Tag Archives: city
Spanish property markets such as Marbella see recovery, new analysis shows
After seven years of stagnation the property market in Spain is experiencing an uptick in sales and prices have reached bottom, according to a new analysis report. With the Spanish economy improving, unemployment falling, tax revenue growing and a more stable banking system, lending figures are on the rise, says the analysis from Diana Morales Properties, an associate of international real estate firm Knight Frank. It points out that the typical mortgage lending rate dropped from 4.21% to 3.29% over the course of 2014 and this has fed through to buyer confidence. Andalucía and the Canary Islands have seen some of the strongest surges in mortgage lending, up 25% and 26% respectively month on month, compared to the national average of 14.2%. This renewed confidence and interest in Spanish real estate is most evident in Madrid and Barcelona where capital flows into both cities’ commercial markets topped €2.7 billion in 2014, the analysis says. It also points out that the return of large US investment funds has been notable but not just in Spain’s main cities. ‘The acquisition of Sotogrande by US based Cerberus and developments to the east and west of Marbella by other US funds, as well as the purchase of Monte Mayor golf club by Russian investors hint at the extent to which the recovery is gaining traction,’ it says. Marbella, a popular area with overseas buyers is building on a property market recovery that began in 2013 despite Spanish buyers failing to return in any significant number in 2014 and the Ukraine crisis impacting on the number of Russian buyers. There was strong demand from an increasingly diversified client base of Scandinavian, Benelux, French, Arabian and Moroccan buyers which added to the record tourist numbers lending a certain buoyancy to the local economy. Marbella and its surrounding municipalities of Estepona and Benahavis together recorded a 27.7% increase in property sales in 2014 compared with a year earlier. Marbella, however, outperformed its neighbours, by experiencing an 89% jump in property sales between 2008 and 2014 according to Spain’s Ministry of Public Works. Benahavis and Estepona, by comparison, recorded rises of 62.3% and 22.8% respectively over the same period. It also reveals that the amount of time properties spend on the market is dropping if realistically priced, while in some prime beachfront locations there is even a shortage of available homes, complete with waiting lists for specific property types. The analysis says that new bank repossessions remain and this has prompted the return of new construction that remains for the moment primarily focused on individual villas and small to medium sized developments of apartments and villa communities. Continue reading
Prime central London property starting to outperform other areas of the city
Homes in prime central London saw the biggest rise in value during the first quarter of 2015, as the centre starts to outperform outer prime parts of the capital for first time since June 2013. Buyers now pay a 34% price premium to live in prime central areas like Kensington and Chelsea, according to estate agent Marsh & Parsons’ latest London Property Monitor. Historically, property prices in the most affluent prime central areas of London had been accelerating away from values in the rest of the capital, due to consistently higher demand from overseas and domestic buyers keen to live in the most famous London locations. However, over the past two years, areas such as Brook Green and Balham have experienced some of the steepest price rises across the capital, according to the firm, but this looks to have been a short term phenomenon. While outer prime house prices have fallen 1.8% in the past three months, there has been a resurgence in price growth in prestigious prime central London with values up 0.3% throughout the last quarter. This is the first time in over a year that price rises in exclusive central areas like Pimlico and Kensington have overtaken the growth in more affordable areas like Balham, and this is a trend that Marsh & Parsons expect to continue throughout this year. As a result of this turnaround, the price premium paid for Prime London property has risen for the first time in 15 months, and is now back in line with last year. Buyers can currently expect to pay a 34% premium to live in central locations. ‘Balham and Brook Green have been putting on the most astonishing performance recently, with an eye catching spurt of growth in 2014. In the long run, the traditional property stalwarts of Kensington, Chelsea and Holland Park are proving they have the stamina to withstand a wider market slowdown,’ said Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons. ‘While the market slows in other parts of the London housing market, the enduring appeal of the most desirable prime central postcodes has ensured growth ticks on. We believe this trend is set to continue in the next 12 months, with prime central areas outperforming outer prime areas for the first time in more than two years,’ he explained. As growth at the higher end of the market continues momentum, the proportion of million-pound properties in prime central London has risen 3% in the past quarter, to stand at 67% of all homes. With the average house price currently standing at £2,080,742 in these areas, 38% of properties in prime central London are now worth £2 million or more, highlighting the implications of any mansion tax on the housing market in these parts of capital. In addition, some 22% of prime central London properties surpass the £3 million threshold. The report also… Continue reading
Legal experts says major changes are needed to meet UK’s chronic housing shortage
Seismic changes are needed if any of the top political parties' housing targets in the UK are to be met in the short or long term, it is claimed. Planning permissions, regulatory requirements, funding, the economy and lack of skills have all added to the current housing shortage, according to Rosemary Edwards, partner and head of residential development with corporate solicitors Shulmans LLP, who has acted for many of the UK's top house builders for over two decades. ‘I have heard of many major house builders being accused of land banking but this is patently ridiculous. A house builder's business is entirely based on selling homes. If they can build them and sell them, why would they hold back?’ she said. In reality a house builder will struggle to sell more than say 40 houses a year on any one site, so natural market forces mean that a scheme of 200 houses may take five years to build out. Increased planning and regulatory hurdles have added time and cost, such as the new Community Infrastructure Levy, now effective in some districts, including Leeds. Staff shortages in local authority planning departments can also add to delays,’ she explained. She also pointed out that there is also the problem of mortgage finance. ‘We may say that we need 200,000 new houses or more each year, but not everyone who wants a house can afford one and mortgage eligibility criteria have tightened up considerably in recent years,’ added Edwards. According to Tim Halstead, Shulmans' managing partner and a nationally acknowledged authority on house building, while there's a great deal of talk about building on brownfield sites, doing so throws up as many problems as it supposedly solves. ‘Such sites often have several land owners, so you have to bring them all together or persuade the local authority to exercise compulsory purchase powers. That all takes time and of course you have to build houses, where people want to live which may not be on a former industrial site,’ he said. ‘There is often the added complication of expensive clean-up of contamination or increased costs arising say from digging out old foundations. Those costs can make schemes unviable without subsidy. As long ago as the 1980s we worked on a site in Hull that got a central government grant of £20 million but there just isn't that kind of money around right now,’ he added. Halstead also pointed to a chronic UK skills shortage being another factor in the low numbers of new houses being built. ‘Many skilled construction workers left the industry during the recession. You can't just click your fingers and bring in an endless supply of tradesmen to get new houses built,’ he explained. ‘House builders are now competing, more so than ever before, to recruit skilled labour and to maintain relationships with quality contractors and suppliers. That drives up costs and can cause delays,’ he added. Recent proposals include encouraging small and medium… Continue reading
