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US home owners wary as housing market slows
Home owners in the United States are wary of where the housing market is going, while rising prices in some markets are driving renters away from home ownership aspirations, a new report has found. Overall, home owners are confident about the current state of the housing market, but they are less exuberant about future market performance, according to the mid-year results of the Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI). Millennials are ready to buy in slowing housing markets, but they are dialling back their plans to buy in red hot tech markets like Denver, Seattle, and San Francisco, the index report points out. Also, some 4.9 million renters say they plan to buy in the next year, down from 5.2 million in January, the survey of 10,000 renters and home owners also shows. That is down from 12.1% to 11.4% in the first six months of this year. A smaller percentage of those surveyed said it was a good time to buy. The percentage of those surveyed who believe people who have recently bought a home will be better off in 10 years fell from 61% to 59%, the data also shows. ‘The housing market is slowing down, and Americans' confidence in the future of the market is understandably fading a bit, too. Despite remaining quite confident overall, homeowners are less confident about the future than they are about the present,’ said Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell. ‘Seeing still stronger than normal home value appreciation in markets like San Francisco and Seattle might remind them of the last housing bubble. But the good news is things are levelling off with no crash in sight. If incomes rise to keep up with home values people can count on home ownership in their future, even in hot markets,’ added Gudell. The report says that home value growth has slowed in almost all housing markets this year, giving homebuyers some breathing room. In those markets with marked slowdowns, many more buyers are looking to buy their first home. For example, 8% of Philadelphia renters said they planned to buy within a year in the January survey, when home values were rising at a 3.1%. In July, when Philadelphia home values were flat, 18% said they planned to buy within a year. And many of those new potential buyers are millennials. Just 1% of 18 to 34 year old Philadelphia renters surveyed in January planned to buy within a year, but that had increased to 23% in the July survey. The opposite occurred in markets where home value growth, despite having slowed overall, is still well above national norms. Here, renters are less optimistic about their buying prospects. In San Francisco some 18% of 18 to 34 year old renters planned to buy a home within a year when asked in January. At that point, San Francisco home values were rising at a 7.9% annual rate. In July, home values were up 11% year on year, and only 5%… Continue reading
Key commuter city sees prime property market perform best in UK
Winchester, a popular commuter city within reach of London has seen its prime property prices outperform the wider UK market, new research shows. Prices in the city, famous for its cathedral and history, increased by .4% between April and June, taking the annual change in prices in the city to 6.3%, according to data from international real estate firm Knight Frank. Such price growth means that Winchester has comfortably outperformed the wider UK prime market where values have risen by 0.9% on a quarterly basis and 2.3% on an annual basis. Winchester has also registered stronger price growth than other prime city markets including Bath, Bristol and Oxford. A shortage of prime properties for sale, combined with strong demand for homes in thriving town and city markets, has contributed to this out performance, according to the Knight Frank analysis report. It shows that the number of properties for sale in the city was 17% lower at the end of July than at the same point a year previously. In the prime market, the number of properties for sale valued at over £500,000 was 20% lower, a factor which, combined with strong demand, can put upwards pressure on prices, the report explains. Against this backdrop, demand for property in Winchester remains widespread.'As well as those moving up the ladder locally, the city remains popular with commuters both from the wider South East region and from London. Figures from the 2011 Census show that some 53% of people living in Winchester work outside of the city,' the report says. Buyers from the capital are also taking advantage of the price differential between property prices in London and elsewhere in the country. The report points out that while there has been sustained price growth in Winchester over the last year, changes to stamp duty announced in December have made buyers at the top end of the market more price conscious. This has resulted in slower than average price growth for the most expensive properties in the city since the introduction of the new rates. Meanwhile, in geographical terms, price growth has been fairly uniform across the city. Property values in Hyde and the city centre have risen by 3.2% and 3.1% respectively over the first six months of 2015, and by 6.9% and 6.8% over the past year. To the south and the east of the city centre in St Cross and St Giles Hill annual price growth of 5.7% and 6% respectively has been recorded. Overall, there were over 200 sales with a value of £500,000 or more in Winchester over the 12 months to June, 23% higher than the previous 12 months, according to data from the Land Registry. Continue reading
Sydney again leads home value growth in Australian capital cities
Property values in Australian capital cities increased 0.3% in August with Sydney seeing the highest growth at 1.1% compared with the previous month. The latest home value index from CoreLogic RP Data also shows that there were considerable variations in the performance of the housing market from city to city. Values increased by 0/7% in Adelaide and by 0.3% in Darwin but flat month on month in Melbourne and Brisbane. The remaining capital cities recorded a month on month fall in values. While the August results indicate a slowdown in the rate of appreciation in dwelling values, the quarterly figures highlight just how strong the housing market has been over the past three months with combined capital city dwelling values 5.3% higher over the three months to the end of August. Values across Melbourne were 8% higher over the rolling quarter, and Sydney values were up 7.4%. CoreLogic RP Data head of research, Tim Lawless, said that both cities have seen dwelling values trend substantially higher than other capitals, where the third highest growth rate over the three month period was Brisbane, which showed an increase in values of 2.2% While the three largest capital cities, together with Hobart, have all recorded growth in dwelling values over the past three months, half the nation’s capital cities have recorded a fall in values. Darwin recorded the most substantial decline in values with a fall of 3.2% over the three month period, while Perth values were down by 1.5%, Canberra values were 0.8% lower and Adelaide values lower by 0.1%. With the lower month on month growth rate, the annual rate of appreciation also slipped to 10.2% per annum, from 11.1% last month. According to Lawless, the annual rate of growth highlights how strong Sydney housing market conditions have been. Sydney dwelling values are 17.6% over the past year, and since the beginning of 2009, Australia’s largest capital city housing market has recorded a cumulative capital gain of 76%. Using the median house price from January 2009 as a base, the typical Sydney home owner has seen the value of their home increase by approximately $309,000 since the beginning of 2009. The only cities where dwelling values declined over the past 12 months have been Darwin with a fall of 4.6%, Perth down 1.8% and Canberra down 0.9%. ‘Darwin and Perth have certainly felt the brunt of the downturn in resources investment while conditions in Canberra have been improving but remain volatile. We expect the softer housing market conditions in Perth and Darwin are likely to persist over the coming year,’ Lawless explained. Unit values have recently shown a higher rate of growth city house and unit values than detached houses, with values rising 0.8% over the month compared with a 0.3% rise in house values. The rolling quarterly rate of growth was also higher for units at 6.7% compared with 5.1% across the detached sector. Lawless pointed out that it has generally been the case throughout… Continue reading
