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Average rental prices in London reach over £1,400 a month
Rental values in London have risen by 4.67% since June 2015, with the average rental price for a property in the capital standing at £1,467 compared to £1,402 in the summer, the latest figures show. Greenwich saw the largest increase taking the average rent to £1,397 per month, according to the Rentify Property Index. The firm said that this could be due to the time of year when students are starting back at university. Other areas that experienced considerable rental uplifts include Brent, with average rents in the North West London borough growing by £201 to almost £1,500 per month. Next was Newham with an increase of £197 taking the average rent to £1,378 per calendar month, then Lewisham with an increase of £194 taking the average rent to £1,305 and Lambeth with an increase of £182 to an average rent of £1,617. Areas that saw a fall in rent included Wandsworth where the average rent fell by £33, and Kingston-upon-Thames, with the average rent in the area falling by almost £90 to £1,237. Homes in the City of London have also experienced what the firm described as an unprecedented dip in price, with the average monthly rent dropping £185 to £2,149. Although this can’t be considered a long term decline, the figures do highlight seasonality in the market, according to the report, which adds that the dip in costs could be in part attributed to the school calendar, with families moving to ensure they secure the best postcode possible for their child’s education during the summer months. The data also showed how strong rental demand is across the capital. Bexley proved to be the most popular area for property hunters with an average of 10 people viewing each home in the borough each day, whilst other outer London boroughs such as Enfield and Haringey, both seeing an average of 9.6 viewers per day, also generating huge interest. ‘High cost of rent in central London is continuing to drive people away to outer boroughs in search of affordable housing. This however means that these so called cheaper locations are seeing a remarkable rise in rent due to their popularity. They are hot on the heels with central London due to strong demand,’ said Rentify chief executive officer George Spencer. ‘Furthermore, the recent buy to let tax hike introduced by the Chancellor will further constrain supply as less people invest in property to rent, making life increasingly hard for Londoners,’ he added. Continue reading
Property prices in Ireland now growing faster outside of Dublin, latest data shows
Residential property prices are increasing more than twice as fast outside Dublin than in the capital as people continue to be squeezed out of Ireland’s largest housing market, the latest index suggests. Indeed, prices in Dublin increased by 1% in October and are up 4.5% year on year but this is the lowest annual rate of inflation since the middle of 2013, according to the data from the Central Statistics Office. Outside of Dublin property prices were up 2.1% month on month and 10.7% year on year as the market catches up with that of the main city. It was the highest rise outside of Dublin since October 2014. A breakdown of the figures shows that Dublin house prices rose by 1% in October whilst Dublin apartment prices increased by 0.8%. However, it should be noted that the sub-indices for apartments are based on low volumes of observed transactions and consequently suffer from greater volatility than other series. It means that at a national level residential property prices were 33.5% lower than their peak level in 2007. Dublin house prices were 33% lower than their peak, Dublin apartment prices were 40.2% lower than their peak and Dublin residential property prices overall were 34.9% lower than their highest level. Outside of Dublin residential property prices were 36.3% lower than their highest level in 2007. Property consultants Savills said it is not surprised that house price growth in Dublin has slowed sharply. However John McCartney, director of Research at Savills, believes this is more due to a technical base effect than to any material slowdown in recent months. ‘In the month of October last year, Dublin prices rose by a staggering 3%. This feat would have to be repeated in October 2015 for the annual rate of price growth to hold at its current 6.5%. This is highly unlikely, and as a result, the annual growth rate will be dragged lower,’ he said. He warned against reading too much into the figures. ‘The slowdown will undoubtedly attract headlines. But it will really say more about what was happening in the market last year than what is going on today,’ he explained. ‘The frenzied activity we saw 12 months ago as buyers rushed to avail of tax breaks and more lenient lending practices has gone. But agents are reporting steady transactions and robust prices, particularly in the €400,000 to €650,000 price range where competition is hottest,’ he concluded, adding that Savills expects annual price growth by the end of the year in Dublin to be around 5%. Continue reading
New planning reforms in UK welcomed, but lack of resources not addressed
The British Property Federation has welcomed the majority of the changes announced in the autumn financial statement by the UK Chancellor but expressed disappointment that there was no mention of a review of planning fees. ‘While there are some really sensible suggestions in today’s announcement, the planning system still has one big problem, the lack of resources in local authority planning departments,’ said Melanie Leech, chief executive of the BPF. ‘Both the private and public sector have identified this as one of the biggest obstacles for development, and with the private sector willing to discuss how it might be able to plug the funding gap, it is frustrating that Government has not engaged on this matter,’ she added. Included in the statement was amendments to planning policy to ensure the release of unused and previously undeveloped commercial, retail and industrial land for Starter Homes, and support for the regeneration of previously developed, brownfield sites in the greenbelt, by allowing them to be developed in the same way as brownfield sites elsewhere, providing it delivers Starter Homes. It will be subject to local consultation, such as through neighbourhood plans and Leech described it as a ‘very sensible step’ and one that will put a stop to endless battles in the planning regime as well as bringing forward the Government’s intended 200,000 Starter Homes. ‘The sites that will be eligible for this will not be lush green fields, but rather disused scrap yards and car parks which happen to sit within the Green Belt, and which are calling out to be more productively used,’ she pointed out. There will also be the establishment of a new delivery test on local authorities, to ensure delivery against the number of homes set out in Local Plans. The BPF believes that Local Plans are the key to sustainable development. Leech said it will ensure that local authorities really do concentrate on growth for their area and that their local plans are focused on delivery and the practicalities of housing the population. ‘The lack of resources afflicting local authority planning departments is an issue, and if authorities can keep their local plans kept short and sharp, they will help themselves,’ she added. The changes will also see the release of public sector land with capacity for 160,000 homes representing a more than 50% increase on the government’s record in the last parliament ‘The homes that are brought forward on these sites must be serviced with sufficient infrastructure and will ideally have homes for sale and for rent, to ensure that they contribute to mixed, vibrant communities,’ said Leech. The government will bring forward proposals for a more standardised approach to viability assessments, and extend the ability to appeal against unviable section 106 agreements to 2018. It is well known that a lot of disagreement between local authorities and developers arise due to viability assessments so the move towards a standardised viability model should go a long way to… Continue reading
