Houses

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.

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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

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.

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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”.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

House sellers have agreed to cut prices with the main purpose to get the property market moving. This month house prices in the United Kingdom have decreased, helping this sector register an important revival. Consequently, the number of new buyers also grew.

Actually, October was the third month in which house prices decreased with about 0.1 percent. However, this evolution was only felt in some areas of the country. For instance, in London and Wales, the level of house prices remained flat, so no important changes were noticed. London has always been the exception when it comes to the property market evolution.

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So, while some areas of the UK were struggling to survive the financial crisis that has deeply affected the housing sector, London registered a growth, as more and more people became interested in purchasing properties in the capital city.

The recent drops in house prices are quite impressive. The West Midlands knew the most important decrease. In this area of the UK house prices got lower with about 0.5 percent. And that is not all. It seems that specialists claim that in the following period more home owners will be pushed by real estate agents to decrease their money expectations when selling a property. Consequently, by the end of the year a new cut in house prices is expected.

Currently, house prices are registering the highest decrease in two years. This may actually mean a revival of the housing sector, which has been one of the most affected domains by the economical crisis.

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“In the short term we expect the current trends to continue, with demand likely to slow down in the run-up to the year end with agents looking to push through as many sales as possible,” one of the specialists conducting a study on property market evolution claimed according to the Telegraph.

What will happen in the following period and if house prices will continue to decrease or not is something we are surely going to find out soon. However, it is important to know that since the economical crisis that has affected the entire housing sector in the United Kingdom, sales decreased spectacularly. This happened both due to price increase and the lack of interest to make important investments during a period of crisis. Still, specialists claim that the fact that first time buyers met more difficulties in obtaining money on loan is also an important factor to be taken under consideration to explain this reality.

With so many types of homes on the market, from the smallest to the largest ones, from the vintage to the ultra modern ones, it’s easy to understand that trends in interior design have also turned and twisted in the past year. With so many influences and so many options, people who want to decorate their homes have a lot to think about. Regardless of the choice they will make, it’s clear to see that all these trends are here to stay, as they are too many to get dimmed in importance soon.

General trends:

Vintage

• Vintage came back from grandma’s house to see us grow up! This is a style that can be found in all the elements of an interior design and which can be applied to all rooms of the house. 

Minimal

• Minimal is the new modern. It’s all about the high-tech look, with perfect straight lines and with everything in the colors of the technological future.

Eco-friendly

• Eco-friendly is a phrase more and more uttered. In the case of interior designs, it’s all about recycling, sustainability, homemade and so on.

Multifunctional Furniture

Furniture types have also changed a lot more. If in the past you went to the furniture store thinking that you have to get one of this and two of that to complete a room, you can now get all three things in one. The multifunctional furniture piece is the new range and one of the elements that cannot be missed in your home. Luckily for us, this idea has caught on so much that there are numerous furniture combinations that you can opt for and which will be more than perfect for your home.

Modern Colors

Modern colors go well with the new ideas that have surfaced in our society. Simple and regular colors are no longer interesting for people, for designers and for interior decorum manufacturers. If you want to know which are the trendiest colors of this year, here they are:

• French Roast

• Honey Gold

• Pink Flambe

• Tangerine Tango

• Ultramarine Green

• Bright Chartreuse

• Olympian Blue

• Titanium

• Rhapsody

• Rose Smoke

Special Patterns

Special patterns have also been placed in usage a lot this year. Whether it was about the walls, the furniture or the smaller decorations, patterns have gone all over the house. Models of all kinds have become more and more used, without having to make a breakthrough, as all of them have been on the market for a long time before. That is the main reason why the usage of patterns should be considered simply by the owner and not according to trends.

With all these main elements of trends in interior design of the past year, you are bound to create a modern house for yourself. The combinations that can be made between these trends can look amazing, but should be considered with utmost attention from the start, as you will want to create a trendy and beautiful home for yourself.

Modern kitchen design trends change fairly rapidly and the following models of modern kitchens are very interesting. All the arrangements in the pictures below have a contemporary feel and fit great in modern houses or apartments. The color palette is various and kitchen designs feature a certain theme.

Cabinetry

White cabinetry and darker natural woods like walnut and mahogany. Gone are hyper detailed and overwrought fussy looking cabinets, replaced by full overlay slab panel door and drawer fronts.

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Counter Tops

Light coloured Quartz and marble counter tops are the new rave in beautifully designed modern kitchens. The granite is honed or flamed and not polished.

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Hardware

Decorative pulls are on their way out with finger pulls becoming the more popular choice. These can be pulls that are cut into the lip of the panel or small finger grabs that lay on top of the door. Either way, the goal is to produce less visual clutter.

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Stainless Steel Appliances

These stainless steel appliances give a modern look and feel to your kitchen. Match these appliances with a colored backsplash and white countertops and you will amaze your friends.

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The Social Kitchen

Very large islands and the demise of the table in the kitchen. The kitchen designs are incorporating large islands that can accommodate cooking, prep work and dining. The area previously reserved for the breakfast table has been replaced with a sitting area in the kitchen. The large over-scaled island provides an area for your kids to spread out their homework and prepare the meal in a social and spacious manner.

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Integrated Sink Tops

As soon as stainless steel became a counter top option, custom fabricating integral sinks into the counter was the logical next step. Available options including the number of bowls, depths, sizes, built-in drain boards, etc make this a fun and fluid material to work with.

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Kitchen design trends change fairly rapidly, but most of the items on the list have been developing and refining for years. These are just ideas that you can put into practice when you start designing your own kitchen. Give your kitchen a refined and modern look!

The minimalist style is the one that exposes the real identity of an object from your house, so don’t be afraid to approach it when it comes about interior design. Minimalism actually means using simple elements with great personality to create maximum effects. Don’t fall in stylistic traps, but think about what is that you really need in your home in order to feel perfect in it. This design will help you also because it is very practical. Create a balanced environment for yourself and for your family by adopting minimalism. If you are not convinced, check this video with interior designer Marie Claude Vallee talking about this style and its significance. You just have to dedicate 84 seconds to it, a minimum of time.

If now minimalism sounds more interesting and exciting for you, take it slow in order to accommodate yourself and those you love with such a simple interior design. You should start with your living room because you and all the members of your family will use it together and you will appreciate its simple arrangement more if you will all feel great in it. Bellow you can see 6 suggestions we have for you to prepare a beautiful minimalist living room in your home.

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Without the paintings, this room would look a little bit icy, but thanks to them, it looks just perfect.

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Thanks to fruit arrangements, like this in the picture, and to the white sofa, the room seems to be full of light.

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If you are the type of person that considers that real life only comes in shades of gray, then you should decorate your living room in a similar way to this in the picture.

Dreaming of something to inspire warmth? Use beige and cozy carpets.

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For something cheerful, paint the walls white and choose colorful paintings and sofas or chairs.

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As you can see, minimalism can look extraordinary. Look for decorations to fit your personality and find the best for your home. Start with your living room and if you feel comfortable with this style make further changes in your house because you will be able to feel like home even if the rooms will not be full of pictures, paintings and other things.

Vintage interior designs are the new range! For many people it is important to live by the trends and, as the society may show it, it is now a great thing to have minimalist furniture in your home, which combines really well with the high tech appliances that can be found on the market. However, if you are looking to step away from the pattern and to have a unique home, that still maintains that great homey feeling, you are bound to opt for the vintage design.

The inspiration for vintage interior designs for all the rooms of the house comes from the way in which furniture was considered in the 1940s and in the 1950s. Therefore, a vintage inspiration can be considered from the home of your grandparents, for example. Although these houses may seem rather dull to the modern individual in you, as the furniture may have deteriorate and the sense of an old interior is visible, you should know that the shops that provide items for vintage interior designs are also specialized in reconditioning and in creating a suitable adjustment for these in order to fit in a modern life society. 

So, how can you reach vintage? Here are some inspirational images for all the rooms in your home:

• vintage master bedroom

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• vintage child bedroom

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• vintage living room

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• vintage bathroom

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• vintage kitchen

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What do you get out of opting for a vintage interior design? The feeling of a more homey surrounding, warmth, care, passion for the era of elegance and beauty, a memory of your childhood and so on! All these are worth the investment in this type of traditional and classy furniture and decorations for all the rooms of your house.

The number of homebuyer mortgages approved in August remained unchanged, despite the launch of a Funding for Lending scheme designed to encourage banks and building societies to offer more loans.

A total number of 47.665 mortgages were approved for house purchase in August, just 109 more than in July and lower than the previous six-month average of 49.013. These are all figures from the report the Bank of England issued.

The number of remortgages approved showed a bigger increase, rising from 25.329 in July to 26.139, but again was below the six-month average of 27.686. The value of lending secured on homes dropped by 276 million pounds as borrowers repaid more debts than they took on. This was the second net repayment in mortgage lending in the past three months and the steepest since December 2010.

This is actually a normal estate activity in August, since the property market tends to slow as people go on holiday. At the start of the month, the government and the Bank of England introduced the Funding for Lending scheme. This is specially designed to make more mortgages available and help revive the housing market by offering cheap loans to lenders.

The pick up in mortgaging activity may be a result of the scheme, with many lenders launching low-price deals for borrowers with at least 40% to put down, but the continued quiet in the home buying market suggests it is yet to have an impact there.

Meanwhile, the Bank’s figures also show other borrowing remained flat over the month. Consumer credit and credit card borrowing rose, but borrowing on loans and overdrafts fell by 0.2bn pounds.

More than one million young people will be locked out of home ownership in eight years’ time, making up a generation that is increasingly marginalised, in terms of purchasing or renting houses in the UK. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that by the year 2020 the number of home owners under the age of 30 will fall from 2.4 million to 1.3 million, a drop of 46%. The foundation also predicts that by then 400.000 vulnerable young people could be excluded completely, unable to afford either to rent or buy accommodation. Signalling a widening intergenerational gap, the report warns that many young people who today might expect to get on to the housing ladder will in future find that they cannot afford to buy a home.

Instead, the young today either might have to rent a property, since it is much cheaper and it does not suppose a large down payment. Or, they choose to remain with their parents and try to put some money aside to purchase a house. This will come as a blow to many Britons who cling to the idea that the country is a property owning democracy. Despite the credit crunch and the financial crisis, a recent poll for the Council of Mortgage Lenders indicated a percentage of 81, referring to British adults who were hoping to be home owners in 10 years’ time. 

These expectations are unlikely to be fulfilled. It forecasts an extra 1.5 million 18 to 30 year olds, who will be renting a home in 2020, while another half a million young people will stay at home. By 2020, the number of people living with their mom and dad will reach 3.7 million. This is a major drawback that reflects upon the real estate market. This means that many young people’s dreams of owning a home will never come true, while others will have to wait a long time until they can purchase their own houses. With a high influx of young people hunting places to rent, there are concerns that families and poorer households will be unable to compete. The Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, is expected to announce proposals to stop the high earning tenants from having a local authority owned house, in an attempt to keep the social houses for those people who really need it.