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| Property Related News |
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| A brief insight into the UK property market can be read below. This news page will be updated weekly. To subscribe to news directly to your inbox simply email news to; info@skybluehomes.co.uk. |
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| Week Commencing 8th March 2010 |
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 Mortgage deals on offer from lenders increase
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Mortgage availability for homebuyers has improved over the past month, according to figures from the financial information service Moneyfacts. At the start of March there were 1,798 mortgage deals available which required deposits of between 0% and 40%.
That was 6% more availability than a month ago and 68% more than a year ago.
There are still very few mortgages available with just 0% or 5% deposits, but there are now 489 deals that ask for 10% or 15% down-payments.
That is 90% more than a year ago when there were just 258 such loans on the market.
”There are a growing number of mortgage providers who are becoming a little more accommodating with their credit criteria and this bodes well for consumers who will benefit from a growing competitive mortgage market,” said Michelle Slade of Moneyfacts. ”It is pleasing to see that the average mortgage rate is falling at the same time as deposit requirements are getting smaller,”
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Upwardly mobile: finding a future hot spot
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The mini boom that the housing market has experienced in recent months, confounding experts and buyers alike, may be over. Halifax reported last week that prices fell by 1.5% last month — an even sharper drop than the 1% decline already reported by the Nationwide. The feared double-dip may be upon us.
Still, don’t despair: as past experience has shown, you can beat a flat or even declining market by finding a future hot spot. You just have to choose the right place to buy.
Stuart Robertson, an advertising executive, and his wife, Zoe, a communications director, think they have done just that. The couple, who are in their thirties and have two boys, Charlie, 7, and Max, 4, have a budget of £700,000-£750,000 and are buying a five-bedroom property in the village of Warmington, west of Peterborough. It is more than twice the size of their four-bedroom house in Earlsfield, southwest London — which they are in the process of selling — and has a bigger garden.
“We looked all around the home counties, but we can get more for our money near Peterborough,” Stuart says. “We’ll be able to drive to the station in 15 minutes — Zoe works three days a week — then get the fast train into London. I’m fairly confident property values will rise as the area gets discovered. People think of Peterborough as a new town, but it has a magnificent cathedral and beautiful countryside nearby. We’re really looking forward to the move.”
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UK residential property saw unexpected price fall in February, index shows
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An increase in the number of properties available for sale led to residential real estate prices unexpectedly falling by 1.5% in February, the first drop since June last year, according to the latest index.
The decline followed a downwardly revised 0.4% rise in January and left prices 4.5% higher in the three months to February compared with a year ago, according to the index from the Halifax.
The report says that increased supply, poor weather and the end of a tax holiday for some homebuyers had all contributed to the fall, though it noted property prices were still 8% higher than in April last year. ‘An increase in the number of properties available for sale has helped to reduce slightly the imbalance between supply and demand,’ said Halifax’s housing economist Martin Ellis.
‘At the same time, the bad weather in the first two months of 2010, together with the return of the lowest stamp duty threshold to £125,000, are likely to have had an adverse impact on housing demand,’ he added. Halifax said the average price of a home stood at £166,587 in February. The index is the latest in a string of figures to point to a cooling in the UK property market. The Nationwide building society reported a 1% fall in prices last month and Bank of England figures showed mortgage approvals fell to an 8 month low in January.
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An ageing population will have a significant impact on UK residential property market
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An explosion of grey hair has significant implications for the future of retirement properties in the UK and the wider residential real estate market, it is claimed.
Retired people form the country’s fastest growing demographic group and older households will represent half of all household growth between now and 2026, according to the Retirement Housing Report 2010 from consultants Knight Frank.
It points out that it is important the development, construction and care industries recognise the trend as thinking and practice in the UK retirement sector has long lagged behind innovation in Australia, Scandinavia, the US and New Zealand.
‘Retirement villages have been popular for decades in these countries. However in the UK, there are still relatively few implying there are strong prospects for growth as the concept becomes better understood,’ said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank.
‘The growth in popularity of retirement villages stems, fairly obviously, from our increasingly ageing population and the growing assets its holds, but also from a growing tendency for older people to place a positive emphasis on the need for security, socialising opportunities and convenience. The need to release equity through a downsizing move may also impel a greater shift towards specialised retirement housing,’ he added.
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