Investment
Severe shortage of properties for sale pushing up asking price, says latest index
The supply of property coming onto the market in England and Wales has fallen by 8% year on year and as a result prices are set to keep rising. The latest index shows that in the East England asking prices have already risen 2.1% this year as supply is overwhelmed by demand while overall the average asking price for England and Wales is up 0.7% month on month. The date from Home.co.uk also shows that asking prices have increased in all regions except the North West and North East during the last month. And year on year asking prices are up 8.1% overall. In the East of England the supply divide is the most acute and in this region asking prices are up 12.2% year on year, meaning it has overtaken both Greater London and the South East which saw annual rises of 12% and 10.3%. The index report says that across England and Wales, prices remain on a strong rising trend and this looks set to continue as interest rates are currently on hold until at least 2017. It also points out that the total stock of property for sale remains very low, and scarcity will continue to be one of the key drivers of the 2016 property market in the UK. The second key driver is ultra-low interest rates. The number of properties entering the market is down 8% compared to a year ago. The hardest hit is the West Midlands where 17% less new stock arrived on estate agents' books this January compared to January 2015. The East of England is also in the midst of a property drought and 14% less stock was registered on agent portfolios last month. Looking to the North and Wales, the picture is very different. Only small drops in numbers of properties entering the marketplace have been observed in the North East, North West, Wales and Yorkshire. Supply in these regions remains relatively buoyant and, consequently, prices show little if any upward progress. ‘With interest rates on hold at super low levels for the foreseeable future, we are likely to witness price growth continuing to ripple out from London across the rest of the country. Lack of supply will be the key driver and, as buy to let investment continues to soak up many of the available properties, so supply will continue to dwindle,’ said Doug Shephard, Home.co.uk director. ‘The London market is now maturing and is slower and with more moderate price rises. Investment capital is now making its presence felt further afield in the East and South East where prices are leaping ahead and supply of stock for sale is crashing,’ he explained. ‘We may expect the same or a similar market dynamic to become manifest in the West Midlands, the South West and the East Midlands towards the end of the year, together with significant price growth,’ he added. ‘What is clear is that this property boom is not going away while borrowing… Continue reading
Home ownership still out of reach for many in UK due to buying costs
Home ownership in UK is still out of reach for many would be buyers as new research shows that the average first time buyers will have paid over £52,000 in rent. Indeed, a first time buyer purchasing their first house this year will have spent £52,900 on rent by the time they get on the first rung of the ladder, and future first time buyer can expect to spend 22%. The data compiled by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) for the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) also shows that the average first time buyer in England in 2016 will have spent 16.4% of their total lifetime earnings on rent for all the years they were a tenant. Those buying a property for the first time this year in the North East will have spent £31,300 on rent, the lowest amount in England. Whereas in London, the average amount spent is more than double that, at £68,300. The South East is the only region other than London where the total lifetime rent spent is above the English average with the total rent expenditure equating to £55,900. Last year alone on average people in the UK spent 22% of their wages on rent, increasing to 30% in London. Those living in the East enjoyed the most affordable rents due to relatively high earnings in the region, yet rent still accounted for 18.9% of their disposable income. People that move out of their family home at the age of 18, will typically rent for 13 years before buying their first property. The report found those leaving home and starting to rent this year, will spend an average of £64,400 before they are able to buy their first property, some 22% more than current first time buyers getting on the housing ladder this year will be spending. Those leaving home and starting to live independently in London will continue to be worse off, as they will spend an average of £91,500 on rent before they can buy their first home, some £23,100 more than those buying in the capital this year. ‘The rising cost of rent in this country is a huge issue, and is preventing tenants from being able to save to buy a home. Our Cost of Renting report reveals that tenants are already spending a significant proportion of their income on rent, and therefore struggling to save any money,’ said David Cox, ARLA managing director. ‘However, as house price affordability worsens and interest rates start rising, more pressure will be put on renting with weekly rent likely to rise, so home ownership will remain out of reach for many,’ he pointed out. ‘Rents are becoming alarmingly unaffordable due to the lack of available housing; the North-South divide we’re currently seeing in the UK is a clear illustration of this. The London rental market is… Continue reading
Home prices set to rise 5.4% in the United States in 2016
Home prices across the United States, including distressed sales, increased year on year by 6.3% in December 2015 and increased month on month by 0.8%, the latest index shows. And forecast data from the CoreLogic House Price Index also indicates that home prices are set to rise by 5.4% this year. ‘Nationally, home prices have been rising at a 5% to 6% annual rate for more than a year,’ said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. However, he added that local market growth can vary substantially from that. For example, some metropolitan areas have had double digit appreciation, such as Denver and Naples, Florida, while others have had price declines, like New Orleans and Rochester, New York. ‘Higher property valuations appear to be driving up single-family construction as we head into the spring. Additional housing stock, especially in urban centres on the coasts such as San Francisco, could help to temper home price growth in the longer term,’ said Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive officer of CoreLogic. ‘In the short and medium term, local markets with strong employment growth are likely to experience a continued rise in home sales and price growth well above the US average,’ he added. Meanwhile, research from real estate firm Zillow shows that buyers in Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. have to stay in a home for at least three years to break even on a home purchase, and buyers in the Bay Area would have to stay nearly that long to make buying financially advantageous. In general, Americans can break even on a home purchase in less than two years in 70% of US metros and the firm says that this is thanks to low interest rates, healthy home value forecasts, and the relatively fast pace of rents in recent years. The Breakeven Horizon index shows that on average you don't need to plan on living in a home for even two years to make purchasing the home more financially advantageous than renting it over the same time period. Among large housing markets, the Breakeven Horizon is longest in Washington, D.C. at 4.5 years and shortest in Dallas at 1.3 years. Around the country over the last year, the Breakeven Horizon quickened in most of the Midwest and Southeast as well as in the Northeast corridor from New York to Boston. The Horizon stretched longer in Florida, Northern California, and in the Northeast from Virginia Beach to Philadelphia, but it remained clear that financially, it's still a better deal to buy a home than rent it, assuming you're planning to stay in the home for at least a couple years. ‘Even with record high rents in places like San Jose, Boston and Washington, D.C., putting off a home purchase might be the best financial decision for a young person who has saved enough for a down payment, depending on how long they intend to stay in their jobs and homes,’ said Zillow chief economist Svenja… Continue reading
