Miles Shipside
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Latest property news
Spring bounce for the housing market says Rightmove
Positive noises coming from Rightmove’s latest report: a 1.1% (+£3,547) rise has pushed the national average to £313,655, exceeding the previous high of £310,471 set in June 2016. This has been driven by strong buyer demand, with the highest number of sales agreed at this time of year since 2007, before the credit crunch. While the run-up to an election creates a degree of uncertainty and often a pause in activity, this strong set of figures should help mitigate pre-election jitters. Miles Shipside, Rightmove Director, said, “High buyer demand in most parts of the country has helped to propel the price of newly marketed property to record highs. There are signs of a strong spring market with the number of sales agreed achieved at this time of year being the highest since 2007. It remains to be seen what effect the run-up to the snap election will have, though any slowdown in activity will be counter-balanced by the market’s current fast pace. Indeed, in locations where choice of suitable property is limited, hesitation could mean losing out to others who still decide to act.” “Increasingly stretched buyer affordability will continue to be a price moderator for sellers who are over-ambitious with their…
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Latest property news
Parents paying £52k extra for homes in Outstanding primary school areas
Agents are used to parents quizzing them endlessly about properties for sale within the catchment areas of the best local outstanding primary schools. And now a price has been put on this fixation. Parents pay an average price premium of £52,000 to live in the successful admission area of an Outstanding Ofsted-ranked primary school, a report from Rightmove has revealed. The figure is based on the cost of moving from the catchment area of a Requires Improvement school to an Outstanding one. The portal, which partnered with school search engine FindaSchool by 192.com to produce the report, also says that to move from an area around a Good school to and Outstanding costs on average £37,000. “Previous studies have shown links between outstanding schools and house prices, however our data is the first data that is based on whether the property would have secured a place at the school,” says Dominic Blackburn from 192.com (pictured, left). Fierce competition Driving the fierce competition for places at the best school are some starting facts. Across England 86% of Outstanding state primary schools are oversubscribed and only 20% of all schools have Outstanding status and 62% are Good. The areas with the biggest premiums…
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Latest property news
Sales stock at its lowest for over two years, says Rightmove index
The average number of properties for sale with each estate agent in the UK has fallen to its lowest level for at least two years, according to the latest Rightmove index published today. The portal says each agent that lists with it on average had 52 properties during February including those under offer or sold STC, down from 61 in August and two fewer than February last year although it’s at least two years since it was this low. And Rightmove data from previous months suggests the number of months that the traditional winter shortage lasts for is lengthening. Average stock During 2016 the average stock per agent sank from 66 at its peak in July to 53 in December but by March has recovered to 57, a trend which is less obvious this year. Rightmove says the shortage is largely responsible for a sharp increase in the average UK house price last month, up by 1.3%, a monthly rise that has only been exceeded once since the financial crash of 2007/8. “Since the start of the decade, the average March price rise has been 0.9%, so this month’s 1.3% uplift is an indicator of a shortage of suitable property…
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Latest property news
Rightmove tells agents: Get the price right to sell homes quickly
Following last week’s report from Which? on overpricing homes, Rightmove says that agents must get the price right to avoid deterring price-sensitive buyers. Rightmove reports that the price of property has increased by just 2.0 per ent (+£5,986), the smallest price rise at this time of year since February 2009; well below the average +5.0 per cent February uplift over the previous seven years. This contributes to a further slowing in the pace of price rises, with the annual rate of +2.3 per cent being the lowest since April 2013. Miles Shipside, Rightmove director said, “While the prices of goods in shops are rising at a faster rate, the pace of price rises in property coming to the market is slowing. They’re still 2.3 per cent higher than a year ago, but perhaps we’re approaching the territory where many buyers are unable or unwilling to pay what sellers are asking, given the negative combination of rises in the cost of living, tighter lending criteria, and a dose of Brexit uncertainty. The housing market has had a long sprint since April 2013 when the annual rate was last below this level, so it’s not surprising that upwards price pressure is running on tired legs…
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Housing Market
Government aims to deliver 1m new homes
The Government announced this week that it wants to deliver 1 million new build homes in England by 2020, in an effort to tackle the growing housing crisis. The mounting supply-demand imbalance in the market is driving up both property prices and rents across many parts of the country, with new research suggesting that the average price of a residential property Britain could reach a whopping £300,000 by the end of the year, if price growth in the property market continues at its existing pace. Rightmove’s latest House Price Index revealed that the average price of a home hit a new national high of £294,834 in September, owed mainly to a lack of housing stock coming on to the market. Miles Shipside (left), of Rightmove, commented, “High demand, lack of suitable supply, and increasingly stretched affordability are leading to some extremes in market forces in different sectors and parts of the country.” The National Housing Federation estimated that 974,000 new homes were needed between 2011 and 2014 to meet demand, and in reality that figures looks likely to rise. Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said this week that the Government is determined to deliver 1 million new homes during the course…
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Housing Market
Homeowners urged to factor in interest rate rise
People thinking of buying a home or remortgaging their existing property should budget for a potential interest rate increase in the coming months after the Bank of England signified that it expects to see interest rates rise sooner rather than later. UK interest rates have remained at a record low of 0.5 per cent since March 2009, and although any hike to the rate would be dictated by economic data, including wage growth and productivity, over the next few months, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney (left), did last week admit that the time for an increase is ‘drawing closer’. It is not clear when the rate rise may occur, but Nicholas Leeming (right), Chairman of agents Jackson-Stops & Staff, is urging homeowners not to take any chances. He said, “Mark Carney has been careful to flag that interest rates will edge higher in the longer term as the economy continues to grow and inflationary pressure on wages increase. “Property buyers should recognise that rates will move towards more sustainable, long term levels and so budget for higher mortgage costs accordingly. Vendors should be aware that any such increases will create resistance to overly high guide prices.”…
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Housing Market
Property prices set to soar
Residential property prices are set to rise sharply over the next few years, as the supply of housing coming onto the market continues to fall, according to the RICS UK Residential Market Survey for May. The report shows that despite growing demand from buyers, the stock of homes per surveyor in May dropped to the lowest level since the data series started in January 1978, pushing home prices higher in the process, and at a quicker pace than in April. 34 per cent more surveyors saw prices increase in May as the supply of homes coming on to the market fell for the fourth month in succession with 19 per cent more surveyors reporting a decline in new instructions. According to RICS, the average stock of residential property per surveyor has fallen by around 12 per cent since the start of 2015. Consequently, 38 per cent more surveyors expect to see property prices increase over the next three months, supported in part by the fact that new buyer enquiries rose at the fastest rate in over a year. RICS Chief Economist Simon Rubinsohn (left) said, “There had been some hope that the removal of political uncertainty would encourage more properties…
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