Tag Archives: cities
Property price growth in London now behind five other UK cities
Property growth in London now lags behind five other UK cities as the capital’s house price growth has dropped by two thirds in just three months. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Southampton, Bristol and Birmingham property markets have seen faster growth than London in the last quarter, according to the latest cities house price index from Hometrack. It also shows that while overall UK house prices have risen by 8.9% year on year, the rate of house price growth in the last quarter has slowed across 16 of the 20 cities. The firm is predicting house price growth of 2% in 2015. House price inflation in London at 0.5% was the same average growth as Manchester, Portsmouth. Some key cities saw price growth diminish, most notably Aberdeen down 0.4% and Cambridge down 0.2%. Other cities showed a pronounced slowdown in price growth such as Oxford seeing a quarterly rise of just 0.3%, Cardiff at 0.2% and Bournemouth at 0.1%. But Scottish cities bounced back with Edinburgh at 1.8% growth and Glasgow at 0.9%, both continuing to register above average rates of growth as demand feeds back into the market after the independence. However, house prices are above their 2007 peak in eight cities with London up 30.5%, Cambridge up 28.7% and Oxford up 21.9%, but these are also the markets starting to register the clearest slowdown. This translated to an average annual increase in London property values of £57,000, which is nearly four times the national average of £15,200 and almost twice the UK’s average income. Liverpool recorded the lowest increase in values with just £3,000 added to house prices in the last year. ‘The high growth cities over the last year are now recording the fastest slowdown and this is most pronounced in smaller cities such as Cambridge and Aberdeen. The Aberdeen economy is closely related to the health of the oil industry and a weakening oil price is impacting the housing market,’ said Richard Donnell, research director at Hometrack. ‘The slowdown in London, which we identified in, will act as a drag on the UK rate of house price growth over the next 12 months. The rate of growth in house prices is starting to lose momentum across other cities in southern England, while across the rest of the country modest levels of house price appreciation continue as prices rise off a low base,’ he explained. ‘Overall we expect modest UK house price growth of 2% in 2015, which is more in line with earnings growth. Significant pent-up demand has feed back into the market in the last two years pushing house prices higher in all cities but the underlying rate of growth is now slowing across the majority of markets,’ he pointed out. He also said that the introduction of mortgage market affordability tests in the middle of 2014 has reduced the overall impact of low mortgage rates on house prices. ‘A… Continue reading
Home value growth rate in key Oz cities continues to moderate
Property values across Australia’s capital cities fell by 0.3% in November compared with the previous months as growth continues to slow, according to the latest index. Home values rose in Sydney by 1%, in Brisbane by 0.4%, in Perth by 0.9% and in Hobart by 0.2% but fell across the remaining capital cities, the data from the CoreLogic RP Home Value Index shows. Research analyst Cameron Kusher said this recent slowdown in the rate of capital growth is further highlighted by the fact that over the three months to November 2014, values rose by just 0.8% across the combined capitals. Over the three months, values increased in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth but fell across all other capital cities. The slowdown in capital growth is further evident when looking at annual growth rates. Although combined capital city home values increased by a healthy 8.5% over the 12 months to November 2014, the annual growth rate is now at its lowest level in the year. The data shows that the rate of annual home value growth across the combined capital cities continued to slow after peaking at 11.5% over the 12 months to April 2014. Excluding Hobart, across each capital city the annual rate of capital growth is now lower than its recent peak. Kusher said this suggests that most cities have now moved past their cyclical peak. ‘Importantly, this has become apparent in the two largest capital cities of Sydney and Melbourne, where annual value growth peaked at 16.7% in April 2014 and at 11.9% in January 2014 respectively,’ he explained. ‘Although Sydney and Melbourne appear to have moved through their peaks, capital growth these two cities have consistently been the main driver of value growth over the past 12 months,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures shows that over the past year, Sydney home values increased by 13.2% and Melbourne home values rose by 8.3%. Sydney has seen much stronger growth over the year than Melbourne. However, Melbourne’s growth remains quite higher than the third strongest performing city for capital growth, Brisbane. Brisbane home values increased by 6% over the past year while Hobart at 5.2% is the only other capital city to record annual value growth in excess of 5%. ‘Market indicators such as auction clearance rates remain quite strong, but also point to slightly weaker overall housing market conditions,’ Kusher said. Auction clearance rates reduced noticeably across the two largest auction markets, Sydney and Melbourne, over recent weeks while clearance rates were typically recorded at around the high 70% and mid 70% mark respectively at the start of Spring. Clearance rates are now sitting at a low 70% in Sydney and mid 60% in Melbourne. The number of new properties listed for sale across the combined capital cities continues to trend higher. Although this occurred throughout the last two months, Kusher pointed out it wasn’t until recently that the total number of property listings also started to trend higher. ‘This may indicate a slower rate of sale and is… Continue reading
Property prices and rents continue falling in Cyprus and sales are down considerably
Property prices and rental values are continuing to fall in Cyprus but there are much fewer sales than normal due to the banking crisis, according to the latest quarterly index report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The Property Price Index has recorded falls in almost all cities and asset classes, with significant falls being recorded in Nicosia. RICS says that Nicosia is clearly feeling the impact on the government and banking sector, which dominate the local employment market, whilst other cities are progressively bottoming out. Across Cyprus, residential prices for both houses and flats fell by 1.6% and 0.5% respectively in the fourth quarter of 2013. The biggest drop was in Larnaca where house prices were down1.4%, and Nicosia which saw a 6.8% fall in prices for flats. Values of retail properties fell by an average of 3.2%, whilst those of offices and warehouses fell by 1.4% and 0.7% respectively. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, prices dropped by 13.3% for apartments, 10.5% for houses, 19.8% for retail, 12.8% for office, and 15.4% for warehouses. Across Cyprus, on a quarterly basis rental values decreased by 1% for apartments, 1.3% for houses, 3.0% for retail units, 1.4% for warehouses, and 1.6% for offices. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, rents dropped by 13.3% for flats, 12.3% for houses, 29.4% for retail, 18.0% for warehouses, and 18.8% for offices. ‘The majority of asset classes and geographies continue to be affected, with areas that had dropped the most early on in the property cycle now nearing the trough. Only properties in Famagusta district showed a marginal increase in both capital values and rents, as the market there appears to be stabilising,’ the report says. At the end of 2013 average gross yields stood at 3.8% for apartments, 1.9% for houses, 5.3% for retail, 4.5% for warehouses, and 4.3% for offices. The report points out that the parallel reduction in capital values and rents is keeping investment yields relatively stable and at very low levels compared to yields overseas. ‘This suggests that there is still room for re-pricing of capital values to take place,’ it adds. The report also points out that during the fourth quarter of 2013 the Cyprus economy began stabilising from the impact of the decisions of the Eurogroup on 15 and 27 March to bail in the depositors of two of Cyprus’ largest banks, to close down Laiki Bank, and to impose capital restrictions. The secondary implications of these decisions, mainly the reduction of bank staff, the increase in unemployment, and further decreases in salaries, were unfolding throughout the quarter. ‘Given prevailing economic conditions and the turbulence in Cyprus’ banking system, there was a lack of transactions during the quarter. Local buyers in particular were the most discerning as the increase in unemployment and the worsening prospects of the local economy led to a sharp reduction in interest. Furthermore, those interested were unable to access bank finance or… Continue reading
