Breaking News
Asking prices set new records.
Asking prices across England and Wales are setting new highs, particularly in the south of England and the Midlands this month according to the property website Rightmove. The average property on the market this month has a price tag of £294,351, this new high is £8,218 more than a previous record set in April, adding…
Allen Walkey
Increase in stamp duty
The latest research from Lloyds Bank shows the Stamp Duty revenue raised in England and Wales increased by an estimated £1.5 billion to £7.7 billion in the year to March 2015, this exceeds the £6.2 billion in the year to March 2008 at the peak of the last housing boom. A higher number of residential property…
Allen Walkey
Foxtons to remove spikes.
Foxtons are set to remove anti-homeless spikes from outside a West End branch of their estate agents after a change.org petition achieved 20,000 signatures, the petition was set up by Zahira Patel after noticing similar spikes outside the Holborn branch of Foxtons. As spokesperson from Foxtons reportedly said ‘We understand that the studs outside our…
Allen Walkey
Bristol and Reading quickest sales
According to estateagent4me, a performance-based estate agent comparison service, Bristol and Reading had the quickest sales across England, with an average of 26 days, that is 29 days faster than the UK average of 55 days. The slowest region was Liverpool, with 85 days. Estateagent4me.co.uk claims to identify the country’s best-performing agents based on specific…
Allen Walkey
Further rise in house prices to come
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its monthly index — which measures members’ expectations for house prices over the next three months — rose to +34 in May from +32 in April, broadly in line with economists’ forecasts, this takes the index to its highest level since August 2014. RICS said the number of…
Allen Walkey
Homes in Multiple Occupation
The HMO market could become the rental option of choice especially for the younger professional tenants, there are various benefits to starting out renting this way. Initially the tenant will be paying less in rent and charges which will allow them to save for their deposit for their first home earlier, average first time buyer…
Allen Walkey
Final date for deposit scheme protection
The date is fast approaching when Landlords must comply to the new law in relation to tenancy deposit schemes, the date for the diary is 23rd June. Any landlord holding a deposit taken prior to the 6th April 2007 which has not been protected by the 23rd June under one of the Tenancy Deposit Schemes…
Allen Walkey
Well known landlords decide to sell.
Fergus and Judith Wilson are without doubt a true success story when it comes to Buy-to-Let investing, I can rememeber back quite sometime when I read a report in one of the main stream newspapers describing how the former maths teachers recognized that the buy-to let market at the time was a matter of simple…
Allen Walkey
New Estate Agent ranking website
Following closely on the heels of rateragent.co.uk comes the latest Estate Agent ranking website www.Estateagent4me.co.uk launched by USL Technology. Established in 2003, ULS develops and operates web based comparison platforms for mortgage brokers, solicitors, estate agents, lenders, network associations and customers. These solutions can help consumers source legal, financial and property services whilst assisting intermediaries…
Allen Walkey
Fall in conveyancing transactions
A Conveyancing Market Tracker survey by Search Acumen which is based on data from the Land Registry, found that a continuing decline in conveyancing firm numbers was based on a “long-term trend of firms disappearing at the lower end of the market”. It revealed that of the 153 firms which ceased to be active, 129…
Allen Walkey
Better month for first time buyers
The National Association of Estate Agents stated in its April Housing Report that first time buyers represented approximately a quarter of house sales during that month, that is an increase on March when the figure for first time buyers was 22% compared to the 26% in April. Over half of member agents expect house prices…
Allen Walkey
NHBC reports rise…
NHBC reports that news housing registrations continue to rise outperforming 2014 levels across the UK. For the rolling quarter (February – April), registrations increased by 20% compared to the same period last year (41,307 in 2015; 34,451 in 2014). The private sector increased by 24% during this period (31,083 in 2015; 24,993 in 2014), with…
Allen Walkey
Interest rates and Halifax report
UK interest rates have been held at 0.5% again by the Bank of England. The Bank also kept the size of its bond-buying stimulus programme unchanged at £375bn. The decision by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) comes more than six years after the record low was introduced. The number of properties on the market…
Allen Walkey
Sandfords offer students support at London Business School Fresher’s Fair.
It’s nearly that time again when universities welcome a new batch of students for the upcoming year, many choosing to hold a fresher’s fair in order for prospective students to find out about the school itself, as well as all other fundamental elements that they need to consider, including their new living arrangements. On Sunday…
Christopher Walkey
TPO undergoes staff exchange in new initiative to deliver best practice.
Two members of staff, one from The Property Ombudsman the other from Northwood UK, switched roles for a week in order to gain greater experience and knowledge of each other’s positions within the industry. The exchange was instigated by Property Ombudsman Christopher Hamer as part of TPO’s ongoing application to raise standards within the…
Christopher Walkey