Breaking News
Housing Associations until Friday to vote
Housing association tenants will be able to buy their homes under the Right to Buy scheme if a government deal is approved this Friday. Just last week at the National Housing Federation’s Annual Conference, David Orr, the chief executive sought the consent of members to put forward a voluntary offer to the government on Right…
Allen Walkey
Market trend data for August
Land Registry’s monthly Market Trend Data for residential property prices in England and Wales released today. The August data shows an annual price increase of 4.2 per cent which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £184,682. Monthly house prices up 0.5 per cent since July 2015. The regional data indicates that:…
Allen Walkey
Landlords leaving the industry
A landlord study carried out by Access Legal earlier this month revealed that 1 in 5 landlords will have left the industry in the next two years, the tax break cuts announced by the government appear to be the main reason for this. The weight of the media news on buy-to-let has for some time…
Allen Walkey
Staff help raise over £15,000 for Shooting Star Chase.
On Saturday 19th September, brave volunteers from Townends Estate Agents, part of Badger Holdings Limited, took part in the ultimate challenge, a tandem skydive with GoSkydive, the UK’s premier tandem skydive specialist, to help raise vital funds for Shooting Star Chase. After an hour’s briefing and being fully kitted out, members of staff jumped from…
Christopher Walkey
RICS Residential Property Paper
Last week the RICS released its Residential Property Paper. RICS is calling on Government to expand the nation’s housing supply across all sectors – from owner occupied, social housing and private rented sectors – through their new Residential Policy Paper. Expanding supply is not just limited to new builds but optimising how we use existing…
Allen Walkey
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