Search Results for: Mortgages
-
Housing Market
Jeremy Leaf
Has the Summer Budget busted buy-to-let? George Osborne’s changes to mortgage interest relief and tax could have a serious effect on the market, says Jeremy Leaf.
Read More » -
Agencies & People
Countrywide acquires three more agents
Countrywide, the UK’s largest integrated property services group, has significantly increased its regional footprint in Merseyside and South Wales by acquiring three major new independent estate agents. The company has completed the acquisitions of Sutton Kersh and Clive Watkin estate agents in Liverpool, along with John Francis in South Wales. The three deals adds over 300 employees and 39 branch locations to Countrywide’s new retail business unit, which brings together the sales and lettings businesses to create a seamless customer-facing experience. Clive Watkin Partnership operates a network of 15 estate agency and letting branches across Liverpool and the Wirral, as well as a land and new homes operation, while Sutton Kersh, established in 1976, now has six multi-discipline branches across Liverpool, providing a wide range of services covering residential sales, lettings and property management, commercial property, auctions, mortgages, surveys, valuations, and energy performance assessments. John Francis operates a 21 branch network covering Swansea and South Wales, which serves all aspects of the property market, including services in residential sales and lettings, commercial sales, auctions, new homes and financial services. “We are delighted and excited to have joined the UK’s largest property services group. John Francis is a strong brand and…
Read More » -
Products & Services
The game-changer
Technical development never stops, so how is estate agent software evolving? Sheila Manchester asks the leading innovators.
Read More » -
Uncategorised
Patchy forecast for sales
Report Headlines Rightmove: “Biggest September rise for 13 years to new record high benefits the property-rich.” Home.co.uk: “Average London house price up £60,000.” NAEA: “Supply of available housing dwindles to eleven year low.” RICS: “Sales growth picks up speed as solid demand begins to filter through.” Nationwide: “Annual house price growth picks up to 3.8 per cent whilst regional divergence grows.” Halifax: “Annual house price growth eases to 8.6 per cent.” Agency Express: “UK property market gains momentum in September.” LSL: “The most frequently paid property price across England and Wales is just £125,000. Hometrack: “City level house price inflation is running at 8.3 per cent per annum, up from 6.6 per cent in May.” Land Registry: “August data shows a monthly price increase of 0.5 per cent and the annual price change is now 4.2 per cent.” KATE SAYS: “Property price inflation is reported to be between +3 per cent through to just under 9 per cent year on year depending on which index you look at. The higher rates are being applied to mortgage lending via Halifax and Hometrack’s City Index. But despite talks of affordability issues, LSL’s data shows that more houses are sold at £125,000 than…
Read More » -
Housing Market
Lack of homes for sale hits profits
Countrywide, Foxtons, Savills, Martin & Co and Belvoir were among the main property firms to see their share prices fall last week amid housing market fears. The residential property market in parts of the country is taking time to recover especially in Prime Central London, where transaction levels remain at historically low levels owing to strong recent price growth and changes to stamp duty. Countrywide was one of the FTSE 250’s biggest fallers last week, with shares at one stage down 60.10p or 12.92 per cent to 404.90p, before later recovering to 412.79. Other listed estate agent firms also suffered, with Foxtons dropping 7p to 192.8p and Savills down 9.5p to 902.5p. Countrywide, which saw its annual operating profits drop 11 per cent in the nine months to September compared to the same period last year, has warned that its full-year profits are set to fall below its 2014 total of £121.1million, primarily due to a lack of homes coming up for sale after the anticipated post-election recovery in residential transactions failed to materialise. “Against the current backdrop of less than expected residential volumes, group EBITDA for the nine months to September 30 was 11 per cent below last year,”…
Read More » -
Housing Market
Boomtime for buy-to-let
Investor landlords expanding portfolios, new pension rules encouraging silver landlords, it’s all going well for BTL, says Marc Da Silva.
Read More » -
Housing Market
Jeremy Leaf
Home ownership strife: Jeremy Leaf says, “Higher rents and tougher lending criteria continue to hamper home ownership. How can we close the gap between aspiration and reality?”
Read More » -
Housing Market
Shadow Housing Minister vows to boost homeownership
Labour’s new Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning, John Healey (right), has said that halting the decline in homeownership levels in this country is a major priority for the Labour party. Fresh Government data shows that despite the introduction of various housing schemes, such as Help to Buy, the level of homeownership has fallen from 67.4 per cent to 63.3 per cent over the last five years, while the number of families living in the private rented sector has risen by 2.5 million. Research by the Labour Party, based on official Government statistics, suggests that under the Coalition Government there was a 50 per cent decline in the number of young people owning their own property, with just 800,000 people under the age of 34 now owning their own home. This is owed in part to tougher mortgage lending conditions, a lack of house building and high property prices in some parts of the country. Speaking to the press ahead of Labour’s annual conference in Brighton this week, Healey said, “Homeownership has declined each and every year since 2010 and the number of people getting mortgages and buying homes is 10 per cent less than it was in 2010. There…
Read More » -
Products & Services
Opportunity knocks
Property auctions provide an opportunity to agents to hammer out a fat profit, as Marc Da Silva reports.
Read More » -
Latest property news
600,000 homeowners to use pensions to pay off mortgage
Over half a million people in the UK intend to use their retirement savings to pay off their mortgage by using either the tax-free 25 per cent lump sum or the entire pension pot, according to specialist insurer Partnership. A survey of 3,000 found one in ten 40 to 70-year-olds – the equivalent of 631,000 adults – plan to use all or part of their pension to help pay down their mortgage debt. Andrew Megson, of Partnership, said that it was concerning that so many people are relying on their pension to pay off their home loan. He commented, “Using their pension may well seem like an option but it is not the only option as working longer, downsizing or considering a lifetime mortgage may be more appropriate.” “Ideally, pension savings should be used to provide an income in retirement, and with the state pension only providing a very basic safety net, making this choice could lead to hardship in later life,” Megson added. Separate figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) reveal that pension savers have been withdrawing £27 million a day since the pension freedoms were introduced in April, latest figures from the Association of British Insurers…
Read More »
