Tag Archives: shows
UK south coast towns becoming new property hotspots for young professionals
The East Sussex coastline along the southern edge of the UK holds the biggest allure for aspiring young professionals to buy property, new research has found. The seaside town of Hove is the leading property hotspot for many 25 to 44 year olds to buy homes while neighbouring Brighton is the fifth most popular in the country for young professionals. The research from Lloyds Bank points out that young professionals, graduates and/or those with professional qualifications, are in well paid occupations and like to take full advantage of living in or close to a city, either for work or leisure purposes. However, the bright lights of London still attract the young and 16 of the top 20 areas that attract the most young urbanite professionals are located in the city. Nine of these areas are in South West London and include Wimbledon, Wandsworth, Battersea, Streatham and Fulham. Other areas in the capital making the top twenty include West Kensington, Chiswick, Ealing and Islington. ‘The most popular areas for young professionals tend to be dominated by trendy locations in London. Whilst this is still the case, this year our report reveals the ascendency of Brighton and Hove as two of the leading property hotspots for this group of buyers,’ said Andy Hulme, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank. ‘Unlike many of the other areas in the survey, Brighton and Hove have the attraction of being by the sea with some outstanding beach front properties and, with average property prices here 38% or £199,000 lower than London yet still being within commuting distance, it is easy to see the desirability of living there,’ he added. The research also shows that away from London and the South East young professionals are flocking to South Manchester with Didsbury the only location in the northern half of the country in the top 20 hotspots list. Other regional areas becoming more popular for young professionals include Jesmond in Newcastle, Ilkley in Bradford, Clifton in Bristol and Harborne in Birmingham. The research points out that properties in areas popular with young professionals typically come with a hefty price tag, but there are instances where average property values are higher in surrounding areas. In Wimbledon the average property value is £624,110 and in Wandsworth homes trade at an average price of £672,178. As a result, young professionals would need to pay a premium of 19% and 28% respectively to live in these desirable areas, compared with London as a whole at £523,412. The two most expensive areas in the top 20 popular with young professionals are Paddington and Hampstead with an average price of £1,319,237 and £1,310,868 respectively, a premium of 150% compared with London as a whole. In Didsbury, young professionals pay an average premium of 59% compared with Manchester as a whole, some £239,734 against £150,751. The average house price in Ilkley is £267,799, a 136% premium compared with the whole of Bradford. In Harbourne, there is a 54% premium compared with Birmingham…. Continue reading
Cash sales of homes in the United States falling, latest figures show
Cash sales made up 34.6% of total home sales in the United States in March 2015, down from 39% in the same month in 2014, according to the latest data available. The year on year share has fallen each month since January 2013, making March 2015 the 27th consecutive month of declines, the report from real estate form CoreLogic shows. Month on month the cash sales share fell by 2.8% compared with February but the firm pointed out that due to seasonality in the housing market, cash sales share comparisons should be made on a year on year basis. The cash sales share peak occurred in January 2011 when cash transactions made up 46.5% of total home sales nationally. Prior to the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total home sales averaged approximately 25%t. The report predicts that if the cash sales share continues falling at the same rate it did in March 2015, the share should decrease to 25% by the middle of 2016. A breakdown of the figures shows that real estate owned (REO) sales had the largest cash sales share in March 2015 at 56.2% followed by resales at 34.5%, while short sales accounted for 31.6% and newly constructed homes 14.9. While the percentage of REO sales that were all-cash transactions remained high, REO transactions made up only 8.4% of all sales in March. In January 2011, when the cash sales share was at its peak, REO sales made up 23.9% of total home sales. Resales make up the majority of home sales at about 80% and therefore have the biggest impact on the total cash sales share. Florida had the largest share of all cash sales at 51.8 followed by Alabama at 50%, New York at 46.5%, New Mexico at 42.2% and Michigan at 41.3%. Of the nation’s largest 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, Philadelphia had the highest share of cash sales at 60.7% followed by West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Florida at 59.9%, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida at 59.5%, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida at 59.3% and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Florida at 58.3%. The data also shows that Colorado Springs had the lowest cash sales share at 16.1%. Continue reading
Three tier recovery in UK commercial property markets, led by offices
The UK commercial property market is experiencing a three tier recovery with offices and retail living in different worlds, according to the latest analysis report. All property capital growth increased by 0.8% in May month on month, up from the 0.5% reported for April, says the Knight Frank June market outlook report. Offices saw the highest capital growth at 1.5%, and retail the lowest at 0.2% while the 12 month total return fell again to 17.6% and investment volume from January to May was £23.6 billion, up from £17.8 billion for the same period of 2014. ‘The winter and early spring were a time of deceleration for commercial property, following the heady capital growth seen in 2014. While in May IPD’s capital growth index gained momentum, the improvement was not evenly spread across the sectors,’ said James Roberts, Knight Frank chief economist. The report analysis points out that offices surged ahead, industrial achieved a less dramatic increase, and retail barely saw any improvement. Roberts explains the disparity is probably due to the fact that in recent years industrial has enjoyed a fillip in the occupier and investment market from the rise of e-commerce but that is not ‘news’ any more. ‘Possibly investors now view the internet effect as priced in, taking some of the heat out of the market. This is perhaps a healthy downwards gear change, especially as the internet is no longer expanding its market share in retail as aggressively as a few years ago,’ he explained. He also pointed out that in 2000 the office market became overheated in London and the South East, as property investors and developers overestimated the growth prospects of tech firms. ‘Hopefully what we are seeing is a soft landing for industrial following its e-commerce boom of recent years,’ he added. But he also said that explaining retail property’s under performance is, however, getting harder. ‘After all, the UK retail sales figures have been robust for some time, and the consumer has done much to support GDP growth by compensating for sluggish export demand and a retrenching government. Plus, there are the new occupier groups and shopping formats that have emerged to meet changing consumer trends, such as cafés, mini supermarkets, and click and collect. These should be compensating for problems elsewhere in the sector. Perhaps the explanation is to be found in leasing market fundamentals,’ he explained. So far this year the UK shop vacancy rate has hovered around the 13% mark according to Local Data Company. This is in marked contrast to the steady decline in vacancy rates in many UK office markets, particularly in London and the South East where levels are in most cases lower than in 2007. ‘These dynamics are shaping rental growth, which is reasserting itself significantly in the office market, and barely in existence for retail. Admittedly, the rental growth for London and the South East is the driving force behind the IPD office figures, but there are… Continue reading
