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Property sales and prices up in Spain in first half of 2016
Residential property sales in Spain increased by almost 20% in the first half of this year suggesting that the real estate market recovery is well underway. The latest figures from the General Council of Notaires shows that transactions were up by 19.6% in the first six months of 2016 to a total of 225,551 sales, and prices increased by 6.1% year on year. The data reveals that new home sales are not boosting the recovery and indeed falling. Sales of non-new homes increased by 19.29% year on year, accounting for 68.1% of all the homes sold but new homes sales fell 13.6%. This upward trend continued in June, when home sales grew by 7.1%, year on year, again driven by the transactions on second hand homes, which increased by 11.5% reaching a total of 29,052 units, while transactions on new housing registered a decline of 33.4%, with a total of just 2,751 sales. The price of an average home increased by 6.1% to €1,418 per square metre. But new homes cost more and this could explain why sales are falling. The average price of a new build was €1,886, some 12.7% more than second hand homes. The data also shows that in June some 44.7% of home sales were financed through a mortgage with the average capital loaned €128,480, a slight increase, of 0.4%, over last year. The cost of renting a home in Spain is also increasing, up by 2.4% in the second quarter of 2016 taking the average to €7.41 per square meter per month, according to figures from property portal Fotocasa. It means that after eight years of falling, residential rents have now been increasing since 2015. Beatriz Toribo, Fotocasa head of research, a growth in demand is boosting rental values which are now up by 4.8% year on year. A breakdown of the figures show that rents increased in 15 regions in the second quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter and in 16 regions year on year. The highest annual increase to data was recorded in May this year when rental prices increased by 5%. But the recovery still has some way to go as average rents are now 26.8% lower than they were at the peak of the market in May 2007 when they were €10.12 per square meter per month on average. But in three regions prices are down even more. Monthly rents are some 39.6% lower than peak in Aragon, 35.2% lower in Castilla La man cha and 33.7% down in Cantabria. The most expensive rents are in Madrid at €10.36 per square meter per month, followed by Catalonia at €10.24 and then the Basque Country at €10.16. The most affordable rental prices are in Extremadura at €4.56 and Castilla La Mancha at €4.69. Continue reading
Survey reveals over a quarter of UK tenants felt rushed into an agreement
Over a quarter of tenants in the UK feel that they were rushed into entering their tenancy agreement, particularly in London, a new survey has found. Overall 27% felt rushed and more than half regretted renting their current property, according to the research commissioned by Ocean Finance. Such is the competition in the rentals market that 1.5 million tenants, some 8% of renters, signed their tenancy agreement on the day they viewed the property. One in 10 said the turnaround between viewing and entering the tenancy was two to three days, and a similar number said they signed the agreement between four and seven days after the viewing. The survey found that 18 to 24 year olds are the most likely to act hastily when renting with 46% saying that they felt rushed into signing. By contrast, just 17% of those aged over 55 felt pressured to sign quickly to secure the property. Tenants in London felt under the most pressure to sign quickly to secure a house or flat with 40% rushing into it but renters in Northern Ireland also felt under the same amount of pressure. By contrast, just 12% of tenants in Wales felt the pressure to sign. Riddled with regret Of those tenants that say they felt under pressure to sign their agreement, half say that they wish they hadn’t done so with 10% saying the property is too cold, 9% that it was too small and 9% also saying it needed work done on it. Some 8% regretted their decision because they did not like the area, 6% said there was not enough garden, 4% felt it lacked character and 4% thought it was too old fashioned while 2% found it was too far away from amenities. ‘Our figures demonstrate just how hard it is to rent a property across much of the UK. The best properties are often snapped up within hours or even minutes. As a result, would be tenants feel under pressure to sign quickly to secure the property,’ said Ian Williams, Ocean’s spokesperson. ‘Sadly, half of those go on to regret their haste, finding themselves in a home that they don’t like or which doesn’t suit them,’ he added. Continue reading
UK property prices up 0.2% month on month in July and annual growth slowed
Residential property prices in the UK increased by just 0.2% month on month in July and by 5.5% year on year to £293,318, according to the latest index data to be published. But there has been a gradual decline in annual growth since February when it was running at 8.9%, and excluding London and the South East year on year growth was 4.8%, the figures from the LSL Property Services/Acadata index shows. The index also shows that quarter on quarter sales were down 20% year on year compared with the second quarter of 2015 but the index report says it is too early to say if Brexit is impacting the market. The East of England was the top performing region with annual growth of 9.3%, up from 9.1% the previous month. This was followed by annual price growth of 7.2% in the South East and 6% in Greater London. According to Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, while the vote to leave has definitely resulted in uncertainty, there’s near unanimity among commentators that the impact is yet to show in the figures and for now, we’re left with mixed signals. He explained that on the one hand, house price inflation on an annual basis continues to slow year on year but last month saw the market continue its fight back following price falls in March to May with July recording a modest gain after June’s 0.5% rise, with average prices up 0.2% or £700. However, overall this means prices remain £3,386 below their February peak, but £15,422 above their July 2015 levels. The index report suggests that the fall in sales is less to do with the referendum vote than the surge in activity to beat the 3% stamp duty surcharge introduced in April on second homes and buy to let properties. It points out that the spike in sales in March was followed by a massive decline the following month, from which the market has since been recovering. It also points out that transaction volumes have grown every month since April and are now well above February levels. Moreover, the exceptional sales level in March 2016 more than compensates for the decline since. ‘Overall, for the first six months of each year, we estimate transactions in 2016 at some 4% higher than in 2015. Sales volumes continued to increase in July, but again this still tells us little about the referendum vote, since transactions recorded at the Land Registry for the month mostly relate to offers made by purchasers in June, or even earlier,’ Gill explained. He added that the April stamp duty change may also account for much of the apparent slowdown in prices as prices increased above trend from January to March after the announcement of the change in the Autumn Statement last year. Meanwhile, from April 2016, with the new tax in place, a reduction in the number of higher-valued properties… Continue reading
