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| 4th June 2010 |
House of Commons – Adjournment Debate on Housing Policy
Andrew George MP (Lib Dem, St Ives) will hold an adjournment debate on housing policy at 10pm on Tuesday 8th June.
The four key issues that he will address during the debate are:
- Abolition and replacement of Regional Spatial Strategies
- Control of second home ownership, particularly in Cornwall
- Regulation of the Private Rented Sector
- Capital Gains Tax, relating to housing issues |
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Halifax – May House Price Index
The Halifax has issued its monthly house price index for May, which shows that:
UK House prices MAY 2010 (seasonally adjusted)
Annual change 6.9%
Monthly change -0.4%
Average Price £167,570
• House prices fell by 0.4% in May. This followed a 0.1% decline in April.
• House prices in May were 6.9% higher on an annual basis. This was the largest increase in the annual rate of change, measured by the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier, since October 2007 (8.9%). Despite May's monthly fall, the annual rate increased from 6.6% in April largely because price movements in March and April compared favourably with the significant declines recorded in the same period in 2009.
• Prices are 8.3% above their April 2009 trough despite the modest decline over the past two months. The average house price is now £167,570; 16% below its August 2007 peak.
• The low supply of properties for sale was a key factor pushing up house prices in 2009. The pick up in market conditions has encouraged more homeowners to attempt to sell their property. Estate agents have reported an increase in instructions from new vendors in ten of the past 11 months. (Source: RICS monthly survey, April 2010.) The recent suspension of Home Information Packs and uncertainty about changes to Capital Gains Tax may also be persuading more homeowners to put their properties on the market.
• Housing market activity has softened. On a seasonally adjusted basis, home sales in the UK fell by 18% between 2009 quarter 4 and 2010 quarter 1. (Source: HMRC.) This decline followed three consecutive quarterly increases from the low in 2009 Q1. Sales in 2010 quarter 1, at 214,000, were 27% higher than in the same quarter of 2009, but were still less than half the number in 2007 quarter 1 (439,000). The return of the lowest stamp duty threshold to £125,000 at the start of the year and bad weather in January and February affected both the overall level, and the timing, of activity during late 2009 and early 2010. It is therefore difficult to gauge the degree to which the fall in sales in quarter 1 represents a trend and how much is due to these temporary factors. |
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House of Commons – Early Day Motion on Smoke Detectors and Fire Safety
Adrian Sanders MP (Lib Dem, Torbay) has tabled the following Early Day Motion on smoke detectors and fire safety, which has relevance for the Private Rented Sector, and has so far been signed by 18 MPs:
Mr Adrian Sanders:
That this House notes that the number of fatalities from fires in dwellings has fallen by a quarter since 1999 but that there are still on average five fatalities a week; further notes with concern that approximately one quarter of social homes do not have smoke alarms; calls on the Government to strengthen legislation to ensure all local authority and registered social landlord properties have mains-powered smoke detectors on each floor and that privately rented properties have working smoke detectors at the commencement of any tenancy agreement; and further calls on the Government to increase its efforts to raise awareness of the benefits of smoke detectors |
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| 20th May 2010 |
Department of Communities and Local Government – HIPs are history; Pickles suspends home information packs with immediate effect
In an important step at a point of fragile recovery in the housing market, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Housing Minister Grant Shapps announced that with immediate effect, they are suspending the requirement for homeowners to provide a Home Information Pack (HIP) when selling their homes.
Mr Pickles laid an Order suspending HIPs with immediate effect, pending primary legislation for a permanent abolition. The Secretary of State has taken this swift action in order to avoid uncertainty and prevent a slump in an already fragile housing market. The announcement sends a clear message of encouragement to people thinking of selling their home that they can put it on the market with less cost and hassle.
HIPs are currently holding back the housing market because sellers are having to fork-out extra cash, sometimes hundreds of pounds, just to be able to put their home up for sale. Suspending HIPs will reduce the cost of selling a home, remove a layer of regulation from the process and provide a welcome help to the housing market during the recovery. It will also mean a saving for consumers to the tune of £870m over ten years, giving sellers more money in their pocket to spend in the wider economy.
Mr Pickles and Mr Shapps also said that the Government is determined to help people reduce their energy bills, improve our energy security and tackle climate change by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes. Sellers will therefore still be required to commission, but won't need to have received, an EPC before marketing their property, and the Government will consider how the EPC can play its part in the new drive for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy. |
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| 17th May 2010 |
Council of Mortgage Lenders – March sees continued growth in house purchase activity
House purchase lending increased by 45% year on year in March, making it the ninth consecutive month of year-on-year growth, according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Remortgaging, however, was 29% down year on year, the 23rd consecutive annual fall. This plainly shows the continuing trend of recovering house purchase activity but a moribund remortgage market.
The 45,000 loans for house purchase in March (worth £6.3 billion), were up 25% in volume (24% in value) from February and the 28,000 loans for remortgage (worth £3.5 billion) were up 23% in volume (21% in value).
For the first quarter as a whole, there were 112,000 loans for house purchase (worth £16.1 billion), down from 171,000 (worth £23.3 billion) in the last quarter of 2009 and 74,000 remortgage loans (worth £9.3 billion) down from 89,000 (worth £11.1 billion) in the last three months of 2009. No trend can be inferred from this though, given the distortion caused by the end of the stamp duty holiday in December.
First-time buyer activity is now rebounding faster than home-mover activity with 17,300 loans to first-time buyers (worth £2 billion) in March, up 27% on February and 42% on March 2009. The 27,500 home-mover loans (worth £4.3 billion) was a 24% rise in volume (23% in value) on February and a 49% rise in volume (65% in value) on March last year.
For those with the deposits needed, low rates have made home loans initially very affordable. Home movers in March needed less than 10% of gross income to cover their mortgage interest payments. This is unchanged from February and is the lowest amount since the CML started recording this data in 1974. |
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| 30th April 2010 |
Land Registry – House Price Index, March 2010
The March data from the Land Registry's House Price Index shows an annual price increase of 7.5 per cent which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £164,288. The monthly change from February to March is a decrease of 0.6 per cent.
All regions in England and Wales experienced increases in their average property values over the last 12 months. The region with the highest annual price change is London, with an increase of 13 per cent. The region with the lowest annual price rise is Wales, with a movement of 1.1 per cent.
London and the North East experienced the greatest monthly rises with movements of 1.6 per cent. The East Midlands is the region with the most significant monthly price fall with a movement of -2.1 per cent.
The most up to date figures available show that during January 2010, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales rose by 30 per cent to 34,171 from 26,208 in January 2009.
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| 29th April 2010 |
Nationwide – House Price Index, April 2010
The Nationwide has published its house price index for April, which shows that:
- House prices increased by 1.0% month on month in April
- Annual rate of price inflation moves into double digits for first time since June 2007
- House prices are 10.0% below the October 2007 peak
Headlines April 2010 March 2010
- Monthly Index * 334.0 330.6
- Monthly Change * 1.0% 1.0%
- Annual Change 10.5% 9.0%
- Average Price £167,802 £164,519
* Seasonally adjusted |
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| 29th April 2010 |
National Landlords Association – Void periods high but stabilised
Void periods for rental property remain high but have stabilised according to new figures from the National Landlords Association, supplied by research consultants BDRC Continental.
In March 2010, 52 per cent of landlords had experienced voids in the previous 12 month period. Although still posing a threat to landlord portfolios, this figure is a reduction from 55 per cent during the last three months of 2009. The data also showed that the average duration of voids dropped from 19 days to 17 days.
Despite a marked increase in tenant demand and a reduction in supply as 'reluctant landlords' are able to sell up, there is still only a slight improvement in rental voids.
Furthermore, the continuing lack of available mortgage finance for first time buyers, as well as the requirement for higher deposits, means that would be buyers are renting for longer.
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| 27th April 2010 |
British Bankers Association – Mortgage lending statistics for March
The British Bankers Association (BBA) has published its mortgage lending statistics for March; the key statistics show that:
Gross mortgage lending of £8.7bn in March was less than the average of the previous six months (£9.2bn) and 0.4% lower than in March last year.
Repayments were stronger than usual as banks actively encouraged borrowers to use surplus cash to reduce their
borrowing where possible. As a consequence, net mortgage lending grew by £2.4bn in March compared with £2.7bn in
February, and was below the previous six month average.
The effects of the year end change to stamp duty have now worked through, so although numbers appear subdued
compared to the latter months of last year, house purchase approvals were some 20% higher than in March last year.
The average value of house purchase approvals (£146,100) was 11.8% higher than a year ago.
4.5% annual growth in the banks’ net mortgage lending substantially exceeds annual growth of just 1% across the whole market in February, as banks continue to provide the majority of all mortgage finance. |
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| 27th April 2010 |
Chartered Institute of Housing – First survey of housing professionals sets out priorities for next government
Housing professionals taking part in the Chartered Institute of Housing's (CIH) first UK Housing Panel quarterly survey have set out their priorities for the next Government against the background of affordable housing shortages and continued high demand.
The UK Housing Panel, made up of a cross-section of CIH members, set out its priorities for the next Government, with sustained investment in new affordable housing the number one priority, followed by funding to 'green' the existing housing stock and reform to the Housing Benefit system.
Many other respondents called for stability, whether it was economic stability, stability of funding the Supported People Programme or continued support for the current regulatory regime.
The report from the first quarterly UK Housing Panel survey examines the work of housing professionals to prevent homelessness, provide an affordable and safe place to live and to meet tenants' care and support needs.
CIH is urging the next government to make housing a central plank of its social and economic policy and commit to increasing the supply of social homes, address the problem of housing affordability and set out clear plans to improve the worst of the private rented sector. |
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| 27th April 2010 |
British Property Federation – BPF welcomes rental focus in Labour housing manifesto
The British Property Federation (BPF) has welcomed Labour's new housing manifesto, saying it offers a realistic and broad array of measures which could help nurture the UK's private rented sector.
The manifesto says the government "would like to see more larger and professional organisations providing rented accommodation, alongside the many individual landlords" adding that it especially wants to "encourage more investment in new build rented accommodation".
The BPF, which represents small landlords groups around the country as well as major developers such as Land Securities, Tesco, Legal & General and Grainger, the UK's largest private landlord, has been campaigning for a US-style professional rented sector where institutions forward fund new rental developments.
The plans have been backed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who has worked up plans for a number of sites to come forward across the capital.
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| 24 March 2010 |
NAEA: Success of Stamp Duty Campaign a major victory for first time buyers
THE National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) today welcomed as a major victory Alistair Darling’s decision to raise the threshold of stamp duty land tax for two years. |
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The NAEA has long campaigned for a major rethink on stamp duty – which it believes to be a tax on aspiration. Today in the final Budget before the election, Mr Darling listened and raised the threshold to £250,000 from midnight tonight. |
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Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said: “For thousands of first time buyers the dream of getting onto the property ladder was slipping out of reach. |
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“This announcement has added a new rung to the property ladder, one within reach of thousands of young families. |
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“We have long argued that stamp duty is a tax on aspiration that smothered the natural demand of the market. We still believe that more reform is needed and there is more work to be done, but this is a good first step – a major victory for first time buyers.” |
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| 24 March 2010 |
ARLA: Budget fails the PRS |
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Government's plan to reform stamp duty by raising the threshold to £250,000 is a good start but doesn't go far enough in helping to combat the housing shortage, according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). |
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"Following the Treasury’s positive recommendations for the Private Rented Sector (PRS) last month, we had high hopes for today’s budget. However, the Government has failed the PRS as the Budget offers nothing towards the long-term availability of enough affordable rented accommodation. Even the stamp duty changes won't have a positive impact on the PRS," said Ian Potter, operations manager of ARLA. |
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"The PRS is a fundamental element of any solution to help solve the potential shortfall in housing. But, again, Westminster has failed to address the need for robust policy in this area, both in terms of the improvement of stock or in incentivising landlord ownership. A quarter of the PRS is still sub-standard - either the Government is choosing to ignore this fact, or has simply run out of ideas." |
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| 24 March 2010 |
ICBA – Welcomes Business rate relief, but calls for an end to postcode lottery on rates |
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In response to today’s Budget announcement on business rates relief, Michael Hare, Chairman of Institution of Commercial Business Agents (ICBA), said: |
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“This is a welcome initiative at a critical time, as the commercial property sector still faces significant threats to its recovery. |
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“However, the Government urgently needs to localise business rates. Industrial and distribution businesses, older office properties in the South East of England, and secondary and tertiary retail locations will benefit most from today’s announcement, however there will be many losers today. West End and City of London businesses and the leisure sector will all struggle with the business rate increases due to come in at the start of April. |
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“We propose allowing local authorities to set rates, allowing them to attract businesses to their area and incentivise commercial development. This is a missed opportunity, as by giving councils greater power over setting business rates - and allowing them to keep a greater proportion of revenue, the Government would have encouraged growth in the commercial sector at this vital time.” |
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| 17 March 2010 |
Special Retirement Homes Day |
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On the 11th March, Kavanaghs held a special day dedicated to retirement flats and home. Kavanaghs currently have instructions to sell a wide range of 1 and 2 bedroom flats all designed for the needs of the elderly and ranging in price from £73,000 to £125,000. |
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Prospective buyers were invited to the office to discuss there needs, there current properties and view flats available. There was an excellent turn out on the day and enquiries are still coming in. |
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Anyone wanting further information should contact the residential sales team who would be happy to send out details or arrange viewings. |
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| 16 March 2010 |
Viewings are up this spring |
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Kavanaghs are currently experiencing a huge increase in the number of new applicants registering and viewing property. During February alone there was a 51% increase in the number of viewings in January and a 54% increase over February 2009. ‘It looks like in spite of the weather Spring has arrived early in the housing market’. Says, Robert House of Kavanaghs in Melksham. |
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