Breaking News
New home registrations up overall reports NHBC
According to the NHBC latest new home registration statistics a total of 41,222 new homes were registered by in Q2 throughout the UK. In the private sector 31,753 new homes were registered, a 6% increase on the 30,086 a year ago. The public and affordable sector was down 13% with 9,469 new homes registered compared…
Allen Walkey
Increasing Housebuilding in England a major challenge
Report released by the Charity Shelter in August headlined ‘Achieving the Ambition’ In summary they mention: It is widely recognised that increasing housebuilding to the level now required is a major challenge. If we are entering a period of economic uncertainty following the vote to leave the EU then that challenge will be magnified. However…
Allen Walkey
Nationwide HPI August
The Nationwide House Price Index (HPI) released today headlines ‘Slight pickup in house price growth in August’ House prices increased by 0.6% in August up from 0.5% in July. Annual house price growth increased to 5.6%, from 5.2% in July. Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “UK house prices increased by…
Allen Walkey
Mortgage approvals at lowest for 18 months
According to figures out yesterday from The Bank of England (BoE) the number of mortgages approved by banks and building societies is at its lowest for 18 months. New mortgages approved in July totalled 60,912 down from 64,512 in June, the lowest total since Januray 2015 and a 12.4% drop in the number of mortgage…
Allen Walkey
Changes to way buy-to-let property will be taxed.
Significant amendments to the Finance Bill slipped in at committee stage set a disturbing precedent of avoiding proper consultation and scrutiny, the Law Society said recently. The changes, which alter the way buy-to-let properties will be taxed, may result in profits from the sale of an investment property becoming liable for income tax rather than…
Allen Walkey
Purplebricks launches downunder.
Purplebricks the UK based online estate agent is now set to launch in Australia, launching in Melbourne and southeast Queensland ahead of a national rollout. The company has already seen rapid growth in the UK with its model, it has booked heavy advertising costs in attracting its client base, this has resulted in losses overall…
Allen Walkey
No Brick shortage is response from The BDA
The Brick Development Association (BDA), representing brick manufacturers in the UK, has responded assertively to what it sees as an “out of date and and unhelpful” report from the Centre for Economics & Business Research for the National Association of Estate Agents which was released yesterday. In a latest news article posted to their website…
Allen Walkey
UK Cities House price Index July
Hometrack today released the UK Cities House Price Index July 2016 headlined ’20 city house price growth starting to slow’. The report begins by stating that the annual rate of house price inflation across the 20 cities has started to slow after 12 successive months of rising house price inflation. more…. City level house price…
Allen Walkey
UK Property Transaction Count July 2016
UK Property Transactions Count July 2016 released this week by HM Revenue and Customs. The provisional seasonally adjusted UK property transaction count for July 2016 was 94,550 residential and 9,820 non-residential transactions. The seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of residential property transactions decreased by 0.9% between June 2016 and July 2016. This month’s seasonally…
Allen Walkey
Housing crisis made worse by brick shortage
The continual high demand for bricks to keep pace with the UK house building program is not being met with supply, this is exacerbating the ‘Housing Crisis’ in Britain according to the National Association of Estate Agents’ (NAEA). The report highlighted that the construction Industry needs at present 1.4 billion bricks to deal with the…
Allen Walkey
House purchase lending down in London
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) published today press release headlined ‘Loans to first-time buyers up but movers down in London’. In it’s news release it begins by mentioning that in the second quarter home buyers in London borrowed £5.5bn for home-owner house purchase, down 23% quarter-on-quarter and 3% on a year ago……more Paul Smee, director…
Allen Walkey
High Street Banking Statistics
The BBA published today High Street Banking statistics, the data does not suggest that borrowing patterns have been unduly affected by the Brexit vote. Net mortgage borrowing and consumer credit annual growth are identical to the figures in June at 3% and 6% respectively. Mortgage approvals for house purchases were 19% lower in July than…
Allen Walkey
A fall in the number of House Buyers
According to the most recent National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) monthly UK Housing Market report the ‘Number Of House Buyers Falls By A Third on Year’. In the report they mention that demand is at lowest seen since November 2013 and a third lower than July last year. Mark Hayward, Managing Director, National Association…
Allen Walkey
Client Money Protection Scheme Amendment
It is estimated that letting agents currently hold approximately £2.7 billion in client funds on behalf of renters and landlords, this can be for a for a range of reasons, including deposits, rental payments, and money for repairs. If the letting agent is not part of a Client Money Protection scheme (CMP) clients could possibly…
Allen Walkey
Persimmon plc half year results
Persimmon plc today announces half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2016. Profit before tax increased 29% to £352.3m (2015: £272.8m) Jeff Fairburn, Group Chief Executive, said: “Persimmon’s robust trading performance in the first half of 2016 was driven by our continued focus on meeting market demand to deliver controlled sustainable growth….
Allen Walkey