Mark Hayward
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Revealed: how much rogue estate agents are damaging the industry
The extent to which rogue estate agents are damaging the industry’s reputation has been laid bare today by new research. The problems are most acute in the private rental sector,but affect all of it. For example, 41% of tenants who used an ‘approved’ letting agent signed up to a professional body said problems with their property were fixed within a week, but only 25% of those used an ‘unapproved’ agent received the same service. The research, which covers transactions over the past five years and was completed by Propertymark, highlights the most common problems tenants encounter including poor property management, the slow replacement of faulty furnishings and white goods, and a reluctance to return deposits fast enough. Propertymark’s research also highlights a key challenge faced by the industry as a whole. Rogue estate agents Over a third of buyers and sellers, and 42% of renters don’t bother to check if the agent they are using has signed up to the key regulatory bodies or is a member of a professional organisation – leaving the door open for rogue estate agents. This is creating significant problems for the industry’s reputation, the research shows. Over half of all the buyers, vendors and…
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Stamp Duty cut: first-time buyers rejoice, but experts warn of price rises
If Chancellor Philip Hammond thought his Stamp Duty cut for first time buyers announced during yesterday’s Budget would get a unanimous thumbs up, then things definitely aren’t going to plan. Firstly Robert Cote, Chairman of the Office for Budget responsibility, revealed that his organisation thought the tax cut would push up prices by 0.3% and that “the main financial gainers will actually be people who already own properties, rather than first time buyers themselves”. Treasury Chief Secretary has subsequently dismissed the OBR’s prediction and just a “minor increase”. But Mark Hayward, Chief Executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) (pictured, left) also sounded a note of caution saying that although overall it was a positive move, it would increase house prices by pushing up demand for first time buyer properties. “We have seen this in areas where Help to Buy is offered, as it attracts a great deal of interest from first time buyers,” he said. Sarah Beeny, TV presenter and founder of online agent Tepilo (pictured, right), also weighed in, saying she thought the measures would not make a huge difference to the market. “Cutting stamp duty for first time buyers is unlikely to do much –…
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A question of property: Katie Griffin, President of the NAEA
Katie Griffin (pictured, right) is the President of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and only the second woman to have the job in the association’s 50-year history. Half way through her time leading the NAEA, Nigel Lewis interviews her just after she flew in from a week in Chicago representing the UK. What were you doing in Chicago? I was there with NAEA Chairman Mark Hayward as well as two board members – Kirsty Finney and Natasha Rodgers from Belfast (all pictured, below). We spent five days there at the National Association of Realtors’ conference and exhibition, where the NAEA had a stand. It’s fairly intimidating; there are 22,000 delegates at the event; more than the total number of agents in the UK. Sounds like a bit of a jolly. It wasn’t. We attended half a dozen meetings every day, looked after the stand and networked hard on behalf of the NAEA – we were there as part of the Global Alliance, which includes agents from 60 countries around the world. These kinds of connections are going to be increasingly important after Brexit. Did it all go according to plan? The biggest surprise for me was that I thought…
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Outdated house moving process to blame for sluggish sales, says NAEA
National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) Chief Executive Mark Hayward says the creaking house moving process is one reason of the key reasons why sales volumes remains low “despite the fact that the supply of housing is up”. The comments follow NAEA research revealing that 80% percent of estate agents canvassed by the say the house moving process is out of date and just a week after the government announced it wants to reform the home buying and selling process and began a consultation process. Sajid Javid says he wants to hear from estate agents, solicitors and mortgage brokers on a wide range of issues but in particular about how to stop gazumping, reduce time wasting and preventing buyers from pulling out of deals before exchanging contracts. “The Government’s announcement last weekend that it will consult to reform the home-buying process couldn’t come soon enough, and we welcome it,” says NAEA Chief Executive Mark Hayward. “Our findings show that estate agents agree, and would welcome changes to ensure the process for buying and selling is brought into the twenty first century. “The current prolonged process means sales are stagnating despite the fact that the supply of housing is up, and there is…
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Gazumping to be outlawed? Government to consider buyer lock-ins
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has launched another call for evidence, this time as part of a government push to reform the buying process which could see gazumping outlawed. Just days after revealing he wanted to make life fairer for leaseholders, Sajid says he wants to hear from estate agents, solicitors and mortgage lenders about how to stop gazumping, reduce time wasting and ensuring buyers commit to a sale. In his call for evidence, the Communities Secretary says mistrust between parties is one of the biggest issues faced by the industry and wants to introduce lock-in agreement to improve it, highlighting how a quarter of house purchases fall through each year. Other measures include ‘encouraging’ sellers to provide more information before they put their property on the market – which sounds like a ‘lite’ version of Labour’s Home Information Packs – and encourage more digital innovation to help speed up the buying process by making more data available online. This refers to more recent innovations such as the blockchain technology developed by Bitcoin that enables processes to move forward automatically without the need for huge amounts of paperwork and human intervention. The first property in the UK – a retail unit –…
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London’s house prices drop for first time in EIGHT years
The once mighty London property market has been laid low and its house prices are now the weakest in the UK, the Nationwide has revealed. Its latest index reports that prices in the capital have fallen for the first time since 2005 and are currently down 0.6% year-on-year on a quarterly basis. Nevertheless the years of double-digit growth are still there to see. The average price in London is £471,761, more than twice the national average of £210,982. Softening prices “The softening of prices was initially led by the capital’s prime market, which was knocked sideways both by Brexit and in the wake of the introduction of higher rates of stamp duty for high-value homes,” says Nicholas Finn, Executive Director at Garrington Property Finders. “But it is now spreading from the central boroughs – which saw prices rise fastest during the boom – to other areas where the growth came later.” Despite London’s problems, across the UK average house prices are relatively stable, rising by two percent year-on-year and Nationwide says housing market activity overall – including mortgage approvals and housing transactions – has “strengthened a little”, it says. naea |propertymark agrees with this analysis, revealing in its latest figures published…
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Top high street firms outperform online agents, research shows
The top-performing high street agents in the UK outperform online agents in all areas including achieved asking price and time taken to sell, it has been revealed. Research by consumer advice website HomeOwnersAlliance.com found that the top 1,000 best performing agents achieved on average 100.35% of their asking price, “suggesting that sellers can still maximise their home’s potential by selecting the correct local agents”. These agents also have a much better sales success rate than online agents, the research reveals, and sell 82.42% of homes listed with them compared to 51.98% by online and hybrid agents. “Sellers who look carefully at their local market before listing their home for sale will probably still be better off instructing the best high street agent in their area,” says Paula Higgins, Chief Executive of the HomeOwners Alliance. But for those looking for a quick, easy sale with surprisingly high rewards, online agents are an excellent and rapidly-improving option.” But the performance of online agents versus the whole high street market compares less favourably for traditional agents. Asking price The research reveals that online agents achieve a higher percentage of the asking price than their high street competitors despite charging on average £850 in…
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NAEA rebuffs calls to halt election for Vice President
An attempt to halt the voting process for the post of Vice President of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has been turned down by Chief Executive Mark Hayward in an email sent to SW-based agent Chris Wood yesterday. In it Mark confirms that he and the NAEA Propertymark board had been made aware of Chris’s request to halt the election process, and that they were also aware of the new processes in place to elect the Vice President, and other posts. The email also says Mark and the board were aware of Chris’s concerns about the process but were “completely satisfied that the process was correct and robust [and that] therefore the election will go forward in the normal manner. Final response Mark also said it would be the NAEA’s final response with Chris prior to the AGM on June 16. On Wednesday Chris had previously written to Mark asking him to confirm whether due processes was adhered to and suggesting that the NAEA appeared to “be playing for time” and wanted to “obfuscate due process”. Chris Wood was one of several agents proposed for the Vice President role but, following a panel interview, not proposed as a…
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General election reduces ALL housing market indicators
Not many agents have thanked Theresa May for holding a general election during the crucial summer months, and now the extent of the damage being caused by the campaigning is laid bare. All the UK’s housing market health indicators fell last month which, according to NAEA Propertymark which compiled the figures, is “most likely down to uncertainty triggered by the snap General Election starting to take effect, as buyers put their plans on hold until the result is clear”, it says. House hunter number fall This includes the number of house-hunters in the market which fell by 4% to 381 per branch, property supply per branch which dropped by 8% to 36 per branch, and the number sales agreed per branch. This fell from ten per branch in March to eight in April. This is the third April in a row during which politics has conspired to dampen down the housing market after last year’s EU Referendum – which had the hardest impact on the market – and, before that, the 2015 General Election. For example, during the EU Referendum the number of house hunters dropped to 325 per branch, 17% lower than the current figure of 381. “Periods of…
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UK to set up world’s first property register of properties owned by foreign companies
The government has announced plans to introduced a nationwide register of foreign companies that own properties in the UK in a bid to tackle corruption. In what is claimed to be a world first, the system will reveal the beneficial owners of property controlled by overseas companies and other legal entities such as partnerships. This will end the current and very common practice of foreigners owning UK property through offshore registered companies, as highlighted by Channel 4’s From Russian with Cash documentary in two years ago. Offshore trust During it one of the agents was filmed suggesting how 80% of sales at the time in central London were with international, overseas buyers and that “50 or 60%” of them were carried out in “various stages of anonymity…whether it be through a company or an offshore trust”. Police investigations looking at international corruption within the UK have identified more than £180m of property in the UK that are suspected proceeds of corruption, and that 75% of those involved were using international companies to cover their tracks. “Greater transparency of ownership brings many benefits,” says Margot James, Minister for Small Business, Consumer and Corporate Responsibility. “We know that market transparency fosters confidence…
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