TSI
UK asking prices reach new high of £307,033
Average UK asking prices increased by 1.3% or £3,843 in April compared to the previous month and are up 7.3% year on year, according to the latest index figures. This takes the price of an average home to a record high of £307,033 with market activity having been pushed up due to a rush by buy to let investors to beat the April stamp duty change, says the index report from Rightmove. Indeed, the stamp duty deadline gave an early impetus to the bottom of the market and this had the knock-on effect of energising the higher sectors of the market as growth was driven by second-stepper and top of the ladder sectors. The report also says that smaller properties in the first time buyer and buy to let sector actually saw a month on month price drop of 1.4%. But overall while buy to let demand will not have gone it remains high overall with record visits on Rightmove in March. ‘The further demand boost from those looking to complete before 01 April has now dissipated, resulting in a 1.4% drop this month in the average price of a property coming to market in the first time buyer and investor sector,’ said Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst. ‘However, the momentum it created looks to have enabled owner occupiers of these properties to trade up. This has built an onward chain reaction of higher demand in higher price brackets as more people can move,’ he explained. He also pointed out that upwards price pressure has moved into the typical second stepper sector of three or four bedrooms excluding four bedroom detached properties. Prices are up by 0.6% or £1,512 this month, and this sector compared to the others has seen the largest year on year rise of 8.6% or £20,519. Meanwhile top of the ladder sector of four bedroom detached and five bedrooms or more has seen the biggest rise this month, up by 1.9% or £9,970. Their annual rate of increase remains the lowest however, at 5.1%. ‘While some felt that there would be a stampede of existing landlords selling to other landlords, these figures indicate that many of those who sold during the buy to let rush were actually first time sellers looking to trade up,’ said Shipside. ‘They used the heightened demand from investors competing fiercely with first time buyers to springboard themselves onto the next rung of the housing ladder. After several years of being held back from moving by post credit crunch price doldrums, they have now benefitted from a heady combination of price growth, historically cheap interest rates, and confidence of a quick sale with purchasers working to a tight deadline,’ he pointed out. ‘Trader uppers have now been unleashed and this has spread demand upwards and helped to form longer chains. Interestingly there has been a stamp duty double whammy effect pushing up prices in these higher sectors too. Earlier reforms in December 2014… Continue reading
Property sales in Canada reach record all-time high in March
Residential property sales in Canada increased by 1.5% in March month on month while average sale prices are up over 15% year on year, the latest index shows. The month on month 1.5% sales rise to set a new all-time record in March but there were some falls, most notably a decline of 0.3% in Greater Vancouver and a fall of 1.8% in the Greater Toronto Area although both remain near record highs reached the month before. The data from the index from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) also shows that sales in March were up from the previous month in about 60% of markets, including Victoria, Chilliwack, the Okanagan Region, Edmonton, Calgary, Woodstock-Ingersoll, Kingston, Barrie and Montreal. ‘Greater Vancouver and the GTA are heading into the spring home buying season with soaring demand and a shortage of listings,’ said CREA president Cliff Iverson. ‘Meanwhile, other major urban markets in Canada are well balanced or are amply supplied,’ he added. Gregory Klump, CREA chief economist, pointed out that single family home sales in the Lower Mainland of BC and the GTA set new records for March in the range between $500,000 and $1 million as did sales above a million dollars. ‘Sales below a half a million dollars, which were not subject to recently tightened mortgage regulations, are being increasingly restrained in these markets by a short supply of listings. If current sales and listings trends persist, price gains may pick up further this spring,’ he explained. Actual, not seasonally adjusted, sales activity was up 12.2% from one year ago and set a new record for the month of March. It also stood 14.2% above the 10 year average for the month. It surpassed year ago levels among nearly two thirds of all local markets, with BC’s Lower Mainland and the GTA contributing most to the year on year increase in national activity. Sales in a number of other markets in BC and Ontario also posted double digit gains, with Chilliwack sales double what they were one year ago. The Aggregate Composite house price index rose by 9.1% year on year, the biggest gain since June 2010. For the second consecutive month, year on year price growth accelerated for all Benchmark property types tracked by the index. Two storey single family home prices posted the biggest year on year gain at 10.8% followed by townhouse/row units up 8.6%, one storey single family homes up 8.1% and apartment units up 7.3%. The data also shows that year on year price growth continues to vary widely among housing markets tracked by the index, with nine of the 11 markets tracked by the index having posted year on year price gains in March. Greater Vancouver saw growth of 23.2% while prices were up 22.1% in the Fraser Valley, up 11.6% in Greater Toronto, up 10.8% in Victoria and up 7.1% in Vancouver Island. Prices fell by 3.7% in Calgary and by 2.7% in Saskatoon. Smaller price growth… Continue reading
Most UK borrowers reach mortgage freedom day
Home borrowers in the UK have reached the time of year when they will have earned enough to pay off the annual cost of their mortgage, research shows. Based on the average annual mortgage repayment cost of £7,584 and the average net annual income of £26,023, lender the Halifax has calculated that home owners with a mortgage will have today earned enough on average to cover their mortgage payments for the rest of 2016. Mortgage Freedom Day this year occurs just a day later than in 2015 and is the result of average annual mortgage repayment edging up by £17 during the year. Rental Freedom Day, on the other hand, comes 16 days later on the 05 May, again a day later than in 2015. However, there is a wide variation in Mortgage Freedom Day across the country, with home owners in Scotland and Northern Ireland achieving this on 12 March, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber on 25 March, the North West 26th and the North the 27th. Mortgage Freedom Day for Londoners doesn't arrive until 26 June, three months later than in northern England. Regionally, the North was the first to achieve Rental Freedom Day on 05 April this year, just ahead of Yorkshire and the Humber on 09 April and the East Midlands on the 13th April. Tenants in London have to wait until 13 July. ‘For most home owners mortgage payments are the biggest outgoing every month. Knowing they’ve earned enough to pay off their mortgage for another year should be a reassuring thought. On the other hand, those who rent will need to work a further couple of weeks to have earned enough to cover their annual rental cost,’ said Craig McKinlay, Halifax mortgage director. At local authority district level, new borrowers in West Dunbartonshire recorded the earliest Mortgage Freedom Day in 2016, on 21 February. Eight of the 10 earliest Mortgage Freedom Days this year take place in Scotland, including Inverclyde and East Ayrshire, both 23rd February, and North Lanarkshire on the 25th February. The remaining two local areas are Copeland in Cumbria on the 27th February and Blaenau Gwent on 02 March. Home owners in South Bucks have to wait until the autumn for Mortgage Freedom Day which will be the 12 September, followed by Hammersmith and Fulham on 21 August, Brent in North West London on 19 August and Ealing on 08 August. Continue reading
