Tag Archives: irish
New accreditation standard for London lettings hailed a success
More than 115,000 rented homes across London are now badged under the Mayor's Rental Standard accreditation system launched last year to improve the experience of landlords and tenants. Less than a year since its launch in May 2014, the London Rental Standard is going from strength to strength with 307 letting agent firms signed up and eight accrediting bodies licensed under the scheme. It has been adopted by 10 of the biggest names in the lettings industry, including Spicerhaart, Andrews, CBRE, Chestertons, Douglas and Gordon, Savills, Knight Frank, Leaders, Foxtons and Stirling Ackroyd. Londoners either letting or renting through every London branch of these firms are assured that they, and every landlord or agent displaying the London Rental Standard badge, have met the Mayor's set of core commitments and training levels to offer tenants a better, more professional service. These include transparent fees, better property conditions, better communications between landlords and tenants, improved response times and repairs, and protected deposits. Some 30% of London's households now live in rented homes, and by the middle of the 2020s the number of renters is predicted to overtake the number of home owners in the capital. In the last 10 years the number of families with children renting in London has risen 10% to almost a third yet 85% of landlords are not aware of core legislation that protects renters and 61% have no professional management training. The London Rental Standard is fast becoming an important feature of London's lettings industry, helping Londoners to pick between the huge array of landlords and agents on offer in the capital. It helps landlords and agents to understand their responsibilities to their tenants and to equip them with the knowledge they need to protect themselves from mistakes which can incur hefty costs and leave tenants disgruntled. The standard is one of a raft of measures the Mayor Boris Johnson has supported to improve the experience of London's two million private rented sector tenants. This includes successfully lobbying for legal changes to make it compulsory for letting agents to join an independent consumer complaints scheme to help protect tenants and landlords, and banning retaliatory evictions. He has also created a search engine where Londoners can compare average market rents, secured significant sums from the Government to help provide greater enforcement against criminal landlords including those who rent out beds in sheds, and pioneering thousands of new high quality, purpose built homes to rent with large scale schemes on public land in Elephant and Castle and the Stratford, supported by long term institutional investment. The Mayor is also helping renters who want to buy through his First Steps scheme, with more than 46,000 Londoners already supported to buy their home through shared ownership and other products. The Mayor is now calling on all remaining letting agents and landlords to sign up to the London Rental Standard, and help to stamp out rogue agents or landlords in every corner of… Continue reading
UK house price optimism rebounds, latest index suggests
House price optimism in the UK rebounded in February as inflation continued to fall and the expectation of an interest rate rise receded further. According to the Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker report last month saw a rallying of house price optimism among consumers, from an 18 month low of +52 at the start of the year to +60 in February. It was +62 December 2014. This optimism is reflected in the outlook for both buyers and sellers, with buying sentiment up to its highest level since the Confidence Tracker launched in 2011 at net +35. At the same time selling sentiment has reached an all-time high and now stands at +27. However, this still this doesn’t tell the whole story as the underlying picture is a cautious one, with 57% predicting flat or modest house price increases of less than 5% at best over the next 12 months. And despite inflation falling to 0% in February and various MPC members saying the next interest rate move is as likely to be down as it is up, 43% of consumers believe mortgage interest rates will be higher than they are now in a year’s time. ‘With inflation now at its lowest level since records began and the chances of the next interest rates change reportedly just as likely to be down as up, consumers are feeling more optimistic about the housing market again,’ said Craig McKinlay, mortgages director at the Halifax. ‘The traditional slow start to the year for the housing market has already begun to give way to increased activity, but consumers remain relatively cautious. For sustainable long term growth we need a period of stable growth and a more comprehensive house building programme,’ he added. Continue reading
Irish house prices expected to continue rising in 2015
New mortgage rules and the recently announced quantitative easing programme will have a game changing impact on investor demand for residential property in Ireland, according to a new analysis. International property advisor Savills expects that house prices will continue to rise in 2015 due to an overall shortage of supply relative to demand. However, because compounding price growth over the last two years has raised baseline prices, the percentage rate of growth will be more moderate than before. The Irish Central Bank’s new mortgage rules will channel demand into the rented sector leading to further rental growth, according to John McCartney, director of research at Savills Dublin. He pointed out that this, and falling deposit yields due to quantitative easing, will attract investors despite the expiry of Capital Gains Tax Incentives last December. ‘By increasing the down payment that is needed to qualify for a mortgage, the Central Bank rules will inevitably lead to first time buyers spending longer in rented accommodation,’ he said. ‘This guarantees a stable platform of demand which will undoubtedly encourage landlords to invest. At the same time, investors will be driven into property by low returns on cash deposits, and these are being further depressed by quantitative easing,’ he added. He explained that while these factors will continue to attract large institutional investment into ‘multi-family’ residential blocks, they will also lead to continued buying activity by smaller retail investors. However, according to Graham Murray, director of residential at Savills, the profile of these investors is changing dramatically. ‘We are really seeing a changing of the guard. On one hand, the recovery in house prices has provided the opportunity for many of the accidental boom time investors to exit the market and, reflecting this, investors were our second biggest seller group last year,’ he said. ‘At the same time, there is a new breed of more professional, yield driven landlords flooding into the market. In fact this new generation of investors represented our biggest single group of buyers last year,’ he added. Contrary to the popular opinion, Savills believes that the Central Bank mortgage rules will do nothing to reduce the rate of house price growth and will only result in a change in the mix of buyers. ‘By diverting demand into the rented sector the new rules will lead to stronger rental growth. In time this will attract investors who will compete with everybody else to buy properties. Therefore the new measures will do nothing to soften house price growth by curtailing demand. They will simply increase the ratio of investors to first time buyers,’ said McCartney. Elsewhere in the report, Savills notes that declining affordability in Dublin, combined with demographic trends, will lead to increased demand and sharper house price growth in the commuter counties of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath. ‘Prices outside Dublin have been rising at an accelerating rate for the last nine months. This is set to continue as demand is… Continue reading
