RICS
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Housing Market
The growing supply-demand imbalance is pushing up residential property prices
Residential property prices look set to increase further this year, as demand from buyers continues to heavily outstrip the supply of homes coming on to the market, the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has revealed. The report shows that while 44 per cent more chartered surveyors saw prices rise in July, the supply of homes coming onto the market continued the drop with 22 per cent more surveyors reporting a decline in fresh instructions. Furthermore, the shortage of housing inventory worsened further during July, with the average volume of homes for sale per surveyor falling to an all-time low. As a result, all areas of the UK are now expected to witness property price growth over the next 12 months, with the greatest level of confidence currently being seen in East Anglia and Northern Ireland. RICS expect home prices to be pushed higher on the back of the growing supply-demand imbalance, with 41 per cent of members expecting prices to continue to appreciate over the next three months. Increasing prices does not appear to have deterred buyer interest, with new purchaser enquiries growing for the fourth consecutive month, with 25 per cent of…
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Housing Market
MPs to tackle the housing crisis
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), which is being chaired by Conservative MP James Cartlidge, has four vice-chairs: Helen Hayes, Lord Best, Stephen Pound and former Housing Minister, Mark Prisk. The group intends to produce an initial set of recommendations to Government on how to boost house building in the UK later this year. Cartlidge said, “Housing is increasingly becoming one of the most critical policy challenges facing local and national Government, and with a Housing Bill pending, it is likely to become more political and controversial. “In this context, a cross-party Parliamentary group focused objectively on the national policy challenge of housing offers a vehicle for taking the debate forward in a way that is both positive and constructive. Having spent my working life in the shared ownership housing sector, I am acutely aware of the challenges facing first time buyers, particularly in London. Equally, as a rural MP, I recognise the need for development to be sustainable. Ultimately, there are a whole raft of complex issues in housing and planning today but I hope that our APPG can make a real contribution to the debate.” Issues relating to housing were one of the hottest topics of the recent General…
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Housing Market
Housing demand soars to 11-year high
The UK housing market continues to be propped up by growing demand from buyers, which the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) says is now an 11-year high, fuelled by greater political stability, a strengthening domestic economy, record-low mortgage borrowing rates, rising employment levels and Government housing schemes such as Help to Buy. The NAEA’s latest monthly report found 439 house hunters were registered on average per NAEA member branch in June, 15 per cent more than in May when 383 house hunters were registered per branch and the highest since August 2004 when 582 were recorded. “What we’re seeing is a market that lulled over the general election period, coming back to life in full force,” said the NAEA’s Mark Hayward (left). “There’s also an impetus to buy right now in light of the impending interest rate rise as buyers fight to buy and fix mortgage rates.” But while demand increases, the supply of housing coming onto the market continues to plummet, with the NAEA reporting that housing stock had fallen to just 44 houses available per branch, widening the growing gap between supply and demand. “The fact that demand is at an eleven year high without the housing…
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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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Latest property news
Regulation of the letting agents needed, says CEO
The newly elected Conservative Government should make the regulation of letting agents a priority in a bid to deal with unscrupulous letting agencies and help improve standards in the industry, according to Leaders’ Chief Executive, Paul Weller. Mr Weller (left) believes that millions of landlords and tenants in the private rented sector (PRS) would prosper from the formal regulation of letting agents. He said, “More people and families than ever before now use the PRS and the services of letting agents. Yet the vast majority are unaware that letting agents are not regulated by the Government and that anyone can set up a letting agency, with no experience, knowledge of lettings law or client money protection in place. “Letting agents can hold hundreds of thousands of pounds in rent which they are supposed to protect. But without regulation, there is no way to enforce this and there have been countless cases of letting firms losing their clients’ money, using it for their own ends, or completely disappearing with it, leaving landlords and tenants badly out of pocket. Too many people have suffered at the hands of agents like this, as well as incompetent and unscrupulous agents who fail to provide…
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Uncategorised
Buzzing builders and buyers
REPORT HEADLINES Rightmove: “House prices close to all-time high – will ‘granlords’ drive them higher?” Home.co.uk: “Home prices take a spring leap.” NAEA: “A third of all house sales made to first time buyers.” RICS: “Steadier demand and tight supply push price expectations higher.” Halifax: “House prices in the three months to March were 2.6 per cent higher than in the previous three months.” Agency Express: “Confidence continues.” Land Registry: “The February data shows a monthly price increase of 0.5 per cent.” Kate says: “It’s great to see that we have a much healthier market in 2015. Although most places are still stuck with a shortage of homes, especially versus the number of agents fighting for business, we have a market that is moving, but not ‘too fast’ and not ‘too slow’ at the moment. And better still, it’s being driven mostly by first time buyers getting themselves on the ladder, relieving some of the pressure on rental stock (or mum and dad’s house!). The other good news is that it is driving more sales of new builds. I haven’t seen so many new build sites buzzing with activity as I travel up and down the country since the start…
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Housing Market
Property sales dry up ahead of Election
The upcoming Election is to blame for residential property sales drying up, but a general lack of housing stock coming onto the market could fuel another surge in home values after the election, according to the latest monthly market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The research reveals that political uncertainty surrounding next month’s General Election is deterring many purchasers, with buyer enquiries and house sales falling. But despite the dip in demand from purchasers, a general housing shortage across many parts of the country led to 21 per cent more surveyors reporting an increase in home prices in March, up from 15 per cent in February. Furthermore, 15 per cent more surveyors expect prices to appreciate even further over the next three months compared with 10 per cent in February, fuelled by the existing supply-demand imbalance in the market. Nationally, the market in Northern Ireland continues to outperform the rest of the UK with the strongest home price growth last month and the highest price expectations over the next three months. However, across much of the rest of the UK, particularly in Wales and Scotland, price gains over the next three months are expected to be…
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Latest property news
ZPG add RICS to agents’ professional affiliations
Agents that list their properties on Zoopla and its sister portals, including PrimeLocation, can now showcase their professional associations and redress schemes that they are signed up to across the Zoopla Property Group (ZPG) platform of websites, including the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which has been addedto ZPGs recently launched feature in the past few days. Zoopla members wishing to activate this new feature can do so under their profile in ZooplaPro and activate the display of logos of their affiliations on all relevant agent directory pages, property details pages and professional reports across the ZPG platform. In an attempt to distance themselves from rogue agents and promote professionalism and better standards of service, many agents sign up to various industry bodies that offer professional guidance and self-regulation, in order to offer consumers greater confidence and protection, as well as sharpen up their own industry knowledge and specialist skills. Rob Clifford, Chief Executive of Century 21 UK, said: “Our membership [to RICS and ARLA] delivers greater confidence to clients that we are working to industry best-practice guidelines in what is still a non-regulated industry. Clients can also take a great deal of comfort from the fact they are…
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Features
Home sale free-for-all!
Changes to the rules on selling homes could mean that buyers have little protection when using online intermediaries.
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Features
Speeding up conveyancing
What's wrong with it, asks Kate Faulkner, and do we go about speeding up conveyancing.
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