Breaking News
Lack of housing supply
The lack of housing supply is a story that just will not go away, numbers of properties currently available per estate agent have fallen again from 55 in July to 38 in August, we are actually at an 11 year low for properties available. Where we look to find the reason for the imbalance at…
Allen Walkey
Possible cap on loans to BTL landlords
At present owner-occupiers are treated differently to would be landlords applying for loans, the Bank of England at present has powers to cap borrowing by owner-occupiers where it does not for landlords. Officials are watching closely for lenders who are being too accommodating for would be landlords when it comes to satisfying criteria when applying…
Allen Walkey
NHF comes up with new plan for RTB
A follow on to yesterday’s “Breaking News” Item where we mentioned Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron telling his party faithfulls at their conference that he is totally opposed to the right to buy scheme being extended, and that he would do everthing he can to stop the government from implementing it, well it may not…
Allen Walkey
London house gap at 20yr high
According to Hometrack Cities House Price Index, the gap between house prices in London and other major cities across the UK is at its widest for 20 years, this is despite reports of a reduction in the gap between regional house prices, city level figures confirm that the slowdown in London is not happening. Hometrack…
Allen Walkey
Property supply dwindles according to NAEA
According to the National Association of Estate Agents UK housing market report for August 2014 , the number of properties available to buy per estate agent fell to an eleven year low in the month. Supply of available housing fell by a third in the last month, with 38 houses available per branch in August,…
Allen Walkey
Lib Dems against social housing RTB
Tim Farron the recently elected leader of the Liberal Democrats made it clear in his speech at their conference this week, that his party were against the government plans for right to buy for tenants of housing association homes. He made it clear he would not allow the government to ‘destroy’ social housing by extending…
Allen Walkey
Gov.uk transaction data August 2015
Transaction data providing information about the number and types of applications that Land Registry completed in August 2015 Land Registry completes 1,382,803 applications South East tops the table of regional applications with 317,872 Birmingham tops the table of local authority applications with 20,837 The Transaction Data shows Land Registry completed over 1,382,800 applications from its…
Allen Walkey
AuctionLets looking for investors
AuctionLets, which follows a similar easy-to-use format to that of one of the most popular mainstream auction sites, has been providing landlords with a unique alternative to the way property has traditionally been let since its launch in January last year. “Our site has been successfully tested with great results. An increasing number of bids…
Allen Walkey
Steep fall in new home starts
According to figures from the National Housing Federation (NHF) fewer than 460,000 homes were built between 2011 and 2014, the government expects to build 1m new homes by the end of this parliament, this is in response to the urgent need for housing, Brandon Lewis Housing Minister reportedly told the BBC’s Inside Out programme the…
Allen Walkey
Rightmove HPI September
Asking prices for houses in England and Wales saw their biggest rise in the month to mid-September for 13 years as cheap borrowing and a lack of properties on the market led to market “extremes”. According to the Rightmove HPI overview, the price of property coming to market continues to rise at a time of…
Allen Walkey
Stronger penalties for Rogue Landlords
Landlords who flout the rules and who rent out substandard and dangerous accommodation should face stiffer penalties, at present Landlords can only be jailed if convicted of illegally evicting a tenant, this should be extended to landlords who take advantage of vunerable tenants in a serious manner. The Local Government Association (LGA) have appealed for…
Allen Walkey
Councils struggle with RTB scheme
Councils are struggling to replace houses sold through the right-to-buy (RTB) scheme, according to analysis of provisional figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) it would appear that just one home has been built for every nine sold through the right-to-buy scheme, this is not at all what was pledged by the…
Allen Walkey
TPO announces new Property Ombudsman, Katrine Sporle CBE.
From 1 November 2015, Katrine Sporle CBE will take up the role of Ombudsman at The Property Ombudsman, taking over from her predecessor Christopher Hamer, whose nine year term comes to an end on 30th November. Previously, Katrine Sporle was Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales (2003-2011), which involved being responsible…
Christopher Walkey
£20bn mortgage lending in August
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) they reported £20bn of mortgage deals went through in August, this was slightly down on July’s lending total of £21.7 billion, but 12 per cent higher than August last year, when loans totalling £17.8 billion went through. A mortgage price war between lenders, with many slashing the…
Allen Walkey
Zoopla Property Group appoints Goodstuff
Zoopla Property Group the digital media business that owns and operates some of the UK’s leading online property brands including Zoopla and PrimeLocation, has appointed Goodstuff to handle their media planning and buying business worth £15m. The ZPG marketing team has seen a number of changes of the last few months as they look to…
Allen Walkey