property prices
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Regulation & Law
Introduce CGT on homes, says thinktank
The Government is being urged to consider introducing capital gains tax (CGT) to help prevent house prices from spiralling out of control. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) believes that the levy would help deter people from investing in property, helping to restrict overall demand from buyers and keep property prices at bay. Angus Armstrong, a Senior Economist at Niesr, told the press, “A first priority must be to improve the taxation of housing. An efficient tax system would be consistent across assets and leave the decision about how much to consume today versus save and consume tomorrow unaffected. “If a capital gains tax were introduced, this would reduce the gains in an upturn and losses in a downturn, so dampening house price cycles. These ideas are unfortunately in the opposite direction to recent policies.” The thinktank also urged the Government to stop relying so heavily on the private housebuilding sector to help solve the widening supply-demand imbalance in the market, as it could never meet the demands for housing.” The latest figures show that the number of new homes registered across the UK hit an eight year high of 156,140 in 2015, up 7 per cent…
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Housing Market
Regeneration of a leading city
Marc Da Silva discovers that there is now a very lively property market in Leeds.
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Housing Market
UK house prices set to rise in 2016
With record-low interest rates for at least another few months and housing supply set to remain low, the general consensus among households across the UK is that property prices will increase in 2016, albeit at a slower rate than in 2015. The latest data from the House Price Sentiment Index (HSPI) from Knight Frank and Markit Economics found that house price growth this year is expected to be led by the East of England and London, with more modest levels of price increases set to be recorded in many other parts of the UK. The future HPSI, which measures what households think will happen to the value of their home over the next year, increased marginally this month to 70.5 from 70.3 in December. This is the highest reading since June 2015, but remains below the peak of 75.1 reached in May 2014. Expectations for residential property price growth among households in the East of England hit an all-time high of 81.1, suggesting that they expect to see the highest rise in property values over the next year. Home prices in London, where an average HPSI reading of 79.1 was recorded, is also expected to outstrip the national average. In…
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Regional Reports
Belfast, North West London and Chelmsford
Each month we visit three agents across the country to discover what is happening in their businesses and local markets. This month we visit Belfast, North West London and Chelmsford.
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Uncategorised
Frozen Britain
Report Headlines Rightmove: “Home-owner confidence sets the scene for higher prices in 2016.” NAEA: “Sales to first time buyers highest in six years.” RICS: “No easing in supply constraint.” Nationwide: “Slight softening in house price growth in November.” Home.co.uk: “Stock of property for sale hits new low.” Hometrack: “Prices accelerate in large regional cities.” Land Registry: “October data shows a monthly price increase of 0.4 per cent.” Kate says: “The property market used to be relatively easy to predict from a business perspective. Things were often quiet for the first few weeks of January then the rush began to the end of May, quiet-ish summers, a flurry of activity post summer holidays and a quietening down to Christmas. Not anymore! Since the credit crunch, from one month to the next, we are never quite sure what is going to happen. This difficulty in forecasting the short and long term future of the property market from an industry perspective is now exacerbated by one government housing announcement after another, many of which are being made at too short notice, causing mayhem in the market! The main game changer though, is that both George Osborne (Chancellor) and Mark Carney (Governor of the…
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Housing Market
Global cities of desire
Many of us think that we suffer the highest property prices and ridiculous rises, but we are not alone. Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index shows that three cities recorded double-digit annual price increases; Vancouver, Sydney and Shanghai and around 73% of cities recorded positive annual price growth in the year to September. Kate Everett-Allen (left), Partner, International Residential Research, Knight Frank, says, “As we enter a new era of rising interest rates, greater regulation and potentially lower returns, it will be interesting to see which cities’ prime residential markets will outperform. Events in the world’s two largest economies look set to dominate the proceedings in 2016. The scale of the slowdown in China and the recent US interest rate rise will determine the performance of property markets across developed and emerging markets alike over the next 12 – 18 months. “If we are to pick one prime market which we predict will outperform the world’s top tier of global cities, it is Sydney. Nonetheless, even here the pace of luxury price growth is expected to slow from 15% year-on-year in 2015 to 10% in 2016. Australia’s economic slowdown, weaker stock market performance in recent months and the introduction of…
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Housing Market
Britain’s housing stock worth £7.76 trillion
Britain’s 28.6 million homes grew in value by nearly £1.4 billion per day during 2015, says Zoopla research. Brentford and West Drayton are areas with largest increases in 2015 (24% and 17% respectively) Wales is the region with the lowest price gains over the past 12 months, at 2.2% Edinburgh, Bristol and Glasgow amongst top online property searches in 2015 Zoopla says that the country’s 28.6 million homes are now worth a combined £7.76 trillion (£7,764,650,690,201) — with the total residential stock value rising £519 billion (7.2%) over the past year. The average British property is now worth £290,827 and has risen in value by more than £20,000 (7.4%) on average in 2015 – marking a bigger increase year-on-year than 2014 (6.9%). Homeowners in London have seen the highest price growth in 2015 of any region, with an 11.8% annual uplift. The East of England follows closely with an 11.6% rise – up from 9.6% during 2014. However, property owners in Wales and Scotland saw the lowest growth in house prices in the last 12 months, with values rising just 2.2% and 2.7% respectively. Bodacious Brentford Brentford in Middlesex, Greater London finished the year with the greatest increase in property…
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Regulation & Law
Jeremy Leaf
We have a housing crisis. A new Housing and Planning Bill is working its way through Parliament, but will it work and what will happen to property prices? asks Jeremy Leaf.
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Housing Market
View from the top
Each month we visit three agents across the country to discover what is happening in their businesses and local markets. This month we visit West Sussex, Salford and South East London.
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Uncategorised
Housing supply contracts
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the monthly property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “The reality is that people will not move unless they can find a property that they really want to buy.”
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