Uk
Lending across all housing sectors in UK up in October, latest data shows
House purchase lending increased in the UK by 8% in October with all sectors, including first time buyers seeing a rise, according to the latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). A breakdown of the figures show that first time buyers borrowed £4.6 billion for house purchases, up 10% on September and October last year. This totalled 29,900 loans, up 8% month on month and 3% year on year. First time buyer lending grew for the second month in a row, to be the joint highest monthly lending level, alongside July 2015, by volume and by value since August 2007. Competitive mortgage rates mean first time buyers continue to pay low levels of their monthly household income to service the capital and interest rate payments of their mortgage at 18.4% in October. Home movers took out 35,400 loans, up 9% month on month and 3% compared to October 2014. In total, this was £7.1 billion borrowed, up 8% on September and 13% year on year. The October figure was only behind July this year for the highest amount borrowed since 2007. Home movers spent 18.2% of their monthly gross household income to pay capital and interest repayments, slightly more than last month but a decrease compared to September 2014. Home owner remortgage activity also increased, up 6% by volume and 10% by value compared to September. Compared to October 2014, remortgage lending was up 19% by volume and 34% by value. This is the most amount of remortgage loans in a month since January 2009, and the most amount borrowed for remortgage since June 2008. Gross buy to let saw month on month increases up 4% by volume and 3% by value, but more substantial growth year on year to the highest monthly gross buy to let lending level by value and by volume since the CML began tracking buy to let data on a monthly basis in January 2013. Buy to let remortgage is currently driving this with larger year on year growth compared to October 2014. ‘Home owner and buy to let activity have both continued the upward trend seen last month, and the market looks set to finish the year strong, despite taking time to gain momentum after a slow start to 2015,’ said Paul Smee, director general of the CML. ‘With increasing employment and the current absence of inflationary pressures in the UK, conditions for continuing demand in the housing market seem likely going into the new year. How supply will respond to this challenge going forward is a crucial question for 2016,’ he added. The data also shows that house purchase lending in the UK in October saw an increase by volume and by value of mortgages advanced compared to September and October last year. This was the second highest monthly house purchase levels, after July 2015, since 2007. As previously reported, UK gross lending overall in October totalled £21.9 billion, up 9%… Continue reading
UK house prices up 7% year on year, latest index shows
UK house prices increased by 7% in the year to October 2015, up from 6.1% in the year to September 2015, according to the latest official statistics. The data from the Office of National Statistics also shows growth of 7.4% in England, 1% in Wales, 0.9% in Scotland and 10.3% in Northern Ireland. Average mix-adjusted house prices in October 2015 reached £300,000 in England and stood at £174,000 in Wales, £196,000 in Scotland and £158,000 in Northern Ireland. Excluding London and the South East, UK house prices increased by 5.6% in the 12 months to October 2015 and month on month on a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased by 0.8%. A breakdown of the figures show that the pace of annual house price growth was again varied across the nine English regions in October 2015. The largest annual increase was in the East at 10.4% followed by the South East at 9.5%. The North East had the lowest annual growth of the nine regions, with prices increasing 2.9% in the year to October 2015 but up from 1.8% in the year to September. London prices increased by 7.7% over the year to October 2015, up from 7.2% in the year to September 2015. Prices paid by first time buyers were 5.9% higher on average than in October 2014 while for existing owners prices increased by 7.4% for the same period. Rishi Passi, chief executive officer of Oblix Capital, believes that prices are set to continue growing in 2016. ‘As the economy stabilises, driven by improving job prospects, rising wages and recurring delays in interest rate rises, for the meantime at least, it’s likely this surge in house sales and price inflation will continue,’ he said. ‘Warnings that growth on this scale is unsustainable may ring true in the long term, especially in crowded London and the South East, as affordability issues become too significant a barrier to entry for first time buyers and low income families. Developers should take heed and look to other regions for their next opportunity,’ he added. Continue reading
New campaign launched to help residential landlords in the UK
The National Landlords Association (NLA) has launched its latest campaign in the UK, Reinventing Renting, which identifies opportunities for landlords to enhance their lettings businesses. The campaign is designed to help landlords transform their businesses into more successful profitable enterprises and it contains useful resources, guides and presentations, including how to choose the right investment, improve financial planning and expand portfolios and maximise gains. It also looks at how to reduce exposure to a range of risks associated with letting property, such as impending interest rate rises, rent arrears and rogue tenants. The campaign focuses on supporting landlords who are struggling to turn a profit by exploring different business approaches and tenant markets, while providing assistance for landlords looking to make their business more profitable. It comes as changes announced earlier this year in the Summer Budget and the Autumn Statement a few weeks ago are set to seriously affect profitability within the sector. ‘As the leading landlord association we’re here to provide landlords with all the tools and information needed to make a success of letting,’ said Carolyn Uphill, chairman of the NLA. ‘Over the next few months, Reinventing Renting will look at some of the key issues for landlords and provide support and tips to improve the way they run their business,’ she explained. ‘The campaign has something for both new and experienced landlords and will be particularly useful for those who are struggling to make things work or worried about how the changes to mortgage interest taxation will affect them in the future,’ she added. Continue reading
