Housing Market
News covering issues affecting the UK residential property market, house prices, interest rates and buying and selling trends.
-
Housing demand soars to 11-year high
The UK housing market continues to be propped up by growing demand from buyers, which the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) says is now an 11-year high, fuelled by greater political stability, a strengthening domestic economy, record-low mortgage borrowing rates, rising employment levels and Government housing schemes such as Help to Buy. The NAEA’s latest monthly report found 439 house hunters were registered on average per NAEA member branch in June, 15 per cent more than in May when 383 house hunters were registered per branch and the highest since August 2004 when 582 were recorded. “What we’re seeing is a market that lulled over the general election period, coming back to life in full force,” said the NAEA’s Mark Hayward (left). “There’s also an impetus to buy right now in light of the impending interest rate rise as buyers fight to buy and fix mortgage rates.” But while demand increases, the supply of housing coming onto the market continues to plummet, with the NAEA reporting that housing stock had fallen to just 44 houses available per branch, widening the growing gap between supply and demand. “The fact that demand is at an eleven year high without the housing…
Read More » -
One in three letting agents report rent increases
A higher number of letting agents witnessed rents increase between May and June, newly released figures from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has shown. According to the data, 36 per cent of letting agents that are members of ARLA reported that rents rose month-on-month – the highest number since tracking began. Letting agents in the East Midlands saw the highest number of gains, with 48 per cent of ARLA agents reporting a rise. In contrast, just 17 per cent of agents in Wales saw a hike in the monthly rent. The report suggested that rents are being forced higher by an ongoing supply-demand imbalance, particularly in London where it states that “worryingly” there were only 118 rental properties managed in June, compared to 134 in May – a fall of 12 per cent. “It is worrying to see so many agents reporting an increase in the cost of rent over the last six months, especially considering so many people rent as a way to bridge the gap whilst they save to get onto the property ladder,” said David Cox (left), Managing Director, ARLA. He added, “Findings like this continue to prove that the housing crisis isn’t going to…
Read More » -
Residential property transactions hit 18-month high
The volume of residential property transactions reached an 18 month high last month, the latest figures from HM Revenue and Customs has revealed, with 104,590 transactions recorded in June, up 3.2 per cent compared to the corresponding month in 2014. HMRC’s seasonally adjusted estimate shows that the number of home transactions rose by 4.7 per cent between May and June to 104,590, which was the highest number of UK residential transactions since February 2014 when 109,080 took place.There were also 10,460 non-residential transactions. Reflecting on the fact that the level of transactions reached an 18-month high last month, Andy Sommerville (left), Director of Search Acumen, said that the data suggested that the housing market is “bouncing back” after a shaky start to the year. He commented, “Having announced extra measures this month to improve the planning process and increase housing supply in the long term, the government will be relieved to see signs of renewed life in the property market so soon after the election.” Sommerville believes that positive indicators “such as a 3.2 per cent annual rise in wages” should help to build momentum in the second half of the year. “There is a renewed sense of optimism in…
Read More » -
Annual property price growth set to hit 10%
With demand from buyers continuing to heavily outweigh the supply of homes coming on to the market, residential property prices in Britain’s 20 biggest cities is expected to be increasing by 10 per cent by the end of this year, according to a new report. The latest research by property analysts Hometrack revealed that annual home price inflation is currently running at 8.4 per cent but it estimates that this rate of growth will rise in the coming months, fuelled by high demand and low supply, as well as a strengthening domestic economy, which is fuelling optimism in the market. The report also found that the average price of a residential property rose by 4.3 per cent in the last quarter to reach £226,200, with quarter-on-quarter gains led by Oxford, up 8 per cent, followed by London (6.6 per cent) and Glasgow (6.4 per cent). In contrast, Aberdeen was found to be the weakest performer with no real movement in home prices during the first half of 2015. “Rising demand for property against a backdrop of low supply continues push city level house prices higher,” said Richard Donnell, Director of Research at Hometrack (left). “It looks increasingly likely that city…
Read More » -
This is Generation Rent
Almost half of UK renters believe that they will never be in a position to buy their own home and that may be because so much of their income is now going towards paying rent, research shows. According to an independent survey for construction and regeneration company Keepmoat, 44 per cent of renters in the UK believe they will never own their own property with not being able to afford a deposit the most common reason for not getting on the property ladder. Dave Sheridan, Chief Executive of Keepmoat, said, “It’s clear that the amount of money first-time buyers need to raise for a deposit continues to stop many from getting on the property ladder.” High rents in relation to earnings may have a lot to do with the fact that many people now feel unable to save enough money for a deposit to buy a property. Rents in England, for instance, now stand at 47 per cent tenants’ average take-home pay, data from the latest English Housing Survey shows. In contrast, those who have secured a mortgage face repayments equal to 23 per cent, on average, of their earnings after tax. The comprehensive report also revealed that once housing…
Read More » -
Rental yields fall
Average rental yields on buy-to-let properties fell in the second quarter of this year, the latest buy-to-let index compiled by Mortgages for Business shows. Returns on residential rental properties fell from 6.4 per cent to 5.8 per cent between the first and second quarters of 2015, led by declines in the Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) sector which saw yields drop 1.3 per cent to 9.3 per cent. The figures also reveal that the average loan-to-value (LTV) ratio in the second quarter of 2015 for standard buy-to-let and multi-unit freehold blocks remained unchanged at 66 per cent and 67 percent in relation to the first quarter of this year. David Whittaker (left), Managing Director of Mortgages for Business, said, “While rental yields are still robust they seem to have lost the momentum they were gathering between the end of last year and the start of this one.” But Whittaker pointed out that multi-unit freehold blocks seem to have avoided the yield downturn, demonstrating once again that complex property types produce higher yields “because they offer tenants more features and facilities”. He added, “While many landlords had hoped that the improving economic climate may have pushed loan-to-value ratios even higher, the…
Read More » -
Housing industry welcomes Chancellor’s planning shake-up
The Government has released proposals to tackle the UK planning system with a view to speeding up house building as part of its Productivity Plan. The Chancellor George Osborne last week said that the Government is changing the country’s planning laws to make it easier for house builders to develop more residential properties. Under the new plan, planning consent would be granted automatically on suitable disused industrial land, limiting delays to development, under the reforms, while a higher number of brownfield plots could also be seized for development through new compulsory purchase powers. What’s more, major infrastructure projects that feature new homes will be fast-tracked to meet local housing demands. “Britain has been incapable of building enough homes,” said George Osborne. “The reforms we made to the planning system in the last parliament have started to improve the situation: planning permissions and housing starts are at a seven-year high.” “But we need to go further and I am not prepared to stand by when people who want to get on the housing ladder can’t do so,” he added. The Chancellor’s planning changes were described as a “major step towards solving the housing crisis” by Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the…
Read More » -
First-time buyers make up nearly half of all mortgages
First-time buyers in this country now account for almost half of all homes purchased with a mortgage, a rise of 38 per cent since 2011, owed in part to a surge in first-time buyer mortgage deals, new research shows. The study from the Halifax revealed that first-time buyers make up 47 per cent of all mortgage-aided acquisitions, while the deposit that they have to pay has increased by 6 per cent over the past 12 months to an average of £29,894, reflecting a general rise in property prices over the past year. The average first-time deposit is now 82 per cent or £13,494 higher than in 2007. Overall there were an estimated 139,500 first-time buyers in the first six months of this year, down 7 per cent year-on-year, but while this is the first annual decrease on this basis since the first half of 2011, it is still the highest total for the first six months of the year since 2007. Craig McKinlay (left), Halifax Mortgages Director, said, “There was a modest decline in the number of first time buyers in the first half of the year following the substantial increases recorded in 2013 and 2014. This fall has been…
Read More » -
What impact would Grexit have on UK housing market?
Many people believe Greece could now exit from the Eurozone after Greek nationals rejected the terms of an international bailout in Sunday’s referendum. By voting ‘no’, the people of Greece have not chosen to return to the drachma. This is not a vote for ‘Grexit’. But there are some European officials who have already warned that creditors could take the ‘no’ vote to mean that Greeks had rejected further talks. So far the UK housing market has remained largely unaffected by the goings on in Greece, thanks partly to the fact that the UK is not part of the Eurozone and so it has not directly contributed to bailing out Greece since the country got into trouble after the financial crisis. The UK has only really provided a fraction of the assistance indirectly through its membership and contributions to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and as a consequence, Jones Lang LaSalle believes that it is unlikely that even if Greece did leave the eurozone the UK’s housing market would end up being adversely affected. Commenting on the implications of a ‘Grexit’ from the Euro, Andrew Burrell (left), Head of Forecasting at JLL commented, “Our view is that real estate will…
Read More » -
£100m funding boost for house builders
The Government has pledged to match the £50 million promised by Lloyds Banking Group in October to help increase the supply of needed new homes across the country, the Housing Minister Brandon Lewis (left) announced this week. The Housing Growth Partnership will act as a dedicated initiative alongside small builders to invest in new developments, with the ultimate aim of increasing housing supply. The latest house building data reveal that housing starts are now at a seven-year high and climbing, while the volume of homes granted planning consent has reached 261,000 – the highest since 2007. But to help “maintain this momentum and keep the country building”, Lewis said that the Government recognised that greater investment in the sector is needed. He commented, “The 2008 economic crash devastated our army of small builders, with delivery falling from 44,000 homes to just 18,000 – seven years on, companies are getting back on their feet but we’re determined to give them all the help they need.” Lloyds Banking Group said that it welcomed the Government’s announcement of support for the housing growth partnership, which will double the capability to support SME house builders. Andrew Bester, Group Director and Chief Executive, commercial banking…
Read More »
