Your Move
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Latest property news
Dramatic drop in tenant arrears despite rising rents, says Your Move
There has been a dramatic reduction in the number of tenants who are in arrears despite rising rents across the UK, it has been claimed. Agent Your Move says 8.4% of its tenants were in arrears during January, down from 12.4% in December and significantly less than six months ago when arrears peaked at 13.7% of its tenants. It’s also much lower than the post-financial crash figure of 14.6%, which Your Move recorded in February 2010. Tenant arrears are improving despite rising rents, which Your Move says have increased by 2.5% across England and Wales over the past 12 months to an average of £829 per property, just under the Bank of England’s current reported inflation figure of 2.8%. Regional differences But the company says this figure masks regional differences. Rents increased by 2.9% in the North West but dropped by 2% in the North East. The data follows our report yesterday that the number of managed rental properties dropped by 8% during January, which ARLA blamed on the government’s recent tax increases for landlords and said would lead to increased rents. And the shocking difference in rents between London and the rest of the UK continues, Your Moves says.…
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Latest property news
Stamp Duty changes to blame for 14% dip in property sales volumes says Your Move
The changes to Stamp Duty ushered in by George Osborne in 2014 have reduced property sales in London and the South by up to 30%, analysis of Land Registry data has revealed. The number of homes sold each year has plummeted by nearly a third in London and by 20% in the South over the past two years, according to the monthly Your Move/Acadata house price index, although the sales volume reduction has been less acute nationally, at 14%. These figures are also very different across the UK. For example, in the northern regions the volume reduction is just 11% while in Wales the number of homes sold increased by 2%. “The slowdown in London can now also be seen in the South East. Time will tell if the rest of England and Wales remains resilient,” says Oliver Blake (pictured, left), Managing Director of Your Move. His company’s index reveals one silver lining and potentially brighter times ahead for agents. The Christmas/NY shutdown for 2017/18 did not depress sales volumes as much as it usually does during the festive season. “We estimate that the number of housing transactions [during] January 2018 in England and Wales at 64,000, down by 15%…
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Latest property news
LSL reports improving performance despite Brexit “uncertainty”
The trading environment for estate agents appears to be improving, if the latest trading update from the UK’s largest sales and lettings corporate LSL is anything to go by. Group revenue increased by 2.6% from £106.6m to £109.4 year-on-year and, although revenues from its sales operation within its 1,471 branches are down 9% over the past ten months, the rate of decline has been slowing and sales dropped by just 1% over the past three months. The company’s overall performance was given a lift by its financial services division where revenues increased by 16% and lettings, where revenues grew by 4% from January to October. Guild sale Its balance sheet is also looking healthier after LSL disclosed that the sale of its investment in the Guild of Property Professionals/eProp Services made it £5.6 million. LSL, which owns Marsh & Parsons, Your Move and Reeds Raines, has also reduced its debt over the past year, down by £1.2 million from £43.6 million. Although the company notes in its trading statement the recent Stamp Duty changes for first time buyers support for more house building in the UK within the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget, LSL is far from bullish. “Market activity levels have…
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LSL signs up with ZPG for another five years
The UK’s third largest estate agency group LSL has signed up its 500-branch network to a further five years with ZPG. LSL’s brands which include Your Move, Reeds Rains and Marsh & Parsons (pictured, right), will now continue to advertise their properties on Zoopla and PrimeLocation. LSL is the last of the large corporates to sign up to another multi-year agreement with ZPG following a similar deal with Countrywide at the end of September and Connells last month. The new commitment to ZPG by the three companies is not a surprise; seven years ago all three simultaneously signed with ZPG and all their then CEOs – Grenville Turner (Countrywide), Simon Embley (LSL) and David Livesey (Connells) were each appointed Non-Executive Directors of Zoopla, before it became ZPG. At the time CEO Alex Chesterman described the deal as a ‘long-term strategic partnership’ and the recent re-signings are a continuation of this. Sold shares All three companies were also investors in Zoopla, although last year all three sold either all or a sizeable chunk of their shares in ZPG. “We are happy to have agreed a long-term extension of our existing relationship with ZPG,” said Ian Crabb, the current Group CEO of…
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Property sales market shines north of the border as London struggles
Do you run or work for an agency in the North? Then you may be heartened by the latest property sales figures from Your Move and Reeds Rains. They show that, while London and the South East are facing an alarming and continuing slump in sales, the north is proving much more resilient. The number of transactions in the North increased by 10% over the past three months (February to April) and increased by 6% in the North West, 7% in Yorkshire and Humberside, 6% in the West Midlands and 13% in Wales. In contrast, the two companies say, transactions in London have plummeted by 19% over the past three months in Greater London, and 7% in the South East. West Midlands property sales The figures also underpin what developers have known for some time – that Birmingham and the West Midlands are the property hotspots of the UK at the moment. Not only are transaction increasing, but house prices in the region are up 5.1% so far this year, while neighbour Shropshire has seen prices increase by 7.1% over the same period. “The market remains resilient and there’s encouraging activity in the North, but we need to urgently address…
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