Property Advice | Houses and Flats in the UK Rotating Header Image

Regional Differences in House Prices

May 7th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

According to the latest Land Registry report, house prices rose by 0.1% in March in England and Wales. However, the headline figure disguised a mixed pattern of rises and falls around the regions, showing some significant regional differences.


Source

London kept on recording the largest increase, with prices rising by 2.5% in March alone. The annual rate of price growth in this city reached 9.6%, with the average price reaching £374,568. In contrast, prices in Middlesbrough dropped by 5.1% in March and were down 16.5% year-on-year to an average of £69,049.

Across England and Wales, prices were up by 0.9% in March 2012, but in Yorkshire, the east Midlands and the north-east and north-west of England prices were smaller than in March 2012. The biggest faller is the north-east, where values have fallen by 5.5% to an average of £97,033.

Land Registry’s report revealed sales of homes worth £1 million or more in January, with the number rising by 28% on the same month of the previous year at 610. The number of £2 million-plus properties changing hands was up 52% at 140; of these 113 were in England’s capital. In Kensington and Chelsea, the most expensive neighborhood in the United Kingdom, the average property price is now £1.1 million, 12.2% higher than in March 2012.

Figures for house purchases registered in March emphasize the huge differences of prices being paid around the regions, with the 47,600 registrations ranging from £14,000 to £12,5 million.

In recent years, the London property market has been boosted by investors from other countries who were seeking a save haven for their fortunes. The recent weakness of the pound and events in other countries have strengthened demand even further, and only recently the most expensive home in the United Kingdom went on sale at a reported £250 million.

Giles Hannah, managing director of estate agency VanHan, said cash was continuing to came into London from both domestic and overseas buyers: “International buyers, particularly from Asia, are fuelling demand for best-in-class properties and are snapping them up at 10%-14% discounts as a result of the weakness of sterling compared with their own currencies”.

“UK-based buyers are also highly active and are seeing investment in London property as an alternative to a pension, and a way of maintaining and growing their wealth. We have also witnessed a rise in French high net worth families relocating to London owing to the increased taxes in France, creating a shortage of supply in the £5m-plus bracket and fueling price rises”, he added.

Peter Rollings, chief executive of the estate agency Marsh & Parsons, said: “House price growth in London continues to surge ahead of the rest of the country with the capital continuing to operate in another realm”.

“There is no getting away from the fact that national average indices conceal significant regional differences. London is undoubtedly the big success story and is doing a good job of pulling up the national average”, also said Giles Hannah.

References: The Guardian

Posted in: News, The Housing Sector.

Houses in Liverpool to Be Sold for £1

Feb 26th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

Liverpool City Council has recently revealed plans to put up for sale up to 20 vacant houses for the unbelievable price of £1 each. Cabinet members gave the green light to this project, which will see these Kensington and Granby houses change hands in a rock bottom price deal.


Source

These homes are offered only to buyers who can give the houses a total makeover and refurbish them to a decent standard. Also, they must agree to live in them for a period of at least five years, without sub-letting during that time. Successful applicants will need to renovate them to “a reasonable state of repair”, according to Liverpool City Council Mayor Councillor Paul Brant. The houses must also be warm, weatherproof, and have “reasonably modern facilities”.

The Victorian terraced houses in the Granby area of the city were bought for up to £70,000 as part of the Labour Government’s Pathfinder scheme to regenerate struggling areas of England. The council negotiated with a developer a £25 million contract in order to renovate the area, which involved bulldozing the houses. However, the council pulled the plug in November, leaving the homes boarded up and empty.

Initially, twenty houses will be offered to residents in the “Four Streets” area of Granby and Arnside Road in Kensington. Even though this plan was just rubber-stamped by council chiefs, over 800 people have already shown interest in buying them. According to Councillor Ann O’Byrne, cabinet member for housing, a “huge amount” of enthusiasm has been shown for the plans.

This initiative would also see small groups of properties sold to private landlords. Also, some would be transferred to the Riverside Group housing association, which will refurbish them and sell them on for 25% less than the market value.

“We have received more than 800 inquiries from various people interested in the houses. The enthusiasm has been so huge that we are having to set up a section on our website with a list of frequently asked questions which we can direct people to”, said O’Byrne.

The councillor also said that the initiative to bring 179 houses in Granby, Kensington and Picton back into use would give “a really good foundation for the future of housing” in the city. A spokesperson for the council added that these plans would “drive up the quality of housing and build stronger, more sustainable neighborhoods”.

According to councillor Paul Brant, “this allows people who may be excluded from mortgages but have construction skills to play a part in the regeneration of their communities”. Councillor O’Byrne also said that the council aimed to “find innovative ways of bringing properties back into use and attracting people back into our neighborhoods”.

“Ultimately, it’s about driving forward housing renewal, investing in the future of our communities and doing everything we can to provide good quality, affordable housing for the people who need it most”, she stated.

Posted in: News.

Less Social than Private Tenants in England

Feb 15th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

For the first time in half a century, there are less people in England renting from councils or housing associations than people renting from private landlords.

According to the English Housing Survey (EHS) for 2011-12, the rising number of private tenants – 3.84 million – managed to outnumber the 3.8 million in social housing. This trend has partially to do with the boom in buy-to-let ownership, but it also reveals increasing demand for rented homes from a rising population and those locked out of home ownership.


Source

Chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, Campbell Robb, stated: “This historic shift in our housing market is bad news for anyone struggling to find a decent and affordable home. With the security of home ownership or social renting harder to find than ever, more and more families have no choice but to live with the insecurity and expense of private renting”.

He also added that “as saving for a home of their own becomes increasingly out of reach, many have no choice but to live in rented homes for years on end”.

The aforementioned report was published by the Department for Communities & Local Government (DLCG) and pointed out that although home-ownership is still in decline, it accounted for roughly two-thirds of all homes in England.

“Owner occupation remained the largest tenure group with 14.4 million households, comprising around two-thirds (65%) of all households,” it said. “There has been a downward trend in the proportion of owner occupiers since the peak of 71% in 2003 but the proportion in 2011-12 was very similar to that in 2010-11,” it added.

According to Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), these trends would persist in the years to come: “The figures provide further evidence of the shift away from owner-occupation in favor of the rental sector”.

He also said that “Provisional data for the last financial year puts the proportion of households in their own property at the lowest point since 1987. Meanwhile, an increasing proportion of the population is turning to the private rented sector for shelter with the latest figures showing this form of tenure overtaking the social rented sector last year”.

Here are some of the key findings of the latest EHS survey:

  • Private renters were generally much younger than those in social housing. Half of private renters in England were under 35, but only 19% of social tenants were. Meanwhile 29% of social tenants were over 65, compared to just 8% of private tenants.
  • Private tenants paid almost twice as much per week as social tenants: £164 per week as against £83.
  • 64% of social households received housing benefit, but only 26% of private tenants did.
  • 7% of socially rented homes were overcrowded and 6% of privately rented ones were.
  • Under-occupation was much higher among owner occupiers : 49% as against 10% in the socially rented sector and 16% among private renters.
  • Only 5% of all homes were damp, down from 13% in 1996.

Since the mid 1960s, there was no other switch in the balance between private lenders and those in council or housing association homes. The post-war shift clearance programs and the government-inspired boom in council house building provided new homes to rent for millions of families.

In 1961, the declining number of private tenants in England still outnumbered the rising number of social tenants by 4.7 million to 3.2 million. Ten years later, in 1971, the position had reversed and social tenants outnumbered renters in private accommodation by 4.6 million to 3.2 million.

1981 was the peak year for council or housing association tenancies, when there were 5.6 million socially owned properties in England, most of which were owned by local authorities. Due to the policy of selling council houses, pioneered by the Conservative government in the 1980s, most council homes have now been sold.

In 2011, there were only 1.9 million council-owned properties left in England, and 2.1 million homes owned by housing associations.

References: BBC News

Posted in: Houses.

Biggest Rise in UK House Prices in Three Years

Feb 8th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

It’s been known for a while that UK house prices have kept on rising over the last few years. Now, it has been revealed that they increased at their fastest pace since 2010 in the three months to January, as the Bank of England’s flagship credit easing scheme made it easier for first time buyers to step on to the first step of the property ladder.


Source

According to the Halifax Agency and its House Price Index, prices rose by 1.9 percent in the quarter to January, as compared to the three months before. The report also revealed prices were up 1.3 percent on the year, which is actually the first growth for 27 months.

Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said that “the signs of improvement in the housing market towards the end of last year continued in January”.

Ever since June 2012, the Bank of England has been pursuing its Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS), which was designed to free up affordable credit at UK’s high street lenders. The principle on which this program works is pretty simple: it offers banks cheap loans to a value tied to their stock lending to the real economy of individuals and small businesses.

Hopefully, this should stimulate a growth in lending to the real economy. In the first three months of the program, £500 million extra credit was made available. In a survey of lenders conducted by the Bank of England it was shown that most expect a surge in credit availability in the first quarter of 2013.

Even though initial signs showed that FLS is making mortgages more accessible by bringing down interest rates and deposit requirements, this does not bring any certainty for the UK housing market. Martin Ellis added that “the outlook for the UK economy and house prices is more unclear than usual”.

He also said that “subdued economic growth and pressure on household finances are expected to constrain housing demand. Overall, we expect continuing broad stability in house prices nationally in 2013”.

Another index, compiled by Natwest, showed that UK house prices increased by 0.5 percent from December to January. The property consultancy firm Savills found that houses in the ten most expensive boroughs in London are worth the same as the housing markets of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined.

The property market in London has consistently seen price rise despite falls in almost all the other parts of Britain, rising by 15 percent since 2007 at the beginning of the economical crisis.

According to Lucian Cook, director of residential research at Savills, “more housing wealth is being concentrated in fewer people’s hands”. Cook also said that “that restricts the ability of some groups – particularly younger generations – to get on to, or trade up, the housing ladder, creating longer term implications on the lifetime cost of housing”.

Posted in: Houses.

What You Need To Build An Eco Home

Jan 29th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

Save money with green guides and the following pieces of advice that will show you how to make your home as energy efficient as possible. Yes, it’s true that to build a green home will cost you on average five to twenty percent more over the cost of standard construction. Nonetheless, many people choose to go eco-friendly because there are many advantages on a long-term through low utility costs. Plus, people will benefit from a healthier air.


Source

1. The first thing you have to do when you plan to build an eco home is to calculate your budget.

2. Choose only eco-friendly materials when you build your house. These materials are locally produced, sustainable, natural and they require minimal processing during the manufacturing process. Additionally, materials have to be safe, non-toxic and buy only what you need.


Source

3. For your eco home you will also need water saving devices on the sinks, showers and the flush of the toilet. Water can be reused by installing a rain water tank for flushing the toilet, watering the gardens and doing laundry.

4. Insulate your house well for energy efficiency by installing double insulation in the ceilings in order to hold the sun heat.


Source

5. Use energy from the sun by installing double panel windows on the northern side of the house.

6. Buy energy efficient appliances and light bulbs and get the most convenient things you can afford.


Source

7. For indoor, use only materials and paint that allows air to penetrate. Additionally, avoid carpets and other dust catching materials in the house by installing hard wood floors.

Apply these tips and you’ll save a lot of money, but you’ll also improve your eco home. Your lifestyle will radically change, in a good sense and your home will be the place where you’ll be longing to return as soon as possible.

Posted in: Houses.

The Best Ways To Improve Your Home Security

Jan 28th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

You’ve got your new home, you have arranged everything, but what about improving the security? Today, many homeowners are confronted with intruders and other dangers, so they are not safe in their own house.


Source

People should look for home security improvements in order to make their homes a safer place. What they should do includes the following:

Replace rusted and old locks as many burglars enter your home through the front door and other part through unlocked doors. Install new locks to be sure that you’re the only one who has keys to the home. There are also electronic locks, featuring passcodes, alarm monitoring systems that allow homeonwers to lock and unlock their homes when they want.


Source

Check smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, which can save your life in an emergency. Many people don’t wake during a fire and carbon monoxide is almost undetectable by humans, so they should install heat sensors and flood sensors for extra safety.

Install lighting around your home as burglars never want to be seen. Installing lighting near your home will keep them from approaching. The main places are sidewalks, driveway, on your porch and around several points of entry such as windows and doors.


Source

Buy and use a home security system, which is convenient, sleeker and thus, more affordable. There are also wireless systems that allow you to place discreet sensors wherever you want. They also have various touchscreens and many other features such as weather report, home automation and even temperature.

Install a mail slot, so that you can ensure that no one takes your private mail when you’re not home.

Upgrade your doors and clean up with some yard work. Trim down trees and huge hedges to remove the hiding places for burglars. Replace the old doors with new ones of metal or a more solid core.


Source

Check your windows as many burglars enter a home through a first story window and others through a second story window. Use security bars for windows.

Add a peephole in your door in order to check who is at the door. This way, you’ll avoid also sales people and other potentially dangerous or unpleasant people.

Buy a safe for your valuable things. With such a safe, your valuable things will be protected. Keep in mind to put it in a hard to find place and be sure that is too heavy to be moved.

These tips are perfect for increasing your personal protection, but also that of your family members.

Posted in: Property advice.

Taxes On London Luxury Properties

Jan 25th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

The most expensive homes in London will exceed the rest of the UK residential real estate market in 2013. This event could be explained by the fact that wealthy buyers shrug-off property-tax increases.


Source

Prices of apartments costing 10 million pounds and of the super-prime market of houses with the same price or more, will increase 5 percent this year. Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of residential research explained: “Stock in this segment is very limited. The population of very wealthy potential buyers has been rising strongly over the past two years and looks set to rise into 2013.”


Source

Investors are attracted by high-end properties. Price gains are slowing, costing about 3.7 million ponds and are defined as luxury properties, but demand for super-prime London properties hasn’t changed.

The majority of super-prime homes are owned by shell companies set up in tax havens in order to avoid transaction levies and to remain anonymous. These companies are targeted to help Britain’s record deficit.


Source

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne introduced a 15 percent tax for all properties bought by overseas companies. Additionally, homes valued at 2 million pounds or even more, which are the property of an offshore company will be taxed as much as 140,000 pounds per year, from April.


Source

The capital-gains tax on home sales by owners who are non-resident and non-naturalized will also be charged by the government if the value of the deal exceeds 2 million pounds.

Many luxury-home prices in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Kensington increased at their slowest rate in more than two years in December because homebuyers delayed purchases.

Posted in: Property advice.

London Home Prices Have Increased

Jan 24th, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

The real estate market was flooded in January by home sellers. They pushed up and asked prices in the biggest new-year increase since 2008. Rightmove Plc (RMV) said that asking prices in the capital rose 3.6 percent from the previous month to approximately 480,890 pounds.


Source

It means that prices increased 9.7 percent from a year earlier, being the biggest annual increase since February 2010. On a national level, prices rose 0.2 percent.

The London property market includes an increased number of new properties, about 29 percent compared to last year. If this will become a trend, it could balance supply and demand and also slow house-price growth.


Source

Miles Shipside, doiector at Rightmove claims mentioned that the increase in London prices: ““restricts any recovery in transaction volumes that deliver the level of fluidity that a vibrant and healthy market needs…the rush of sellers to the market this month could be an early signal that the heady rate of price increases is set to slow down, driven by stretched buyer affordability and more stock to choose from.”


Source

Reports also show that credit availability has improved due to the fact that the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme takes effect. Additionally, the Centre for Economics and Business Research forecasts that UK house prices will increase 0.8 percent this year. It’s also forecasted that the average value will be 223,000 pounds in 2014, a value that will surpass the 2007 pre-crisis peak for the first time.


Source

Righmove predicts that new sellers in London will raise prices by 3 percent this year. The British Retail Consortium said that the number of shoppers in stores in the UK fell 1.2 percent in December than last year. Related to shopping malls, footfall dropped 2.8 percent.

Posted in: Property advice.

Eviction Steps For Private Tenants

Jan 23rd, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

Sometimes, there can emerge several problems between tenants and landlords. The eviction of private tenants has to follow legal procedures and there are several steps involved in this process.


 Source

If you’re one of those landlords who plans to evict his tenants, the main steps are the following:

Give notice asking tenants to leave, who will be entitled to a written notice. The notice may be written in a formal way as it has to contain legal information. When such a notice is required, it must:

  • state the date when the landlord wants the tenant to leave
  • give reasons why the tenant is asked to leave
  • the notice has to be for a specific length of time
  • contain particular pieces of advice such as where you can get advice


    •  Source

    Landlords must apply for a court order telling their tenants to leave. This process is also known as a possession order. The majority of the tenants are entitled to stay in their accommodation until a possession order takes effect. Usually, landlords can get a possession automatically, but in other times, they need to prove a reason to the court.

    There are cases when landlords can ask the court to send bailiffs to evict the tenants. This happens if a tenant hasn’t left by the date the court says he has to. Bailiffs are hired by the court. A tenant will receive a letter, announcing him that the bailiffs will come, who can physically remove a tenant and his belongings from the property, but without using violence or unreasonable force.


     Source

    Tenants can apply to the court to stop the bailiffs from evicting them. Tenants can also get specialist advice from a housing adviser or solicitor without delay. This is useful when they want to prevent the bailiffs from evicting them.

     Source

    Nonetheless, no one else is allowed to remove a tenant, except for bailiffs. In case anyone else attempts to do that, he will be guilty of illegal eviction, which is a serious form of offence.

Posted in: Property advice.

How To Buy A New Home This Year

Jan 22nd, 2013
by admin.
Comments are off for this post

If you plan is to move into your own home in 2013, but you believe it’s a complicated and long process, there are some things you need to know.

There are some tips that will help you anticipate requests from lawyers, lenders and also many other professionals. The most important tips are the following:

1. Decide what you want, meaning you have to know very well the where, what and the when of your investment. Spend a long time and think about this as it is a very serious commitment. It will make you happy or unhappy, so pay attention. The best thing you could do is to gather all the pieces of information you have and consider things such as expanding your family, size, pricing, location, amenities.


Source

2. Get your financial house in order, so be realistic. There are some questions you have to ask yourself such as: What is your monthly budget for a mortgage payment? How much do you have available for a down payment? Meet with lenders and look for the best loan options.

3. Get your pre-approval before house hunting. For this, you will have to meet with a loan officer who will review your credit files. Based on this, he will provide you a pre-approval letter, showing your borrowing power. There is the possibility to discuss with several lenders and get many pre-approvals, but you have to know that each of them has a new credit check that will show up on future credit reports.

4. It’s very important to find your realtor. The Internet is the best source for finding it. Other sources are open houses, recommendations from friends, neighbours, local advertising or suggestions from attorneys, lenders and also financial planners.


Source

5. Find your new home and be sure you understand your mortgage options, which is also a complex matter. Keep in mind that a house is not only a collection of rooms. It also involves various taxes, lot sizes, interior, exterior finishes and dimensions, as well as commuting distances and designs. Additionally, financing is very important, so you should have as much information as possible related to mortgage costs and options.

6. Make an offer and protect yourself with insurance. When you find a home you want to buy, you have several possibilities such as: suggest various terms and make a counter-offer, accept the listed price and create a contract or reject it, without making an offer. Insurance protects you, your family in the event that title to the property is found to be invalid. There are also several forms of protection obtained through insurance, so you can choose what you need or what is more suitable.


 Source

7. Close on your hew home, a process also known as “escrow” or “settlement”. You don’t even have to attend a specific event as your signed paperwork can be simply sent to the closing agent via overnight delivery. Settlement or escrow is a brief process in which the title to the property is transferred from seller to buyer.


Source

8. Enjoy your new home and tie up loose ends. Replace all locks to be safe and make a photo or a video record of the property and the possessions in it for insurance purposes. Keep these records in a safe box. Even though you had to sign many papers and gather many pieces of information, these are done now. What you have to do is to relax in your new home and decorate it the way you want.

Follow the above tips and you’ll have no problems. Therefore, you’ll make the best choices for you and the whole process will be simplified.

Posted in: Property advice.

← Earlier Posts