Tag Archives: homes
Figures confirm UK landlords rushed to beat April stamp duty surcharge
Some 50% of homes sold in the UK in the last two weeks of March were bought by landlords as they sought to beat the new stamp duty deadline on 01 April, new research shows. There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence that buy to let landlords had been rushing to beat the additional homes surcharge of 3% but the monthly lettings index from Countrywide confirms this. It says that 50% of homes were bought by landlords in the final 15 days of March compared to 18% during the same period in 2015. Countrywide’s whole market estimates also show that £28 billion worth of home sales were completed in March, a 76% increase on the previous year, and overall landlords accounted for 23% homes sold in March compared to 13% in the previous year. This surge in landlord activity means more housing has been made available for tenants to rent and some 22% more homes were brought to the rental market in the first quarter of 2016 than in the same quarter in 2015 and has contributed to lower rental growth rates compared to last year. The percentage increase in the number of homes to rent has not been matched by the increase in the number of prospective tenants looking for a home which has put further downward pressure on rents. The number of tenants registering was up 16% in the first three months of 2016, compared to the same time last year. London experienced the largest increase in new rented homes, up 40% on the first quarter of 2015, but lower growth of tenant numbers, up only 8% over the same period. This has resulted in a rapid deceleration in rental price growth with rents in Greater London growing 2.9% in March, less than half the 7.4% recorded in 2015. The average UK rent rose 3.4% in the year to March 2016, two thirds of the rate in March 2015. Rents grew fastest in the East of England, increasing by 8.5% over the year. Growth in the East of England was driven by increasing numbers of new tenants registering in the first three months of the year, up 34% year on year, the highest increase of any region. ‘Quite at odds with the intentions of the policy, the first measurable effect of the introduction of the new stamp duty rate has been to increase the number of homes owned by landlords, although this will likely be a temporary affect as we see reduced investor activity in future months,’ said Johnny Morris, Research Director at Countrywide. ‘The increase in supply of homes to rent from landlords bringing forward purchases seems to have taken the edge off rental growth. A similar increase in tenants looking for a home to rent though would indicate this may not persist,’ he pointed out. ‘The large number of sharers, and people living with parents means there is a big store of pent up demand in the… Continue reading
Call for next mayor of London to form policy that will meet chronic housing shortage
The organisation that represents house builders in the UK has issued a blueprint for London’s future housing supply which hopes that politicians in the city will take it on board when forming policy. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) says that its 10 point blueprint, Capitalising on Growth, should be taken into account by this year’s candidate in the London mayoral election when declaring their policies for housing in the city which is desperately short of new homes. Current London mayor Boris Johnson is regarded as having done a lot to boost housing supply and put in place a number of measures to continue his vision but he is not standing for mayor this time. The HBF wants the candidates to adopt 'tangible, workable and realistic' policies to deliver the increases in housing supply and build on the significant increases in the number of new homes being built over the last two years. The document includes recommendations that the next mayor of London ensures sites are viable and deliverable by introducing realistic levels of affordable housing and supporting the delivery of specialist private rented housing. It also calls on the next mayor to make better use of and improve London's existing estates while working with authorities in the wider South East to create a strategic approach to delivering homes that can support London's growth. The blueprint says that the mayor neds to act as a hub to coordinate efforts by all the public bodies with land holdings in London so that more land actually comes forward for house building and it calls for more underused commercial spaces to be turned into homes. ‘We welcome the very vocal commitments of candidates to increase housing supply in London. We now need to see realistic, workable policies to be developed that will allow these homes to be built,’ said HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley. ‘If London is to maintain its status as the world's capital city and keep on powering the national economy, it must continue to attract people, businesses and investment. The capital's chronic housing shortage and resultant affordability crisis now threatens London's status as a global powerhouse and can only be solved by a sustained increase in supply,’ he explained. ‘In just two years, housing supply has increased by over 25% but we are still only delivering around half the number of homes needed. We need to maintain a strong investment environment for developers, keep sites deliverable and ensure that planning resources are in place so that builders can obtain planning permission and get on site as quickly as possible,’ he added. Continue reading
UK tenants can now request energy improvements to their rented property
Tenants in the UK now have the right to request energy improvements to the homes that they rents and landlords need a good reason to refuse. From the beginning of April they can request consent from their landlords to make energy saving improvements for the properties they rent and landlords will not be able to refuse their consent without good reason. But tenants will need to ensure that they have a way of funding improvements at no cost to the landlord, unless otherwise agreed. This may prove difficult, as it was originally expected that the Green Deal, which was closed down in July last year, would provide much of the funding for this initiative. Making these improvements can be beneficial to both tenants and landlords, saving on costs and having a positive impact on the environment, according to the National Association of Landlords (NLA). It pointed out that a property that is energy efficient can also be an attractive prospect for potential tenants. Indeed, according to a recent NLA survey some 35% of tenants said they considered the energy efficiency of a property to be an important factor when choosing a place to live. ‘We encourage all landlords to think about how they may benefit from making energy efficiency improvements, as many can be made with little or no upfront cost, and can have a positive impact on the lives of tenants, their lettings businesses, and the environment in general,’ said Richard Lambert, NLA chief executive officer. ‘Lower fuel bills and more comfort mean that tenants may be inclined to stay for longer, thus reducing void periods,’ he added. He also pointed out that the NLA offers various ways for landlords to improve their property and has access to different Government funding incentives to provide financial support. Continue reading
