Tag Archives: real estate
Sales up strongly in Scotland but prices down 8.4% year on year
Residential property sales in Scotland increased by 18.2% in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period a year ago, the latest official data shows. The figures from the Registers of Scotland also show that prices are down by 8.4% compared to the previous year, bringing the average price to £159,198. A total of 19,802 properties changed hands between January and March, the highest volume of sales for these months since 2007/2008 and the total value of sales across Scotland increased by 8.3% compared to the previous year to just over £3.15 billion. ‘We've seen a sustained increase in the volume of sales throughout the 2015/2016 financial year,’ said Registers of Scotland director of commercial services, Kenny Crawford. ‘This time last year, we saw a spike in house prices, with an increase in the number of high value property sales. By comparison, this year has seen an increase in the volume of lower value properties being sold, which may account for this year's lower average price. Future sales statistics will determine whether this is a one-off decrease, or whether this is a trend that will continue,’ he added. The city of Edinburgh was the largest market, with sales of over £554.6 million for the quarter, up 3.3 while Midlothian recorded the highest increase in value, with sales of over £63 million, an increase of 56.5% compared with the same quarter last year. Aberdeen City showed the largest decrease in market value, down 22.7% to £162.7 million. The highest percentage rise in the volume of sales was in Midlothian, with an annual increase of 48% and Edinburgh recorded the highest volume with growth of 22.4% compared to the same quarter the previous year. The largest percentage fall in volume of sales was in East Renfrewshire, down 14.5%. East Renfrewshire also recorded the highest average property price at £222,303 but this was down 7.9% on last year. The largest percentage rise was seen in North Lanarkshire, where the average property price rose 6.6% to £116,738. The highest percentage fall was recorded in East Lothian, with an average price of £207,276, a fall of 16.5% on last year. All property types showed an increase in sales volumes, with flats showing the biggest increase at 24.2%. They also all showed a decrease in average price this quarter, with detached properties showing the biggest decrease, down 11.6% to £236,249. Semi-detached, terraced, and flatted properties showed price decreases of 8.5%, 10.5% and 7.4% respectively. According to Michelle Grant, investment director at Grant Property, the increase in volume sales reflects what the firm is seeing on the ground. ‘Our buyers are experiencing high levels of competition when trying to secure prime city centre properties on behalf of investors,’ she said. ‘In Glasgow we are bidding against on average eight people for each property and in Edinburgh it can be as high as 20. We have also recently seen properties selling for as much as 15% over… Continue reading
Sales of residential land in Australia falls as prices rise
Residential building land in Australia has increased in price but availability is falling, making it more and more difficult for builders to provide affordable housing, it is claimed. In the last quarter of 2015 the number of residential lot sales across Australia fell by 1.6% while the median lot prices increasing by 5.2% to $234,600, according to the latest edition of the HIA-CoreLogic RP Data residential land report. Land supply pressures were more pronounced in the capital cities, with lot sales falling by 2.3% during the quarter and the median lot price rising by some 6.6%. A breakdown of the figures show that vacant residential land sales are estimated to have fallen in Sydney by 22.3%, in Brisbane by 20.1% and in Perth by 7.2%. Elsewhere, the level of sales increased. In Melbourne sales were up by 13.2%, in Adelaide by 27.5% and in Hobart by 7.2%. ‘Conditions in the residential land market are making it more and more difficult to deliver the new housing stock that Australia needs. Once again, we’ve had another quarter of dwindling land lot sales and pretty stiff price increases which is evidence of insufficient supply,’ said Shane Garrett, HIA senior economist. ‘We need much greater emphasis on the delivery of new residential land supply involving better models for infrastructure delivery and a real sense of urgency in the planning process,’ he pointed out. ‘Housing costs are one of the biggest components of most households’ budgets and needlessly jacking land prices up through inaction on supply will make for real hardship over the long term,’ Garrett added. CoreLogic RP Data research director Tim Lawless, pointed out that the number of vacant land sales has fallen by 14% in 2015. ‘While the fall in vacant land transactions is substantial at a national level, the drop has been more severe across the capital cities where housing demand is the highest. Land sales were down 19% compared to the same quarter a year ago across the combined capitals,’ he said. ‘If the drop in land transactions was attributable to lower demand we would expect a commensurate fall in selling price. In fact the opposite is true; land prices are rising in the context of lower sales which suggests a supply shortage is at play,’ he added. ‘The ongoing challenge for state governments is to ensure a sufficient release of residential land that is located in desirable locations and well connected by transport infrastructure to major working centres and necessary amenities like schools, health care and retail precincts,’ he concluded. Continue reading
Almost 60% of prime London properties sold to second home owners and buy let investors
Buy to let investors and second home owners were behind three in five property purchases made in the prime London market in the first quarter of 2016, new research shows. This boosted the overall proportion of purchases made in cash, according to the latest London Property Monitor report from estate agent Marsh & Parsons. Accounting for 36% of all sales from January to March, buy to let investors were the most prolific type of buyer across the prime London market in the three months immediately preceding the 01 April implementation of an additional 3% stamp duty on additional homes. This represents a significant rise from 26% of purchases during the previous quarter, and a sudden reversal of the recent trend of weakening investor influence. Investor share of the market has been in slow decline last year since it peaked at 37% in the fourth quarter of 2014. Those purchasing an additional residence became the second most prominent type of buyer in the prime London sector during the first quarter of 2016. This buyer group saw an even bigger jump in market share quarter on quarter, with second home owners accounting for 23% of all purchases, up from just 14% in the fourth quarter of 2015. Together, buy to let investors and second home owners accounted for 59% of all purchases in the prime London market in the first quarter of 2016 and in the prime central London market it was even higher at 76%. The research also shows that second home owners overtook investors as the most common type of buyer witnessed in prime central London during the first quarter of the year. Some 41% of all property purchases were made by those buying an additional residence, a significant leap from 24% in the final quarter of 2015. Property investors also seeking to circumvent the extra 3% levy accounted for a further 35% of property sales. This preponderance of second home owners and buy to let investors has translated into a much higher proportion of cash purchases in the prime London market. Some 40% of property purchases were made by cash buyers in the first three months of the year, an increase from 34% in the previous quarter and up 36% year on year. In Prime central London areas this rose to 46%. ‘Investors will always be the stalwarts of the prime London property market as it’s the golden goose of capital returns. But second home owners were much more prominent in the market than we would typically expect,’ said David Brown, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons. But he pointed out that this was by no means a typical quarter and sales activity in the opening three months of this year has been exceptionally skewed by the additional layer of stamp duty for both buy to let and second home purchases. ‘Naturally, the knee jerk reaction among these groups has been to hurry… Continue reading
