The price of a typical home declined by 0.1% between March and April, but was 0.9% higher than April 2012, according to the latest Nationwide House Price Index.
The typical UK home is now worth £165,586. Continue reading
While most young people are struggling to get on the property ladder, some over 50s are clinging on to the last rung.
Research by The Saga Equity Release Advice Service shows that more than a million over 50s are set to face a shortfall when it comes to paying off their interest only mortgage. Continue reading
A new £6million competition aimed at getting renewable heating kit into the homes of social tenants across Great Britain has been launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
This new competition, part of the extended Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme announced in March this year, will help registered providers of social housing to install heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers. Continue reading
The average price of luxury homes in the world’s key cities fell by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2013 although the annual rate remained positive at 3.6%, according to the latest data from Knight Frank.
Cities in Europe remain the weakest performers, recording a fall of 2.3% on average, while Jakarta (up 38.1%) was the strongest performing prime residential market. Continue reading
Appetite for buying land among house builders, property companies and PLCs alike has increased this year, as housing market activity remains positive, new analysis from CBRE reveals.
Land buyers are seeking land with planning consent to add to their reserves, although good quality land in UK regions is of short supply. Land values in most regions have shown slight growth over the first Q1, mirrored by tentative signs of increased activity in the housing market. Continue reading
The proportion of homeowners who think that house prices will increase this year is also at the highest level for almost three years with three quarters (74%) of those surveyed predicting prices in their area will increase, the most since the second quarter of 2010.
Confidence has grown notably over just the past few months as only 65% of owners predicted an increase back in December. And only 13% of owners now expect prices to fall over the course of the next six months, down from 19% at the end of last year.
Owners in Yorkshire and the Humber are the least bullish Continue reading
The number of agreed new tenancies rose 13% in March and are up 19% on a year ago as ‘Generation Rent’ takes hold – London tenancies are up 12% on the month and 20% over the last year.
London rents remained flat at £1,375 but still almost twice the national average. Londoners seeking to rent undertake an average of 11.3 viewings per let property, 33% more than the country as a whole (8.5)
Stephen Nation, Head of Lettings at Sequence, owners of Barnard Marcus, William H Brown and Fox & Sons and other leading brands, comments:
“We have seen a strong seasonal uplift in Continue reading
Values rose by 2.3% during the first quarter, taking the annualised increase to 6.8%, just ahead of the long run average of 6.7% per annum.
Consequently, the average price of a flat in prime Central London breached the £1 million mark for the first time, while the average price for prime residential property as a whole reached a new historic high of £1.53 million in Q1, leaving prices 6.1% above the previous market peak of Q3 2007. This translates to an average increase of £383 per day.
The best performing London region was Central North West, incorporating St John’s Wood, Hampstead, Maida Vale, Continue reading
But properties have been getting larger. Since 2001, the mean floor area has increased from 86.9m2 to 91.6m2. The table below shows the increases across different property types. The largest increase has been in detached houses, where the average floor area is 7% higher than in 2001.
Whilst larger new build houses may have helped boost average floor areas, extensions and loft conversions are also likely to have contributed. 26% of properties have been extended since their construction, whilst 5% have had a loft conversion. 16% of properties benefit from additional space through having a conservatory.
85% of owner-occupied properties in England have Continue reading
Simple solution 1:
Empty properties and extensive periods of void are among the biggest worries listed by new landlords. However, in the currently buoyant rental climate, a well-presented property that is marketed correctly (and at the right price) shouldn’t be empty for very long…
“At Belvoir we ensure that each property is marketed correctly on many property portals, with detailed descriptions and internal photos,” says proprietor of Belvoir Bedford Zoe Bywater. “We also advise landlords to give themselves adequate time to find a tenant by advertising the property 4-6 weeks before they want it let as tenants normally look about a month before Continue reading
