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Average house prices in British seaside towns up over 30% in 10 years
House prices have increased by 32% across British seaside towns over the past decade, amounting to £440 per month, according to the latest research. The annual Halifax Seaside Town Review revealed average house prices have grown from £166,565 in 2006 to £219,386 in 2016, equivalent to an average increase of £440 per month. Scottish seaside towns dominate the list of areas with the greatest price growth, with seven of the top 10 located in Aberdeenshire, which for much of the period has been well served by growth in the oil and gas sector. Fraserburgh has seen the greatest house price growth with a rise of 139%, from £63,540 in 2006 to £151,719 in 2016, equivalent to a monthly increase of £735. In Macduff, average property value doubled from £66,226 to £133,567 or 102%, followed by Peterhead up 95%, Cove Bay up 94% and Newtonhill up 91%. Brighton recorded the greatest increase in value outside of Scotland with prices up 59% from £214,863 to £341,235 over the decade. Other seaside towns in England with the best price performance include Whitstable in Kent up 53%, Shoreham on Sea in West Sussex also up 53%, Leigh on Sea in Essex up 52% and Truro in Cornwall up 50%. Despite the growth of property values in Scottish seaside towns over the past 10 years, nine of the 10 most expensive seaside towns in Britain are on the South coast with eight in the South West. The most expensive seaside town is Sandbanks in Poole, where the average house price is £664,655. Sandbanks knocked Salcombe off the top spot, a position which Salcombe, in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has had since 2010. Other most expensive seaside towns located in the South West include Padstow with an average price of £443,396, Dartmouth at £401,361 and Fowey at £379,003. Aldeburgh in Suffolk at £439,379 and Lymington in Hampshire at £426,112 are the most expensive seaside towns outside the South West. ‘Seaside towns are highly popular places to live, offering sought after scenery, weather and lifestyle which no doubt come at a price. They also attract those looking for holiday properties, which add upward pressure on house prices, which our research shows have increased by an average of £440 per month since 2006,’ said Martin Ellis, housing economist at the Halifax. Despite the price performance nine of the least expensive seaside towns are in Scotland. There is a marked difference in price at top and bottom end of the scale, with the least expensive town Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute at £77,132. Seven of the least expensive are in western Scotland, including Girvan at £91,912, Campbeltown at £91,938 and Saltcoats at £93,479. Newbiggin by the Sea in Northumberland at £81,259 is the least expensive seaside town in England. The research found 11 seaside towns in total with an average price below £100,000. ‘Over the 10 year period, coastal towns north of the border… Continue reading
UK property sales fell considerably in April, latest data shows
Residential property sales in the UK fell by 45.2% between March and April and was probably due to a boost in the previous weeks to beat the stamp duty surcharge for additional homes. The provisional seasonally adjusted UK property transaction figures from HMRC for April 2016 was 84,280 residential and 10,090 non-residential sales. April’s seasonally adjusted figure is 14.5% lower compared with the same month last year and the report says that the large increase in sales for March 2016 followed by the substantial reduction in April is likely to be associated with the stamp duty surcharge of 3% for buy to let properties and second homes. However, the report points out that whilst April 2016 is lower than April 2015, it should be noted that the total for March and April 2016 is still substantially higher than the corresponding period last year. The additional property rates were announced in the Autumn Statement 2015 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in the Scottish Government's draft 2016/2017 budget for Scotland. The HMRC report also says that additional non-tax factors may have played a role as well, for example the Bank of England's plans to curb buy to let mortgages resulting in a rush to purchase. For April 2016 the number of non-adjusted residential sales was about 59.2% lower compared with March 2016. The number of non-adjusted residential transactions was 18.7% lower than in April 2015. Greg Bryce, managing director at SearchFlow, said it was inevitable that there would be a significant fall in April and he pointed out that if you take into account the total for March and April, activity levels are still substantially higher than the corresponding period last year. ‘The activity levels are widely recognised to be attributed to the additional surcharge and unreflective of any market malaise. Our latest conveyancing sentiment survey reveals that a third of conveyancers are expecting activity levels to increase by 1% to 10% over the next three months,’ said Bryce. ‘However, as expected, uncertainty surrounding the referendum is setting in, with 40% unsure how the market will perform over the next three months. But with the economy strong, employment level high, interest rates low and the economic and housing policies unlikely to change very much, the clear majority believe that regardless of the referendum result, activity levels will remain buoyant for the second half of the year,’ he added. The fall in sales was in line with industry expectations, according to Doug Crawford, chief executive officer of My Home Move. ‘With thousands of pounds potentially at stake there was a clear incentive for landlords to complete ahead of the 01 April deadline, and the falling off of transaction volumes confirms the vast majority did so,’ he said. He pointed out that the drop follows data published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) last week, which highlighted that mortgage lending fell 29% between March and April and he… Continue reading
New homes sales in Australia bounced back in March after a decline the previous month
Total new home sales in Australia bounced back in March with growth of 8.9% following February’s sharp decline of 5.3%, the latest housing data shows. Sales of detached houses increased by 7% and sales of multi-units were up 16.3%, according to the new home sales report from the Housing Industry Association which covers the country’s largest volume builders. The data also shows that new home sales increased by 2.8% in the first quarter of the year but were 1.7% lower than the same quarter in 2015. It is another positive update for the residential construction sector, according to HIA economist Diwa Hopkins and she pointed out that the bounce in March has moderated the downward trend that emerged in the second half of 2015. ‘The current level and trajectory of new home sales and approvals provides a strong signal that new home building activity in 2016 will remain strong,’ she added. She also pointed out that a cut to the official cash rate will also provide additional support to the residential construction sector. A breakdown of the figures show that detached house sales increased in four of the five mainland states, up 13.2% in Queensland, up 9.8% in Western Australia, up 8.3% in New South Wales , up 2.8% in Victoria but down 6.9% in South Australia . Quarter on quarter detached house sales were up 11.2% in Victoria, up 5.8% in Western Australia and up 4.3% in Queensland. Sales declined over this period by 4% in New South Wales and down 5.7% in South Australia. Meanwhile, in an encouraging update for the new home building industry, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that a total of 19,371 homes were approved for construction in March this year, some 3.7% more than in February. Approvals rose for both multi-unit and detached homes, increasing by 2.4% and 5.1% respectively. Hopkins pointed out that despite the increase during March, the broader trend in approvals is that of decline from the record levels during the middle of last year. During the March 2016 quarter, the number of approvals was lower than in the previous quarter, by 1.6% and also 8.8% lower than 12 months previously. The HIA expects that the number of new homes commencing construction during 2016 to remain very strong at around 200,000, albeit less than 2015’s record of 220,000. A breakdown of the figures shows that during March total seasonally adjusted new home building approvals saw the largest increase in South Australia with a rise of 8.7%, were up 7.3% in Western Australia, up 6.9% in New South Wales, up 5.7% in Queensland and up 3.7% in Victoria but fell by 18.7% in Tasmania. In trend terms, approvals saw a 19% increase in the Australian Capital Territory and an 18.4% fall in the Northern Territory. Continue reading
