Breaking News
12% jump in number of available rental properties leads to slowest annual rate of increase since 2014
Over-hang of last year’s buy-to-let surge leads to more choice for tenants and slower annual rate of increase in rents: Number of available rental properties on Rightmove up 12% compared to the same period last year Annual asking rent growth of 1.8% is the lowest since Q4 2014, and less than half the annual growth…
Rightmove
Private rented sector finely balanced says Paragon Mortgages
The latest Paragon Mortgages Private Rented Sector (PRS) Trends report for Q1 headlines ‘A Long Road Ahead’. The highlights in the Paragon Mortgages Q1 2017 PRS Trend report are: Average portfolio size stable at 13 properties, despite tax changes and rising stamp duty. Landlords expect little change in portfolio size over the next 12 months….
Allen Walkey
CIELA challenges the validity and reliability of PurpleBricks
The Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents (CIELA) would like to express its outrage to the grossly misleading and misrepresentative portrayal of high street estate and letting agents by Purplebricks. The wildly inaccurate claims issued by the company’s recent press release cite that high street estate agents are lazy, outdated and are a rip…
EAN Content
BARBON INSURANCE GROUP STRENGTHENS BOARD WITH NEW APPOINTMENT
Barbon Insurance Group Ltd (Barbon), the UK’s leading provider of risk solutions to the residential lettings sector, via its HomeLet and Rentshield Direct brands, has appointed Mark Witherspoon as non-executive director, subject to the usual regulatory approval. Mark brings extensive experience across retail financial services and property sectors. He is currently Data Services Director at…
EAN Content
Local authorities given more powers when dealing with rogue landlords
Announcement today from Department for Communities and Local Government and Gavin Barwell MP. New rules which come into force from today (6 April 2017) will help crackdown on rogue landlords that flout the rules and improve safety and affordability for renters. Announcing the measures, Housing Minister Gavin Barwell confirmed the powers will give local authorities…
Allen Walkey
HSBC signed one year contract extension with Hometrack according to ZPG
News item released yesterday from ZPG stated: HSBC has signed a one-year contract extension with property analytics business Hometrack, securing the delivery of valuation and risk services for a twelfth consecutive year. Hometrack is part of ZPG plc and currently partners with 15 of the top 20 mortgage lenders in the UK as well as…
Allen Walkey
Telford Homes expects to report record revenues and profit.
Telford Homes Plc, the residential property developer focused on non-prime London, has today 5th April 2017 given an update on trading ahead of its final results for the year ended 31 March 2017, which will be released on Wednesday, 31 May 2017. Telford Homes expects to report record revenues and profit for the year to…
Allen Walkey
A new tax year begins tomorrow along with changes for buy-to-let landlords
Tomorrow the 6th April is a new tax year, it is when buy-to-let landlords will begin to feel the direct effects of the next tightening of taxation of the sector. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) in a recent news release headlined ‘Tax changes put more pressure on buy-to-let landlords’ point out that, from the…
Allen Walkey
UK construction firms experience slowdown in growth in March.
The UK construction purchasing-managers’ index from Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) slipped to a seasonally adjusted 52.2 in March from 52.5 in February and against market consensus for a reading of 52.4 the survey revealed on Tuesday 4th April. March data revealed that a slowdown in growth was seen across…
Allen Walkey
2016 is another good year for Belvoir
Belvoir Lettings plc, the UK’s largest property franchise, today announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2016. it reported revenue increased by 43 per cent to £9.9m, up from £6.9m in 2015. Mike Goddard, Chief Executive Officer of Belvoir Lettings, commenting on the results, said: “2016 was another good year for Belvoir as we…
Allen Walkey
Falling unemployment and creation of more jobs key driver to house price growth according to Lloyds Bank.
Recent media and research centre report from Lloyds Bank headlines ‘House price growth outperforms in areas where unemployment has fallen most since 2017’. Areas where improvements in unemployment are at their greatest have typically experienced above average house price rises, seeing prices soar by almost £100,000 in past decade, according to the latest research from…
Allen Walkey
Competition and Markets Authority reviewing acquisition of ‘Expert Agent’ by ZPG.
In a recent ‘Breaking News’ article posted 2nd March we highlighted the fact that ZPG PLC had acquired ‘Expert Agent’. In a UK regulatory announcement released on Friday 31st March ZPG stated that the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) is reviewing the Company’s acquisition of Websky Limited (“Expert Agent”) and that, accordingly, the CMA has…
Allen Walkey
Average rents increased in Q4 2016 according to Belvoir.
The latest Belvoir Rental Index Report for Q4 2016 is now published on their website. Belvoir Lettings is one of the UK’s largest specialist residential lettings agencies with over 150 offices nationwide and a 20+ franchise support team based at Central Office in Grantham. Belvoir report that the National Rental Trend for offices in England,…
Allen Walkey
Annual rate of house price growth slows in March according to Nationwide
Released today the Nationwide House Price Index (HPI) for March headlines ‘House price growth softens in March’ The annual rate of house price growth slowed in March to 3.5%, lower than the rate reported for February at 4.5%. House prices fell by 0.3% month on month in March, a turnaround from the rise in February…
Allen Walkey
More than 1 million people using Help to Buy schemes.
Help to Buy statistics released yesterday 30th March on Gov.UK website show that more than 259,000 completions have taken place using one or more of the Help to Buy schemes, the majority of these are first-time buyers. More than 215,000 (84% of total completions) first-time buyers are now on the housing ladder thanks to Help…
Allen Walkey