as well as the international buyer. The Castle Douglas office has seen a good level of new property coming to the market in Dumfries and Galloway. ‘Accurate and sensitive pricing remains key to buying and selling property in the region,’ said David Corrie. Continue reading
