Tag Archives: lending
Residential property sales reach a seven year high in Scotland
Home sales reach in Scotland reached a seven year high in July and prices increased by 0.4% compared to the previous month, the latest index data shows. Overall sales were up 6% but annual price growth slipped 0.1%, taking the average house price to £165,162, according to the Your Move index. The report says that the jump in sales is due to buyers capitalising on lower stamp duty under the new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) which was introduced in April of this year. Activity is growing at a time when the supply of new build housing in Scotland reached its highest level since 2010/2011 but there is some hesitation at the higher end of the market which the report says is the reason why prices are now overall 0.1% lower than a year ago. ‘Activity has been picking up speed in recent months. Lower stamp duty for purchases below £325,000 under the (LBTT) first got the ball moving in April. Since then, the conclusion of the general election, supply of new build homes and the favourable mortgage rate environment have only added to this momentum,’ said Christine Campbell, Your Move managing director in Scotland. ‘After a slightly sluggish start to 2015, sales in the first seven months are exceeding those in 2014. It’s the middle and lower end of the housing market where the tempo is really quickening,’ she added. Indeed, the data shows that Stirling saw the biggest leap in property sales month on month in July, up 49%, with the most commonly sold properties flats. ‘Across Scotland overall we’re witnessing fewer top end home sales in 2015 than in 2014, due to the steeper transaction costs now incurred. The proportion of homes in Scotland sold for more than £325,000 has fallen from 9.2% of all property sales in July 2014, to just 7.8% a year later under the revised taxation system,’ said Campbell. ‘At the same time, there’s been a lot of propulsion emanating from the first time buyer market, feeding off a flurry of new build housing. Our analysis shows that the average price of a first-time buyer property has risen 6% from the second quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2015 as a result of this burgeoning demand,’ she explained. The data also show that total supply of new build housing in Scotland has reached its highest level since 2010/2011. Glasgow saw the biggest rise in new homes built in the past year followed by Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh, helping these areas become the first port of call for many new buyers looking to climb onto the property ladder. ‘With housing market activity mostly concentrated at the lower rungs of the property ladder, and a dearth of top end property purchases, overall Scottish house prices have dropped marginally year on year. As of July 2015, average house prices in Scotland are down 0.1% annually, equivalent to falling £176 in 12… Continue reading
New property for sale figures down across the UK
The number of new properties being listed by estate agents fell by 6.6% across the UK in August, adding to the lack of properties on the market for sale, new research has found. The biggest month on month fall was in Taunton where the number fell 31.1% new property listings in Loughborough dropped 28.5% despite seeing a significant increase of 12.6% the previous month. In London the lack of supply is reaching critical levels, according to the supply index compiled by online estate agent House Simple. The number of Londoners putting their properties on the market has fallen dramatically over the summer, with new property listings down 24.8% since June. The index, compiled from data relating to the number of new properties listed on Rightmove every month in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all London boroughs, shows that the Midlands and South of England have been the worst hit regions in August, with 12 of the 15 cities experiencing the biggest drop in new property listings last month in these areas. It also reveals that since the start of June, not a single borough in London has seen an overall rise in new property listings. Kensington and Chelsea has been the worst affected borough with new property listings down 43.6% since the start of June, while the borough of Haringey saw new stock levels fall 36% since the start of the summer. ‘Across the country there are thousands of frustrated buyers, with finance in place, ready to purchase, but the property supply reservoir has dried up,’ said Alex Gosling, the firm’s chief executive officer. ‘They must be scratching their heads as to why sellers aren’t marketing, as there’s no clear or single reason why sellers are sitting on their hands. The general election was expected to be the catalyst for sellers returning to the market,’ he pointed out. ‘We would expect to see activity drop off over the summer holidays, so September will give us a better gauge as to how imbalanced supply and demand are right now. The hope is that after a summer when supply fell off a cliff, sellers will rediscover their appetite over the coming months,’ he concluded. Continue reading
Poll suggests UK first time buyers see peer to peer lending as way to fund deposit
Over half of first time buyers in the UK expect to reduce the wait to own their home by at least six months by using peer to peer lending, it is claimed. A poll of customers by peer to peer lending service Zopa, found that two thirds aged 18 to 40 who don't own a home are using it to help raise a deposit and over half expect it to reduce the time it will take to reach buy a home. Some 34% of those surveyed said it will shave more than a year off the time until they can buy and a further 21% say it will reduce their waiting time by six months. The poll also found that 22% are hoping to buy in less than a year, whereas 47% hope to purchase a home between one and three years’ time. Of those looking to buy, over half are cutting back on clothes and other purchases and more than two out of three people are eating out less, going on fewer or cheaper holidays and choosing cheaper options for household essentials to boost their savings. In contrast, one in four people are making no lifestyle changes at all. Of those who weren’t saving for a deposit, 33.8% said it was because house prices are too high and almost a quarter said they have other savings priorities at present. The firm said it is alarmingly that over 40% of people are aiming to save a deposit of over £40,000, but this rises to 55% of people in London who are waiting to buy. This stands in stark contrast to those who brought 10 years ago, when only 2% of savers aimed for a deposit of £40,000 or above. The survey also found that 18% are receiving help from government schemes, such as Help to Buy but 55% expect to receive no financial assistance from their families in reaching their deposit target. For those first time buyers that have had financial assistance, the size of parental contributions is actually getting larger as deposit amounts increase. For those who brought their houses more than 10 years ago, only 8% of parental contributions were over £45,000. This percentage rises to 28% for people who brought less than a year ago. ‘Buying a home is a major milestone in many people’s lives and saving a deposit is getting harder each year as prices and the amount required increases,’ said Zopa’s executive chairman Giles Andrews. Continue reading
