Tag Archives: investment
Landlords in UK want their tenants to be happy, new research suggests
With more people renting a home in the UK new research has found that there is increasing competition for landlords to attract the best tenants. The survey from Endsleigh found that 90% landlords surveyed have gone out of their way to make their tenants welcome and 41% say they would unreservedly go the extra mile to keep their tenants happy. The research also found that 50% of landlords are very happy with their current tenants. The positivity is reflected by tenants as 83% of those surveyed said they were happy with their current landlord. Landlords are trying their best to keep tenants happy, with 28% of landlords saying they would absorb the cost of rental increases to keep reliable tenants in their property for a longer period and 40% saying they would redecorate at their tenants’ request. After a realistic rental price for the area, landlords believe that the most important thing to their tenants is a professional clean prior to moving in while for tenants think it is reliable Wi-Fi installed before moving-in. When it comes to the Government, landlords and tenants clearly feel hard done by. Almost half of landlords, 47%, believe that the Government is not doing enough to protect landlords, saying that the Government favours tenants, with 17% feeling that current rental contracts do not adequately protect them. However, some 78% of tenants do not feel that the Government are doing enough to protect them either from landlords who may put them at unnecessary risk, particularly at occurrences of unexpected costs or legal proceedings. Poor tenants and damages’ ranked as the biggest current concern to landlords with 20% saying so, followed by 19% citing having their property vacant for too long and 15% the rising cost of maintenance. Despite all this, some 67% of landlords surveyed agree that the benefits of being a landlord outweigh the time and hassle involved in processes, with 12% of landlords surveyed using rent as a main source of income and 36% using this as a way of planning for their future after retirement. ‘Despite their ongoing differences about who is treated more fairly, tenants are showing more authority than they previously did and expecting more too. It’s obvious that landlords are doing what they can to create the best accommodation possible,’ said David Hadden, head of property at Endsleigh Insurance. He pointed out that’s most important is open communication, a clear understanding of who holds which responsibilities and a level of appreciation between each party so everyone can get along. Continue reading
Development land prices fall in England apart from in key regional cities
Development land prices for greenfield land in England dipped in 2015, while prices in prime central London remained broadly flat, but urban brownfield site values, particularly in key regional cities, rose strongly during the year. After rising by 50% in the four years to September 2015, prime central London development land prices are starting to ease, falling by 2.7% over the last six months, according to the residential land development index from Knight Frank. It means that development land prices in the prime central London market has dipped for two quarters in a row while values for greenfield land overall in England are down for the fifth consecutive quarter. Greenfield development land values fell by 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2015 and 4.9% year on year while prime central London land prices remained broadly flat in 2015. Urban development land prices, however, bucked the trend, rising by 2.5% in the final three months of 2015. The development land index, based on the valuations of actual development sites around the country, shows a multi speed land market. Prices of mainly brownfield land in key cities, including outer London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol led the urban growth. A 2.5% increase in the final three months of the year took annual growth for urban development land sites to 11.9% and according to Grainne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank this reflects the highly regionalised nature of the housing market at present, with price performance in many key cities and commuter towns outperforming the wider average. ‘The price growth differential also reflects the strengthening appetite for land among developers and housebuilders in regional hubs. This demand has picked up significant momentum in the last 12 months, lagging the pick-up in demand seen in the wider greenfield market two years ago,’ she explained. She also pointed out that house builders active in the greenfield market have largely replenished their pipeline land supplies, although they are still active in the market for smaller, oven ready sites. ‘The length of the planning process means that taking on large speculative schemes is hard to balance against the cost of capital involved in doing so. At the same time, developers are operating in a period of higher build costs, and a key part of this is the difficulty in accessing skilled labour which still remains in short supply,’ Gilmore said. ‘On the other hand, better local economic growth in key regional cities, coupled with more buyer confidence has resulted in a resurgence of development, and this is reflected in competition for good brownfield sites,’ she added. Focusing on prime central London, the data shows that land prices dipped by 1.1% in the final quarter of the year, resulting in a marginal decline in prices of 0.2% over the course of the year. This echoes the slowing of price growth in this central area of London, with prime property prices rising by 1% over the year to the… Continue reading
Scottish property market set to see annual growth of 3% in 2016
The overall residential market in Scotland has shown continued growth, with an 8% annual increase in the number of residential transactions during the year ending in the first quarter of 2016. The market was supported by an increase in cash buyers and buy to let purchasers, boosted by increased levels of equity generated from core hotspots, particularly among older buyers, according to the latest analysis report from Savills. It also says that various Help to Buy schemes and the gently improving economy, leading to increased consumer confidence, are also combining to support the market. Market growth is continuing to spread out to locations that were lagging following the housing market downturn. These include West Lothian, East Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and Glasgow City, where the annual growth in transactions was higher than the figure for Scotland as a whole. The report says that this is mainly due to an increase in house building, coupled with attainable house prices and improving transport links. Annual transactional growth in traditional hotspots and commuter locations, such as Renfrewshire, East Lothian and Midlothian, as well as the market hub of Edinburgh, also exceeded the figure for Scotland as a whole. Savills is forecasting annual growth of 3% in Scottish mainstream values by the end of 2016. ‘We expect values in city locations and core hotspots to outperform the figure for Scotland as a whole. Stricter lending conditions and a possible rise in mortgage rates could limit capacity for strong price growth and transactional growth. This is likely to keep exposure to risky mortgage debt under control,’ it explains. In the prime market Scotland’s Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) continues to have a significant impact following its introduction in April 2015. Over the last 12 months, the prime market above £400,000 witnessed an overall shortfall in activity, mainly due to higher rates of taxation. However, since the end of 2015, the prime market has adjusted in the city hubs of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Furthermore, prime market strength is spreading from the hubs into traditional suburbs and commuter areas The number of prime second hand sales at £400,000 and above in Scotland fell annually by 14% to 3,131 during the year ending in the first quarter of 2016 as the market continues to adjust to higher rates of taxation. Despite this drop, prime activity was 13% higher than the five-year annual average of 2,762 sales. The prime market was led by the core city hotspots of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Prime activity in Stirlingshire and the Lothians region surrounding Edinburgh bucked the national trend, benefitting from relative affordability and improving transport links. Furthermore, demand for family homes in areas with top performing state schools remains buoyant. According to Savills Prime Residential Index, overall values in Scotland remained unchanged, with a slight 0.4% year on year increase at the end of March 2016. Further examination of the Savills Index shows a widening gap between overall property values in city and town… Continue reading
