Tag Archives: deputy
London property market avoids usual seasonal lending dip
The usual seasonal dip in home lending in the first quarter of the year didn’t seem to happen in London as the latest data shows borrowing up quarter on quarter and year on year. The data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows that home buyers in London borrowed £7.1 billion in the first three months of 2016, up 6% quarter on quarter and 41% on a year ago. They took out 21,400 loans, down 2% on the previous quarter but up 20% compared to the first quarter 2015. First time buyers borrowed £2.9 billion, down 7% on the fourth quarter 2015 but up 19% on the first quarter last year. This equated 10,700 loans, down 10% quarter on quarter but up 3% year on year. Home movers borrowed £4.2 billion, up 18% quarter on quarter and 63% compared to a year ago. This equated to 10,600 loans, up 8% quarter on quarter and 43% compared to the first quarter of 2015. Remortgage activity totalled £4 billion, up 4% on the fourth quarter 2015 and 36% compared to a year ago. This came to 13,500 loans, up 2% quarter on quarter and 21% compared to a year ago. ‘The usual seasonal dip in lending in the first quarter of the year didn't seem to impact London as strongly as the UK overall, mainly due to a strong uptick in home mover activity. Remortgage lending also performed well resulting in the highest first quarter remortgage levels in the capital since 2009,’ said Paul Smee, director general of the CML. ‘The housing market in Greater London has some unique characteristics compared to the rest of the UK such as more first time buyers, but lower overall levels of home ownership,’ he pointed out. ‘Affordability and the supply of housing remain critical factors for the London market, and we will be pleased to work with the new mayor and his deputy on how to deliver appropriate strategy over his term of office,’ he added. The data also shows that quarter on quarter affordability metrics for first time buyers show that the amount borrowed increased to £248,047 compared to the UK average of £130,500, from £243,746, but this was offset by a rise in the total household income of borrowers to £62,508 compared to the UK average of £40,000, from £61,155 meaning the median income multiple remained virtually unchanged from 3.94 to 3.93. London home movers saw a similar trend to £338,500 to the UK average of £172,295, from £315,995 the previous quarter, and household income increased to £91,862 on average compared to £56,104 UK-wide, from £84,313 meaning the income multiple decreased slightly from 3.87 to 3.83. The proportion of monthly gross income home buyers are spending on capital and interest repayments was 19.0%, which was the lowest level since the CML began tracking this metric in 2005. The number of remortgage loans was the highest first quarter figure since 2009, and the highest value… Continue reading
London mayor reveals plans for 26,500 new homes along the Thames
A blueprint for creating thousands of new homes along the River Thames has been published by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The draft London Riverside Opportunity Area Planning Framework (OAPF) sets out the planning, regeneration and design guidance that will lead to the creation of 26,500 new homes and up to 16,000 jobs across the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham and Havering, and a small part of Newham. The Mayor has identified 38 Opportunity Areas across the capital. Opportunity Areas are London's major source of brownfield land with significant capacity for new housing, commercial and other development linked to existing or potential improvements to public transport accessibility. By establishing Opportunity Areas, and working closely with London boroughs and partner agencies, the Mayor will be best able to deliver significant social and economic regeneration. The London Riverside Opportunity Area stretches from the Royal Docks to Rainham Marshes, a total distance of 12 kilometres. The document, which is now open for consultation, sets out the Mayor's strategic priorities and long term vision for the area over the next 20 years, how the area should evolve into a sustainable and successful part of the city and how it relates to the wider south east of the UK. In order to transform the London Riverside into a thriving new part of London, the planning framework discusses the importance of improved transport connections. This includes the potential extension of the Gospel Oak London Overground line, a new railway station at Beam Park, improvements to the A13 and new river crossings. ‘The capital is now home to a record number of people and we are working tirelessly to ensure we have the homes, jobs and transport infrastructure to support the city's unprecedented growth. London Riverside can deliver genuinely affordable high quality housing for Londoners in a fantastic Thameside setting,’ said Sir Edward Lister, Deputy Mayor for Planning. Much of the land in the London Riverside is already in the Mayor's ownership and the framework also recommends speeding up the development of publicly owned land assets to deliver the jobs and homes the city needs. Continue reading
New partnership to create 14,000 new homes in London
A new partnership that is expected to create 14,000 new homes across London and the South East has been welcomed by the Mayor of London's Office. National Grid and Berkeley Group have established a joint venture to develop major residential and mixed use development schemes in an initiative known as St William Homes LLP. It brings together access to a significant portfolio of brownfield land owned by National Grid Property in key areas of housing need with Berkeley's ability to design, build and market new developments. ‘London's population is set to rise by 37% to more than 11 million people by 2050 and innovative approaches to house building such as this well help to unlock vast swathes of land and deliver thousands of much needed new homes,’ said Sir Edward Lister, deputy Mayor for Planning. ‘National Grid has numerous sites across the capital that are ripe for regeneration and this partnership will stimulate development and create new jobs. Schemes such as this go hand in hand with the Mayor's work to accelerate the building of thousands more homes for Londoners with a range of pioneering new policies, including the creation of new housing zones and a housing bank,’ he added. In its first phase, St William aims to develop more than 7,000 new homes, including over 2,000 affordable homes. Development at this scale would also deliver 5,500 jobs, 2 new schools and 22 acres of public open space, transforming 84 acres of former industrial land and contributing over £150 million to local infrastructure and amenities. Meanwhile, the Lewisham Gateway development is set to deliver hundreds of new homes, a new riverside park and over 1,000 new jobs on land released by the Mayor of London, the London Borough of Lewisham and Transport for London, as part of a drive to accelerate house building on thousands of sites across the capital. Engineers on the site have rerouted two rivers and begun work on a completely new road layout. Work is also underway on the first two new buildings on the site, which are already beginning to rise from their foundations. When work on the site in Lewisham is complete it will provide up to 800 new homes in a world class development that will include new shops, cafes, park land and hugely improved access to the town centre. It is a plan that was first conceived a decade ago but was only made possible last year when, with strong support from the Mayor of London, the Government approved £20 million of funding to kick start redevelopment of the area. The development is part of a wider drive by the Mayor of London to deliver new homes on surplus land owned by the public sector. Almost 90% of 670 hectares of public land taken on by the Mayor in 2012 is now in the development pipeline, including on the former Catford stadium, and most recently appointing two developers for sites in Newham at Pontoon Dock and Silvertown Way… Continue reading
