Tag Archives: finance
Petition launched to scrap EPCs in UK which were imposed by EU directive
A Parliamentary petition has been launched in the UK to scrap energy performance certificates for residential properties now that the country has decided to leave the European Union. The certificates, known as EPCs, were introduced in 2007 after the Housing Act 2004 made it a mandatory requirement that an energy assessment is made on all properties listed for sale in Britain and later this applied to rental properties too. This was done to comply with a European Directive and EPCs were seen as bureaucratic consequence of being a member of the European Union which means all countries had to introduce the certificates. This means that every home that is put on sale or for let needs to be inspected and a certificate issued before it can be advertised. It is estimated this amounts to an annual cost of £100 million to sellers and landlords. It is widely regarded that the resulting energy rating that the certificate assesses is of little help to either buyer or seller and has not proven to reduce energy consumption in any attempt to assist in mitigating the effects on the environment, as was the intention when first conceived by the European Commission. Now, Russell Quirk, chief executive officer of hybrid estate agent eMoov, has launched a Parliamentary petition to bring about the scrapping of EPCs which he believes will streamline the home moving process and save the country millions of pounds. ‘This petition will be the first shot to be fired by the property industry in achieving swift benefit from the EU exit,’ he said, pointing out that if 100,000 signatures are achieved this would mean that Parliament has to debate the issue. Quirk has also contacted the Housing Minister Brandon Lewis MP to ask for his support. Since inception, it is estimated that over 16 million EPCs have been produced and at a consumer cost of over £800 million. ‘I have launched this national petition in order to get rid of EPCs and the unnecessary cost to the consumer of paying for them. When introduced as part of the failed Home Information Pack in 2007 they were widely criticised as pointless and wasteful by the property industry,’ said Quirk. ‘Thousands of inspectors have had to be trained and then re-trained under adapted legislation, forced upon us by an EU directive that, now that we have voted for Brexit, can be unwound. EPCs are of no benefit to anyone and have created a bureaucratic burden on home sellers, landlords and estate agents,’ he added. Continue reading
Home lending in the UK increased in May, latest CML data shows
Home owners in the UK borrowed £9.4 billion for house purchase, up 15% month on month and 8% year on year in May, according to the latest data. They took out 53,800 loans, up 13% on April and 5% on May 2015, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders which said that some equilibrium is coming back into the home lending market. A breakdown of the figures show that first time buyers borrowed £4.3 billion, up 10% on April and 23% on May last year. This equated to 27,500 loans, up 9% month on month and 16% year on year. Home movers borrowed £5.1 billion, up 19% on April but down 2% compared to a year ago. This represented 26,300 loans, up 18% month on month but down 5% on May 2015. The data also shows that remortgage activity totalled £5.2 billion, down 15% on April but up 30% compared to a year ago. This came to 30,900 loans, down 12% month on month but up 25% compared to a year ago. Landlords borrowed £2.6 billion, up 4% month on month but down 4% year on year. This came to 16,600 loans in total, up 3% compared to April but down 8% compared to May 2015. ‘There was a sense of the market regaining some equilibrium in May, following the stamp duty driven spike in March and the subsequent dip in April,’ said Paul Smee, director general of the CML. ‘For the second month running, first time buyers borrowed more than home movers, the first time in 20 years that this has been the case. Buy to let continues at lower levels as expected, after the change to stamp duty,’ he pointed out. However, he also pointed out that Brexit, and its likely effect on the market, is a question to which the answer will not immediately be forthcoming. ‘Lenders will continue to be open for business as usual, but lending volumes may be affected by uncertain consumer sentiment,’ he added. The CML report also shows that affordability metrics for first time buyers have remained relatively stable. The typical loan size increased to £131,000 from £130,000 in April, while the household income of borrowers also increasing slightly from £39,700 in April to £40,000 in May, which meant the income multiple went up from 3.46 to 3.51. Home movers showed a similar trend with the average amount borrowed increasing to £166,000 from £163,000 in April, and the average household income of a home mover also increasing to £53,300 from £52,500. This meant the income multiple went down from 3.26 to 3.25 month on month. Remortgage lending saw a month on month decrease in May but a year on year increase by both volume and value, reaching levels similar to those in the first three months of the year. Gross buy to let lending continues to be lower than usual as expected after the surge in activity to beat the stamp duty changes on second properties ahead… Continue reading
Brexit hits asking prices in the UK, latest index shows
Asking prices have fallen in four English regions, London and Scotland with the UK’s decision to leave the European Union being blamed for the change to a 19 month long rise in values. Overall mix-adjusted average asking price dropped 0.2% since June as confidence among sellers was dampened by the outcome of the referendum vote, according to the latest asking price index from Home.co.uk. London prices, which were already looking the most overvalued, have been hit the hardest, falling 1.1% in just one month which equates to around £6,000 less for the average home in the city. The index also shows that the average asking price in the South East has slipped 0.2% during the last month, but the biggest drop outside London was in the North East with a fall of 0.7%. The index report suggests that this fall comes as a serious blow to a region that was just showing the first signs of genuine recovery since the financial crisis of 2007. However, several English regions and Wales are still seeing asking prices rise. The East Midlands rose the most with growth of 0.7% over the last month, followed by the North West and ales both up 0.4%, Yorkshire up 0.3%, the West Midlands up 0.2% and the East of England up 0.1%. ‘As the Brexit vote is only about two weeks old, we may well see these figures turn negative next month. Whilst the key drivers of lack of supply and cheap credit remain, uncertainty brought about by the Brexit vote is undermining the property market,’ said Doug Shephard director of Home.co.uk. ‘Overall, the current mix-adjusted average asking price for England and Wales is now 6.1% higher than it was in July 2015, and we predict this figure will tend towards 0% over the coming months,’ he added. He expects that both consumer and investment decisions are set to be delayed until there is somewhat less uncertainty about future prospects for the UK economy but uncertainty looks set to remain for some time and when it comes to house prices the fallout from Brexit looks set to cut short the price rallies of several regions including preventing a recovery in the North and making the inevitable correction for London and the South East deeper and more painful. The index report also shows that the supply of property has increased in London by 6%, the East of England by 7% and the South East by 4% while the typical time on the market has increased by two days to 82 days over the last month across England and Wales but is still six days less than in July 2015. The total stock of property on the market is also up again but is still 5.2% less than in July last year. ‘In the light of the referendum result, we revise our prediction of 10% growth per annum for these regions down to 2%. The South West also looked set to become… Continue reading
