Paul Smith
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Latest property news
Transactions to drop by 20% if Brexit negotiations are extended
Read how Paul Smith has predicted the likely outcomes for the housing market for several different Brexit outcome including a no deal.
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Latest property news
It’s gloat AND gloom as industry debates ‘Brexit effect’ on housing
Leading estate agency Haart has today put the weight of its 150 branches behind an upbeat assessment of the property market since the EU Referendum, claiming buyers remain ‘defiant’ two years on from the vote. The company also attacks HM Treasury for its report published in May 2016 which predicted significant problems for the housing market following a Brexit decision. HM Treasury claimed at the time that higher costs of lending would reduce demand for homes and that prices could drop by between 10% and 18%. Instead, Haart says its research shows that prices have increased by 9% following the Brexit vote and that the company has seen transactions “at their highest for two years”. “EU or no-EU the need to move home will always be there,” says Paul Smith, CEO of Haart. “Brits move for a whole host of reasons including good schools, new jobs and better transport links. “‘Brexit’ is not a word our branches are hearing on the ground anymore, but instead, customers are much more focused on what is happening with interest rates and stamp duty, and for investors, the recent tax changes.” Falling transactions But another report published at the same time as Haart’s this…
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All rise: haart reports February market surge
Instructions, viewings, transactions, new buyers, house prices, rents, new tenants and purchasing landlords all rose in February 2018, with 15 buyers chasing every property for sale.
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Snow debate about the timing… SpicerHaart send staff on Alpine driving course just before storm Emma
Thursday and Friday last week were quiet days for many agents as viewings, appraisals and tenant check-ins proved difficult to get to as the beast from the east roared in. But one set of 24 SpicerHaart agents will have had fewer excuses than most for cancelling appointments, as they had recently completed a course in the Austrian alps designed to sharped up their snow and ice driving skills. The top-performing agents from several of the company’s agencies including haart, Chewton Rose, Felicity J Lord, Darlows and Haybrook were in Austria three weeks ago on a glacier near the ski resort of Sölden. It’s some 3,000 metres above sea level and the highest driver training camp of its kind in the world. The course, which was provided by BMW, included instruction on how to avoid skidding into walls of ice, breaking and steering on snow, as well as avoiding steep drops down the mountainside.4 The trip was part of SpicerHaart’s ongoing programme of taking its brightest stars on foreign jaunts. “It was a brilliant trip, absolutely fantastic [and] we all now know how to drive properly in the snow,” said Mel Mills (pictured, above), Branch Manager of haart in Bury St…
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Are the Tories (finally) turning against Stamp Duty?
The campaign to reform the current Stamp Duty system and have recent increases for landlords and owners of high-value homes reversed is gaining momentum as a raft of the Tory MPs, think tanks and media line up. Yesterday the free-market supporting Adam Smith Institute said current Stamp Duty system is costing the economy over £9 billion a year because it prevents people moving to the homes they want near to their place of work, and that they must commute long distances instead. The Telegraph newspaper has also been running a campaign to reform the duty, which it says taxes too unfairly those who through no fault of their own have to pay high prices to move up their local property ladder. This week the right-wing MP Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured, left) said the UK should move to a ‘low taxation’ home ownership model and that, in the same way a cut to business taxes helped stimulate economic activity, so a cut to Stamp Duty would achieve the same thing. And former Tory party leader Ian Duncan-Smith (pictured, right) said in July that that the government should be using Stamp Duty to encourage landlords, not put them off investing. “It is time…
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Government property market track record is “disaster” says agency chief
One of the UK’s leading estate agency CEOs has launched a blistering attack on the government’s handling of the property market since it was elected in June. Haart CEO Paul Smith reckons the number of landlords registering with its branches to buy property is down by almost a third as fewer landlords invest in property. He says that “this could have serious long-term consequences for the rental market and lead to higher rents, putting those who are trying to save for a deposit in an even more difficult position”. His comments follow the most recent overall data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) which reveals that , although mortgage lending rose in May by 10% year-on-year, the figures “flatter to deceive” says Paul Smee, Head of Mortgages at CML parent organisation UK Finance (pictured, left). “The seasonally-adjusted data shows a less buoyant lending picture, with home buying activity remaining relatively unchanged month-on-month and remortgage lending gradually decreasing each month since January,” he says. Disaster Haart’s Paul Smith (pictured, below) says he also thinks Prime Minister Theresa May’s legacy on home ownership has so far been “a disaster” and that ‘just about managing’ families are further away from owning their…
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11 home buyers chasing every property for sale, says leading agent
Estate agent haart says the current shortage of stock in the housing market is so severe that 11 home buyers are chasing each property across its branch network. “There are simply not enough homes to meet this strong demand,” says haart CEO Paul Smith (pictured, below). His comments follow research done by haart among 2,000 homeowners which reveal that Brexit has so far not damaged the property market. Home buyers Haart’s research found that 75% of those it quizzed said Brexit had not impacted at all their decision whether to sell or buy a home recently. 16% said they were worried by Brexit but felt it would not affect their decision to move, while 3.2% were initially worried but then decided to go for it. But only a tiny number are holding off before moving – 2.7% of vendors and 1.7% of home buyers. “Nearly a year on from the UK’s vote to leave the EU, the UK property market remains sound,” says haart CEO Paul Smith. “House prices are up 5.6% on the year, a world away from the 10-18% drop that the former Chancellor was plugging to middle Britain, and clearly consumer sentiment is that the ongoing negotiations…
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Official house price index highlights sales slide in London and beyond
The total fee slice taken by London estate agents each month dropped by over £20 million between 2015 and 2016, the latest house price index reveals. Today’s figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal that the number of completed sales during November 2016 compared to November 2015 fell from 9,800 to 6,400. This, based on an average fee of 1.5%, saw agents’ total revenue for the two Novembers dip from just over £67 million in 2015 to £47 million last year. Completed house sales across England also reduced during the same period, down by 21.2% to 62,500 from 79,300. This reduction in supply is the main driver behind buoyant house price figures, most commentators agree. The figures for completed sales, also released today, show prices rising by 6.2% over the past year. The average price for a property in London is now £490,700 compared to £234,800 in England and £145,900 in Wales, the index says. “With only a week to go until Article 50 is triggered, house prices remain indestructible as the average person is paying £13,000 more to own a home than the same time last year, reflecting the health and buoyancy of the UK economy seen in…
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‘Bank of mum and dad’ backed first time buyers driving property market, it is claimed
If you’re wondering which way the property market is moving, then be heartened by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). It says that while the number of home loans dropped 1% year-on-year, the number of first-time buyer loans has increased by 9%, driven in part by parents re-mortgaging to help their offspring get on the property ladder, it has been claimed. The number of first time borrowers in the market hit 337,000 last year, the highest level in any twelve month period since the financial crash of 2008, the CML says. Re-mortgaging activity in the property market increased by 54% between December last year and January this year, and although this is driven in part by competition among lenders to offer lower and lower rates, agent Haart says it’s also driven by ‘bank of mum and dad’ parents. “We are seeing more and more parents on the ground looking to release equity in their homes to support increasing numbers of young people who are leaning on their parents for support to get onto the property ladder,” says Haart’s CEO Paul Smith (pictured, left). “With rents sent to increase as landlords are squeezed, and ONS figures showing that house prices have reached 10 times the average…
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War on landlords
The UK Government’s ‘War on Landlords’ has caused buy-tolet sales to collapse, down by 64 per cent in twelve months.
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