Tag Archives: investment
Research reveals UK house hunters like a more personal service from estate agents
Some 58% of UK house hunters want life long, personal relationships with estate agents with an accumulative understanding of their property needs, new research suggests. The study from cloud based estate agency software provider Dezrez, looks at the attitudes, perceptions and expectations that UK home buyers have towards estate agents and online tools. It found that the majority of respondents, 93%, search for properties online, while 54% said that they would use a mixture of online tools and estate agents to deal with the entire property buying process. Some of home buyers said they would actually prefer to have a personal agent who can deal with the whole management of the home buying process. Those surveyed also admitted to relying heavily on estate agents’ expertise for key parts of the home buying process including with 72% for conveyancing, 62% to arrange viewings and inspect properties, 53% to make an offer and 42% for financial negotiations. ‘Buying or selling a home can be an extremely stressful and daunting process and good quality customer service still carries a huge amount of weight. Estate agents are well placed to offer sound, expert advice. They can help to alleviate some of the pressures and concerns that consumers have with managing the process themselves,’ said Justin Morris, chief executive officer of Dezrez. ‘What we are experiencing in the property market is some interesting trends that are mirroring consumer activity on the high street. Whilst many people like to be able to search online, they clearly value the customer experience and human touch of face to face interactions. However, without the personal touch online only services aren’t necessarily going to be in the position to replace traditional agents,’ he explained. The research also highlights consumer frustration with agents who are slower to adopt newer digital technologies. Some 67% of respondents believe that estate agents are not fully using technology to their advantage and 44% strongly agree that estate agents need to adopt, and embrace technology, in order to survive in the future. ‘There is a real appetite for change from both estate agents and consumers, especially when it comes to the use of technology. Advancements in technology, from mobile devices to cloud based software offer some amazing opportunities for the estate agent of the future. It gives them greater accessibility and freedom, and helps them to alleviate some of the pressures experienced by home buyers and sellers,’ Dezrez pointed out. ‘ There’s a breadth of technology that can help transform the property industry and enable agents to deliver a professional and personal service across human and digital touchpoints. In order to survive, and thrive, estate agents must recognise and remain confident, that they too have the tools available to remain competitive and keep customers satisfied,’ he added. Continue reading
New report sets out how sensitive the UK housing market is to the economy
There are almost 30 million residential properties in the UK with the market linked to income, wealth and availability of income which makes is sensitive to the overall economic climate, according to a new report. The overview from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that as of 2014 there were 28.1 million properties and as the population continues to grow housing is set to remain an important topic. Since 1980, there has been considerable fluctuation in the UK housing market. Overall, there has been growing demand and relatively limited supply growth. House prices have been increasing, and first time buyers are finding it more difficult to get on the property ladder while home ownership among younger age groups generally has declined. The report points out that on average house prices have increased by 7% per year since 1980 and the year with the greatest annual increase in house prices was 25.6% recorded in 1988 while by 2015, the average price (mix adjusted) of a property in the UK stood at £279,000. There were seven years between 1980 and 2013 where, on average, UK house prices fell, the majority of which occurred during the recession of the early 1990s. The biggest drop, however, was 7.6% in 2009. The economic downturn in 2008 had a considerable impact on the UK housing market. The decline in house prices was accompanied by reduced mortgage availability and stricter lending criteria. The analysis also shows that the number of property sales in the UK almost halved from a peak of 1.67 million in 2006 to 0.85 million in 2009 but since then the number of sales has partially recovered, increasing to 1.23 million in 2015. According to the report rising house prices could partially explain the decline in the number of first time buyers taking out a mortgage, although other economic factors will play a role. From the 1980s until the early 2000s there were typically between 400,000 and 600,000 loans to first time buyers each year. However, in 2003 there was a 31% decline and then in 2008 there was a further 47% decrease, the largest in the series, as the economic downturn affected the housing market. In recent years the number of first time buyers has been recovering, although numbers fell in 2015 and the levels remain below those seen before 2003 and the reduction in the numbers of first time buyers has subsequently had an impact on the age of home owners. In 1991, 67% of the 25 to 34 age group were home owners. By the financial year ending 2014, this had declined to 36%. There were also reductions in home ownership over the same period for the 16 to 24 age group from 36% to 9% and for the 35 to 44 age group from 78% to 59%. By contrast, home ownership has increased among older age groups. Another changing aspect of the housing market is the percentage of purchase price being paid as… Continue reading
Over 200,000 homes lie empty in England, new research shows
There are 203,596 long term empty homes in England valued at £38 billion, but the amount varies depending on location, new research has found. London has the most number of homes empty for six months or more at 21,000 worth almost £12.4 billion while Bradford has more empty homes than any other town or city outside London, with over 4,000 sitting empty, totalling nearly £400 million. One of the most deprived boroughs, Newham, has the worst problem in London with 1,318 unoccupied properties, according to the research from property crowd funding platform Property Partner . But there has been an 84% drop in long-term vacant homes in Manchester over a decade, according to the research which used figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The analysis looked at long-term vacant dwellings in England between 2005 and 2015, and then estimated the total value of this vacant real estate for towns and cities as well as London. Overall, in the past decade, the number of long-term vacant homes in England has been reducing. In 2005, there were 313,616 but by 2015 that had dropped by around a third to 203,596. Manchester has seen the number of empty homes plummet by more than 84%, from 10,059 long-term vacant dwellings in 2005 to 1,599 a decade later while in Bradford there has been a rise of 7% in the past decade to a total of 4,154 empty homes. On a regional basis West Yorkshire, which includes Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, has the highest number of long term empty properties at 12,292, an estimated £1.4 billion worth of potential homes that could be occupied. Newham has the most empty properties at 1,318 in all 33 boroughs in London with the total value standing at almost £470 million. Meanwhile, Kensington and Chelsea’s long term vacant housing stock is valued at a £1.7 billion while Harrow in the north west of London has just 97 dwellings which have been unoccupied for over six months and unsurprisingly, the smallest borough the City of London has just 44. Only three boroughs, Kensington and Chelsea, Haringey and Lewisham, have seen increases in the number of vacant dwellings over the decade while Wandsworth has seen a fall of more than 90% from 3,044 in 2005 to just 263 in 2015. ‘These figures reveal a shocking waste of opportunity. Over a decade ago, the law changed giving councils the power to seize empty homes through Compulsory Purchase Orders and rent them back out to tenants, if they lay vacant for more than two years,’ said Dan Gandesha, Property Partner chief executive officer. ‘But we still find not enough being done in many parts of the country. This is nothing short of a scandal. To be fair, some towns and cities are getting to grips with the problem of long-term vacant properties,’ he pointed out. Yet if just half of the current empty homes could be brought to market, it would go a long… Continue reading