Tag Archives: finance
Annual price growth slowing in key cities in UK, index data shows
The annual rate of house growth in key cities in the UK has started to slow after 12 successive months of rising prices, according to the latest index figures to be published. But there is some regional variation and house prices in large regional cities outside southern England continue to grow while those in London have seen a market slowdown, the Hometrack cities index shows. Outside the south house price growth continues to hold steady at 7% to 8% per annum with no sign of an imminent slowdown. Aberdeen is also registering a slower rate of price falls compared to recent months with a decline of 8% compared to 10% the previous month. Overall city house prices increased by 9.5% year on year in July, down from 9.9% in June with Bristol in the south west seeing the strongest growth at 14% followed by London at 11.7%. While quarter on quarter the highest growth was in lower value, higher yielding cities where prices are rising off a lower base such as Glasgow, up 5.2%, Liverpool up 4.4% and Manchester and Nottingham both up 3.4%. Even although it has the second largest annual price growth, London has registered a marked slowdown in house price growth over the last three months. Average growth in the last quarter was 2.1%, the lowest rate for 17 months. The index report suggests this is due to weaker investor demand, affordability pressures and Brexit uncertainty impact demand at the same time as supply has risen. It points out that prices are still well up year on year but the signs are growth will slow further over the coming months. Cambridge saw prices fall by 1% over the last quarter and the report says that prices in the city are more sensitive to weaker demand although the annual rate of growth is still running at 7.1%. The report says that in the absence of adverse economic trends impacting employment and mortgage rates, the near term outlook is for a continued slowdown in London and stable growth rates in regional cities as households’ price record low mortgage rates into city house price where affordability remains attractive. ‘We continue to believe that turnover will register the brunt of the slowdown in London. In the face of lower sales volumes agents will look to re-price stock in line with what buyers are prepared, and can afford, to pay,’ the report explains. ‘Past experience shows that this process can run for as long as six months and relies, in part, in how quickly sellers are willing to adjust to what buyers are prepared to pay,’ it concludes. Continue reading
Research reveals extent of incorrect property listings in UK
When buying a home prospective sellers expect the details to be listed correctly but new research has found that 48% of houses in sale across the UK contain rooms that are listed incorrectly. The analysis of estate agent data also found that 36% of single bedrooms rooms are technically too small to be classed as such for anyone aged over 10 and 17% of double rooms are not big enough to be inhabited by two people. Liverpool has the most errors for single rooms with 69% listed not meeting size requirements as set out by the Housing Act 1985 which says that a child under the age of 10 can occupy a room which is less than 50 square feet because they are classed as ‘half a person’, however a single bedroom should have a floor space of between 50 and 70 square feet. Leeds has the most errors for double bedrooms with 14% listed as such not meeting the requirements that double bedrooms for two people should be at least 110 square feet. One property in the city even listed a 69 square foot room as a double bedroom. The city with the least errors is Edinburgh where just 3% if single rooms did not meet the requirement and 4% of double rooms. Estate agents in Manchester and Glasgow were also pretty accurate. The research also found that a further 6% of rooms across the UK are technically uninhabitable, containing rooms smaller than the 50 square feet legally required to be classified as a single bedroom. Estate agents in Sheffield are guiltiest of this, with 15% of single bedrooms rooms advertised being too small to be habitable. When looking at properties overall, estate agents in Bristol are the most inaccurate, as 66% of properties for sale in the city had at least one incorrectly listed bedroom. This is followed by Sheffield at 60%, Liverpool at 57% and Birmingham also at 57%. Estate agents in Edinburgh are by far the most honest overall with only 17% of properties in the Scottish capital containing incorrect room listings. ‘Anyone who has purchased a property knows the marketing literature can often be misleading, but it is concerning to see so many properties across the UK being marketed by estate agents as having single and double bedrooms which technically aren’t fit for purpose,’ said Nick Brabham, head of SELECT Premier Insurance which carried out the research. ‘We urge buyers to check the measurements of bedrooms before putting in an offer on a house; otherwise they may find their double bedroom barely has enough space for a bed. It’s easy to think a room looks big enough when there is no furniture in it so if in doubt, check against the official standards and let estate agents know that they are marketing it incorrectly,’ he added. Continue reading
Manchester becomes key focus for commercial property investment
Office transactions in the UK’s third largest city increased by 8% in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period last year with Manchester becoming a key focus for commercial property investors. Transaction volumes in Manchester’s office investment market totalled £304 million in the first six months of the year, some 3% higher than the five year first half average of £295 million, according to international real estate advisor Savills. The firm’s latest Manchester Office Market Report says that overseas investors showed particularly strong demand for the city’s office assets, accounting for 70% of all transactions with deals worth £212 million. This is well above the long term first half average of 37%, according to Savills. Examples include the £115 million acquisition of 3 and 4 Piccadilly Place by US based Ares Management and the £85 million purchase of XYZ in Spinningfields by Germany’s Union Investment Real Estate. ‘The outcome of the European Union referendum is now sinking in and some office transactions will be inevitably be delayed or renegotiated as investors take stock. However, we expect the increased depth of overseas interest in Manchester to help stabilise the market as foreign buyers take advantage of the weaker sterling and reduced competition,’ said Peter Mallinder, investment director at Savills. Despite the lack of trophy letting deals recorded in the first half of 2016, Savills reports that office take up reached 415,257 square feet, in line with Manchester’s long term average and the third quarter started positively with law firm Freshfields committing to around 80,000 square feet at One New Bailey. A number of other key leasing deals including to Swinton Insurance at 101 Embankment are expected to complete in the third quarter, with take up for the full year reaching one million square feet. This follows a total of 1.3 million square feet in 2015. Savills highlights the diverse nature of Manchester’s office occupier base, which does not overly rely on the public sector or banking and finance, as one its key strengths. The TMT sector has shown particular growth in Manchester and accounted for 21% of all take up in the first half of 2016 with deals totalling 85,307 square feet compared to 17% of deals in the full year of 2015. In terms of size, more than 51% of office space let in the first half of the year was through deals below 5,000 square feet compared to a long term average of 32%, driven in part by the abundance of TMT firms and start-ups moving to the city. ‘Office take up in Manchester has been significantly in excess of the long term average in recent years, which puts the city in a good position going forward and activity levels since the referendum result are encouraging,’ said Richard Lowe, office agency director at Savills. He added that headline Grade A rents have risen from £28.50 per square foot in… Continue reading
