property ownership
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Latest property news
We are addicted to property
Ever since Margaret Thatcher declared her belief in a ‘property-owning democracy’ and introduced Right to Buy in 1980, the UK was converted into a nation obsessed with residential properties. Let’s be honest, many of us are preoccupied with our homes and particularly how much they are worth. Just turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper on almost any given day and you will find a story about property prices or mortgages and how they are becoming easier or harder to obtain. A new survey by Direct Line Home Insurance shows that 63 per cent of Britons browse property websites even when they are not looking to buy. Some 2.6 million browse portals like Zoopla or Rightmove at least once a day and 38 per cent admit they checked the price of someone else’s home online in the last year. The most enthusiastic property browsers were in Sheffield where 74 per cent confessed to window shopping for homes followed by 72 per cent in London and 70 per cent in Newcastle. People say that they look at online property portals to keep a check on house prices, look at design trends and also daydream about a future home. “We…
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Housing Market
House prices set to soar
Residential property prices and rents look set to rise sharply over the next decade, according to a new report. The ARLA and NAEA Housing 2025 report forecasts that the average UK home price, currently stood at around £280,000, will appreciate by half their existing value by 2025 – reaching an average price of £419,000. House price growth is expected to be led by London, where it is estimated property prices will almost double in the 10 years, increasing from £515,000 to £931,000, fuelled primarily by a widening supply-demand imbalance in the market. The ARLA and NAEA Housing 2025 report also projects that there will be a drop in the proportion of UK households that own their own property over the next decade, down from its existing rate of 62 per cent to 55 per cent, owed mainly to high home prices and the ageing of the baby-boom generation. “House prices are only going to go one way, and unfortunately that is up. For so many already priced out of the market, this is news aspiring house buyers will not want to hear,” said Mark Hayward, Managing Director, NAEA. He added, “Ongoing house price inflation, combined with low wage inflation, tighter…
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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…
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Housing Market
Outright owners of homes outstrip mortgage holders
Of the 22.6 million households in England, 7.4 million owned their property outright, and 6.9 million had a mortgage, the English Housing Survey revealed. The rest rented their homes. This marked a shift from an equal level among owners a year earlier. The proportion of owner-occupier households increased steadily from the 1980s to 2003 when it reached a peak of 71 per cent, but since then it has dropped annually. The data shows that the younger generation in particular are struggling to own property. In 2013-14, some 48 per cent of households made up of 25 to 34-year-olds rented their home from a private landlord, up from 45 per cent a year earlier, and from 21 per cent in 2003-04. Over the same 10 years, owner occupation in this age group dropped from 59 per cent to 36 per cent, with many people in this age group having little alternative but to remain living at home with their parents or turn to private rental accommodation, with greater demand fuelling the expanding private rented sector (PRS). Official data shows that in 2013-14, 19 per cent of households were renting privately, up from 18 per cent in 2012-13. In fact, the PRS…
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