Tag Archives: dublin
Continued low interest rates boosting UK property sales
Home sales in the UK have exceeded 100,000 per month for a fifth month in a row with buyers attracted by low interest rates and attractive mortgage products. The latest official transaction data from HMRC shows that the provisional seasonally adjusted UK property transaction count for October 2015 was 105,490 residential and 10,160 non-residential transactions. The seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of residential property transactions decreased by 0.2% between September 2015 and October 2015. This month’s seasonally adjusted figure is 6.3% higher compared with the same month last year. The data also shows that the number of non-adjusted residential transactions was 2.6% higher than in October 2014. Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, pointed out that October marks the fifth consecutive month that home sales have cleared 100,000, putting activity in a whole other league to the first half of 2015. ‘There has been a slight correction on a monthly basis, but we’re still head and shoulders above a year ago, as buyers ride high on the wave of low interest rates and attractive mortgage products,’ he said. He also pointed out that in London, supply and demand are moving in different directions. ‘We’ve seen the number of available properties for sale fall 5% during the third quarter of 2015 compared to a 4% boost in buyers over the same period,’ he explained. Continue reading
Average rental prices in London reach over £1,400 a month
Rental values in London have risen by 4.67% since June 2015, with the average rental price for a property in the capital standing at £1,467 compared to £1,402 in the summer, the latest figures show. Greenwich saw the largest increase taking the average rent to £1,397 per month, according to the Rentify Property Index. The firm said that this could be due to the time of year when students are starting back at university. Other areas that experienced considerable rental uplifts include Brent, with average rents in the North West London borough growing by £201 to almost £1,500 per month. Next was Newham with an increase of £197 taking the average rent to £1,378 per calendar month, then Lewisham with an increase of £194 taking the average rent to £1,305 and Lambeth with an increase of £182 to an average rent of £1,617. Areas that saw a fall in rent included Wandsworth where the average rent fell by £33, and Kingston-upon-Thames, with the average rent in the area falling by almost £90 to £1,237. Homes in the City of London have also experienced what the firm described as an unprecedented dip in price, with the average monthly rent dropping £185 to £2,149. Although this can’t be considered a long term decline, the figures do highlight seasonality in the market, according to the report, which adds that the dip in costs could be in part attributed to the school calendar, with families moving to ensure they secure the best postcode possible for their child’s education during the summer months. The data also showed how strong rental demand is across the capital. Bexley proved to be the most popular area for property hunters with an average of 10 people viewing each home in the borough each day, whilst other outer London boroughs such as Enfield and Haringey, both seeing an average of 9.6 viewers per day, also generating huge interest. ‘High cost of rent in central London is continuing to drive people away to outer boroughs in search of affordable housing. This however means that these so called cheaper locations are seeing a remarkable rise in rent due to their popularity. They are hot on the heels with central London due to strong demand,’ said Rentify chief executive officer George Spencer. ‘Furthermore, the recent buy to let tax hike introduced by the Chancellor will further constrain supply as less people invest in property to rent, making life increasingly hard for Londoners,’ he added. Continue reading
Property prices in Ireland now growing faster outside of Dublin, latest data shows
Residential property prices are increasing more than twice as fast outside Dublin than in the capital as people continue to be squeezed out of Ireland’s largest housing market, the latest index suggests. Indeed, prices in Dublin increased by 1% in October and are up 4.5% year on year but this is the lowest annual rate of inflation since the middle of 2013, according to the data from the Central Statistics Office. Outside of Dublin property prices were up 2.1% month on month and 10.7% year on year as the market catches up with that of the main city. It was the highest rise outside of Dublin since October 2014. A breakdown of the figures shows that Dublin house prices rose by 1% in October whilst Dublin apartment prices increased by 0.8%. However, it should be noted that the sub-indices for apartments are based on low volumes of observed transactions and consequently suffer from greater volatility than other series. It means that at a national level residential property prices were 33.5% lower than their peak level in 2007. Dublin house prices were 33% lower than their peak, Dublin apartment prices were 40.2% lower than their peak and Dublin residential property prices overall were 34.9% lower than their highest level. Outside of Dublin residential property prices were 36.3% lower than their highest level in 2007. Property consultants Savills said it is not surprised that house price growth in Dublin has slowed sharply. However John McCartney, director of Research at Savills, believes this is more due to a technical base effect than to any material slowdown in recent months. ‘In the month of October last year, Dublin prices rose by a staggering 3%. This feat would have to be repeated in October 2015 for the annual rate of price growth to hold at its current 6.5%. This is highly unlikely, and as a result, the annual growth rate will be dragged lower,’ he said. He warned against reading too much into the figures. ‘The slowdown will undoubtedly attract headlines. But it will really say more about what was happening in the market last year than what is going on today,’ he explained. ‘The frenzied activity we saw 12 months ago as buyers rushed to avail of tax breaks and more lenient lending practices has gone. But agents are reporting steady transactions and robust prices, particularly in the €400,000 to €650,000 price range where competition is hottest,’ he concluded, adding that Savills expects annual price growth by the end of the year in Dublin to be around 5%. Continue reading
