Tag Archives: house
Empty home scheme in Scotland has funding doubled
A scheme to tackle Scotland’s empty homes has had its funding doubled, the nation’s Housing Minister Margaret Burgess has announced. The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) will receive a three year extension backed by an additional £616,500 from the Scottish Government. SEHP, which is run by the housing charity, Shelter Scotland helps councils and their partners pursue work to bring private sector empty homes back into use. Overall, the number of unoccupied properties is falling. Currently, 31,457 homes are recorded as being empty for six months or more. Shelter Scotland will use the extra funding to recruit additional staff to support the Partnership and allow up to an additional 12 councils to participate in the Shared Empty Homes Officer programme. By the end of year three, up to 28 councils in Scotland could have had access to an empty homes officer and approximately 1,200 empty homes per year could be returned to use. ‘Empty homes are a blight on both urban and rural communities across Scotland. Bringing empty homes back into use is a cost effective way of increasing the supply of housing available to families across Scotland and it also aids community regeneration,’ said Burgess. ‘That is why the Scottish Government is not only providing a three year extension to the Empty Homes Partnership, but is also doubling its funding. Empty Homes Officers will report over 500 homes being brought back into use in 2014/2015, this compares with the 278 being brought back into use in 2013/2014,’ she explained. ‘There is still a long way to go but increasingly, local authorities across the country are embracing the work of the partnership. Clearly, the network of Empty Homes Officers is having a positive effect,’ she added. Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, described the move as great news. ‘The progress we have made supporting councils and their partners over the last four years to bring hundreds of empty homes back into use is testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone involved,’ he said. ‘Expanding the partnership and putting it on a longer term footing will allow us to do even more to bring private empty homes back into use. Our goal is to see a fully effective empty homes service in each local authority and to bring back as many of Scotland’s long-term empty homes as we can,’ he added. Continue reading
London commercial property market expected to see strongest rental growth in 2015
London’s commercial property market experienced the strongest rental growth in 2014 and is expected it to stay in the lead over the next 12 months, according to a new outlook report. The recovery in the UK economy combined with low levels of development means that the balance between demand and supply is now swinging in favour of landlords, the report from Schroders also says. Risks to the positive outlook include the possibility that UK economic growth is much weaker than forecast, so that the upswing in rents stalls rather than accelerates. ‘While rental growth outside London is patchier, some regional markets are definitely coming out of hibernation. Given a reasonably high yield and a further rental growth as the economy improves, we expect that next year will see another solid performance from UK commercial real estate,’ said the firm’s head of real estate Duncan Owen. The report says that 2014 has been a good year for UK commercial real estate and unleveraged total returns are likely to be close to 20%. Most of this year’s performance has been driven by a favourable fall in property yields, as investors seek income. ‘Looking ahead to 2015 we expect that total returns will remain in double figures, but that rental growth will make a larger contribution. The recovery in the economy combined with low levels of development means that the balance between demand and supply is now swinging in favour of landlords and we anticipate that rental growth will accelerate,’ explained Owen. In the office sector, the emergence of central London as a powerhouse for international accountancy, law, media and technology companies has pushed vacancy rates back down to pre-crisis levels, not just in the prime locations of the City and West End, but also in less established areas such as Farringdon, Kings Cross and the South Bank, the outlook explains. ‘In previous cycles this squeeze on space and upswing in rents would have triggered a big increase in development and encouraged companies to move to cheaper offices in outer London, or other cities. However, so far we have seen relatively little new office building in central London, partly because stricter capital adequacy rules mean that banks are now less willing to fund projects and partly because competing residential schemes are often more profitable,’ Owen pointed out. ‘Moreover, central London now has such a deep pool of highly qualified labour that some companies are even re-locating to the centre from outer London or the wider South East, even though rents and business rates are more expensive,’ he added. Similarly, the report says that retail rents in many parts of London are rising on the back of strong population growth. There are also an increasing numbers of young professionals who choose to live in inner London rather than copy their parents and move to the suburbs. This is leading to the rapid gentrification of areas such as Brixton, Hackney and New Cross which were previously relatively poor. While rental… Continue reading
Prime property buyers in London down by 30%, new data suggests
London’s residential prime property market is seeing fewer buyers than a year ago and stock levels are up by 60%, according to new data. The December market barometer from Douglas & Gordon shows that buyers are down by 30% but prices are holding up with values down only 15% year on year. The firm says that this is an indication that the appetite to move amongst prospective vendors is still there but there is clear evidence to suggest that political uncertainty ahead of next May’s general election is playing on buyers’ minds. It also says that vendors are waiting until after the election to put their house on the market in the hope of greater stability and records a resurgence of gazundering for the first time since 2009. ‘Significantly, the fall through rate is down, so buyers are showing tenacity in securing their property. It’s unlikely to become a common trend however, as most sellers are happy to wait for the return of market stability post-election, although the broadly beneficial Stamp Duty reforms could signal a return of confidence even earlier, said George Franks, sales director. ‘In this new paradigm, when the world economy wobbles, London smiles and, given international deflationary pressures and interest rates remaining low long term, we anticipate next year as being very good for both the prime and emerging prime markets,’ he added. The lettings market is proving to be the polar opposite of sales with applicants up 33% and stock down 30%, indicating that 2015 will sustain the recovery of rental values that has been so eroded in recent years. An uncertain sales market has helped to bolster activity with 26% fewer tenancies ending compared to this time last year, signalling that tenant are staying put, according to lettings director Virginia Skilbeck. She pointed out that at the beginning of December the first phase of the ‘right to rent’ scheme came into force in the West Midlands, whereby landlords will face fines of up to £3,000 if they fail to check on the immigration status of their new tenants. The Home Office says it expects to continue with the phased introduction of the scheme across the UK next year, but she does not expect a decision on whether it will be extended throughout Britain until after the general election in May. ‘Seasonally, the beginning of January is a very busy time in the lettings calendar and with some of our offices having half as many properties available to let compared to this time last year, combined with a surge of applicants registering in the New Year, we can expect to see increased competition for fewer available properties,’ she said. Continue reading
