Greece
Home approvals strengthen in Australia but new home sales fall
New home approvals in Australia strengthened during May and remain at high levels, up 2.4% compared to the previous month, the latest data shows. Multi-unit approvals soared 15.1% but detached house approvals fell by 8.5% with a total of 218,442 approvals recorded in the year to May, a new record for approvals over any 12 month period since records began in 1983. ‘While it is positive to see improved levels of approvals, the distribution of growth was uneven with multi units increasing significantly during the month and detached house approvals falling back,’ said Shane Garrett, the Housing Industry Association’s senior economist. He pointed out that during 2014, new home building reached an all-time high and the latest figures suggest a solid pipeline of new home building during the second half of 2015. ‘However, the recent strengthening of price pressures in several markets indicates that the supply of new homes will need to stay at elevated levels in order to fully address demand,’ he warned. ‘This onus is very much on policymakers here. They must rectify the bottlenecks in the planning system, redress the excessive fees and charges on new residential developments and ensure that the pipeline of residential land will meet the ongoing community demand for new homes,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures shows that approvals saw the strongest increase in Victoria with growth of 11%, followed by New South Wales at 8.8%, Queensland at 3.6%, and Western Australia at 0.2%. Approvals fell significantly in Tasmania with a fall of 32.6% and were down 9.9% in South Australia. In trend terms approvals increased in the Northern Territory by 9.7% and in the ACT by 6% during May. Meanwhile, the HIA New Home Sales Report, a survey of Australia’s largest volume builders, recorded the first decline for 2015 in May with total seasonally adjusted new home sales falling by 2.3%. The decline was driven by a 5.1% dip in detached house sales, and this reflected weaker monthly demand in four out of the five states surveyed, according to HIA chief economist Harley Dale. ‘This is a softer result at face value, but delving beneath the surface reveals an aggregate profile of healthy new home building conditions in 2015. The mature stage of the new home building cycle primarily reflects further momentum in the multi-unit sector, together with persistence of healthy conditions in New South Wales and Victoria,’ he pointed out. The data shows that new sales of multi-units increased by 7.6% to yet a new record level, with sales volumes up by 26.7% over the three months to May. Meanwhile strength in detached houses sales is evident in New South Wales and Victoria, with growth in the May 2015 quarter of 5.2% and 6.2% respectively. ‘Leading indicators such as new home sales and ABS building approvals will provide vital clues in coming months of the sustainability and composition of the upcycle in new home building in 2015/2016,’ said Dale. A breakdown of the… Continue reading
UK student property investment growing, latest figures show
Investment into the UK’s student housing market hit £3.98 billion in the first half of 2015, well ahead of the £2.35 billion for the whole of 2014, the latest data shows. Within that total, London saw a record £1.98 billion of transactions across the first half of the year, according to research from commercial property and real estate services advisor CBRE. The firm said that these numbers come as many investors begin to see the student accommodation market as a higher yielding way of gaining exposure to London’s PRS, with yields at an attractive margin above conventional residential stock. It adds that the record inflows seen in London have caused the fastest change in student housing yields in the whole of the UK, with yields now at 4.75% on a par with the previous peak in 2007. Student housing supply remains constrained across the UK, as a growing number of students chase a severely limited stock of purpose built accommodation in most university towns, according to Jo Winchester, head of student housing advisory at CBRE. ‘So long as demand outstrips supply, upward pressure on both rents and capital values will continue to make the market an attractive proposition for investors, and we don't expect the market to come off the boil for some time,’ explained Winchester. She added that some investors see student housing as a more cost effective way of gaining access to the PRS, both in terms of higher yields and lower capital values per square foot. ‘Although there are differences between residential and student accommodation operational models, some larger student housing operators and investors in the sector are beginning to explore build to let development and investing in the PRS. As this happens, it is possible that the operational models could become more closely aligned,’ she concluded. Continue reading
More than half a million British properties now worth over £1 million
The number of home owners in Britain whose property is worth £1 million or more has exceeded half a million for the first time, according to new research. The number of so called property millionaires now stands at 524,306, an increase of 8.3% on last year’s figure and almost 11,000 streets now have an average property value above £1 million, the data from Zoopla shows. Of the 10,958 streets with average property prices over £1 million some 43% are located in London. Areas outside the capital with the highest proportion of £1 million plus streets are all in Surrey, with Guildford, Leatherhead and Richmond housing 158, 154 and 144 respectively. At the very top end of the market, the data shows there are now 13 streets in Britain where the average house price is over £10 million, all of which are in London. Kensington Palace Gardens in W8 ranked as the country’s most expensive street overall, with homes there worth £42,591,972 on average, over 150 times the average national property value. The Boltons in SW10, where a nine bedroom detached house sold for £51 million in April, takes second place, with average property values standing at £30,288,586. Grosvenor Crescent in the exclusive suburb of SW1 rounds out the top three, with an average property price of £22,752,425. While exclusive London boroughs boast most of Britain’s priciest properties, certain areas of Surrey and Buckinghamshire have also acquired a reputation for very high property values. Virginia Water and Cobham, both in Surrey, top the towns table, with average property prices of £1,208,638 and £1,037,825 respectively. Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, where the average property value amounts to £982,660, comes in third. In terms of postcodes, W8 in Kensington, remains top of the heap, boasting average property prices of £2.77 million. Neighbouring SW7 in Knightsbridge is the next most expensive area in the capital with average values of £2.43 million, while property values in third placed SW3 in Chelsea stand at £2.24 million. ‘London continues to be the epicentre of the million pound property market in Britain but there are a number of high value property areas outside the capital, particularly in Surrey and Buckinghamshire, that are very attractive to professionals seeking to live outside yet within easy reach of the city and enjoy low crime rates coupled with good schools,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla. Continue reading
