Latest: Property News

Government finds land for 80,000 homes

Government finds land for 80,000 homes

The Government launches its NewBuy mortgage guarantee scheme in March, which will help house buyers by underwriting 95% mortgages on new-build properties up to £500,000 in value. The scheme depends on having sufficient sites available to house builders and housing minister Grant Shapps revealed today that sufficient land for 80,000 properties has already been identified. [...]

February 2, 2012 | 0 Comments More
House prices fell 1.3% last year

House prices fell 1.3% last year

The latest figures from the Land Registry show that house prices fell by 1.3 per cent in England and Wales in 2011, with the average property costing £160,384 in December. Prices remained stable at the end of the year, with no change between November and December 2011. The only place in England and Wales where [...]

January 30, 2012 | 0 Comments More
House move costs soar by 69%

House move costs soar by 69%

The cost of moving house is 69 per cent higher than it was in 2001, according to Lloyds TSB, with estate agency fees, mortgage fees and stamp duty responsible for most of the increase. A typical house move cost nearly £9,000 in 2011, £3,632 more than it did a decade ago. Some regions have experienced [...]

January 27, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Property market remained stagnant in 2011

Property market remained stagnant in 2011

House sales fell 1 per cent in 2011, with just 869,000 residential properties sold, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). In January 2011, traditionally the weakest month for property transactions, just 45,000 houses were sold. However, the market did improve at the end of the year, with 76,000 sold in December. The property market [...]

January 25, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Cost of renting edges downwards

Cost of renting edges downwards

The average cost of renting a home in England and Wales fell to £711 in December, 0.8 per cent lower than November’s average, according to LSL Property Services’ latest Buy-to-Let Index. December was the second consecutive month in which rental costs have fallen, but over 2011 as a whole, they showed an increase of 4 [...]

January 20, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Property coming to market at record low levels

Property coming to market at record low levels

Despite record levels of search activity on its website this month, estate agency Rightmove reports that the number of new homes being put up for sale has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded. More than 44 million property searches were carried out on Rightmove’s site during the first ten days of 2012, a 27% [...]

January 16, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Unrealistic house prices hamper market

Unrealistic house prices hamper market

Although more new houses were put up for sale in December, transactions were hampered by sellers asking too high a price for their properties, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). December saw the number of houses put up for sale increase for the third month in a row, especially in London where [...]

January 10, 2012 | 0 Comments More
House prices down 1.3% in 2011

House prices down 1.3% in 2011

Mortgage lender the Halifax claims that house prices fell by 1.3 per cent last year to an average of £160,063, their lowest level since July 2009. According to the Halifax House Price Index, house prices fell 0.9 per cent in December, compared with the previous month. Although prices rose in the third quarter of 2010, [...]

January 6, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Rental costs fell in November

Rental costs fell in November

LSL Property Services, which includes Your Move and Reeds Rains, announced a 0.4 per cent drop in rent for a ‘typical’ property to £717 in November. Rents have been rising throughout the year, driven by increased demand from people unable to afford to buy a propert and November’s decline marked the first fall in rent [...]

December 16, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Economic gloom holding back the housing market

Economic gloom holding back the housing market

Although the demand for property increased in November, the ongoing economic downturn is holding back housing activity according to the latest report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) Rics’ UK Housing Market survey for the three months to the end of November showed a small improvement in both demand from buyers and property [...]

December 13, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Lettings agents’ fees soar in booming market

Lettings agents’ fees soar in booming market

Difficulty in securing mortgage finance and a slump in house sales is bumping up demand in the market for rented accommodation, but a new report warns that lettings agents’ fees are also soaring. Tenants may have to pay £2,000 upfront to move house according to independent thinktank the Resolution Foundation. As well as a deposit [...]

December 8, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Halifax expects housing market to hold steady

Halifax expects housing market to hold steady

The Halifax reported a 0.9 per cent fall in house prices in November, compared with the previous month, and it expects the housing market to remain steady over the winter. November’s fall in house prices came despite a 3 per cent increase in the number of mortgages approved during the month to 52,700, according to [...]

December 6, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Housing Market to improve in 2013

Housing Market to improve in 2013

The housing market is expected to improve strongly in 2013-14, with a 20 per cent increase in transactions, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said yesterday. An upward trend is expected to start developing in 2012-13, when 1.5 per growth is expected, according to the OBR’s forecasts which accompanied the chancellor’s Autumn Statement. Recent figures [...]

December 1, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Chancellor announces end of stamp duty concession

Chancellor announces end of stamp duty concession

In a move that could cause sales of first-time buyer properties to rise sharply early next year, the current exemption on stamp duty will not be extended as hoped. In his Autumn Statement yesterday, the Chancellor said that this concession has proved ineffective in increasing the number of first time buyers entering the market, therefore [...]

November 30, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Nationwide reports increase in house prices

Nationwide reports increase in house prices

The latest house price figures from Nationwide Building Society contradict yesterday’s news from the Land Registry that house prices have fallen over the past year. Nationwide today said that house prices are ‘surprisingly resilient’ with November’s figures showing a year-on-year increase of 1.6%. In contrast the latest Land Registry figures showed a 3.2 per cent [...]

November 29, 2011 | 0 Comments More
House price decline speeds up

House price decline speeds up

House prices fell at a faster rate in October than they did in the previous month, according to Land Registry figures, with the average house price dropping to £160,000. The house price index fell 3.2 per cent in October, compared with a 2.6 per cent fall in September. Although house prices in London fell by [...]

November 28, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Government unveils new housing strategy

Government unveils new housing strategy

David Cameron has announced a new housing strategy designed to get “Britain building again” but Labour claims that the promise of £400m to kickstart stalled developments is ‘small beer’. From July next year, the “Get Britain Building Fund” is expected to support the building of 16,000 new homes for which planning permission has already been [...]

November 21, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Rents rise to £750 a month

Rents rise to £750 a month

Rents are still increasing at a faster rate than salaries and the average rent is now a hefty £720 a month. However, the rate of increase has slowed, according to a survey by LSL Property Services, the owner of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agencies. Rental costs have increased for nine consecutive months, but [...]

November 18, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Houseowners must save to climb property ladder

Houseowners must save to climb property ladder

Not so long ago houseowners could rely on the equity in their existing property, generated by its growing market value, to fund a move to a larger home, but new research from HSBC confirms that this is often no longer an option. The bank suggests that a fall in property prices means that first time [...]

November 15, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Housing second child costs £60,000

Housing second child costs £60,000

While most families think that their first baby will require more financial outlay than subsequent children, new research suggests that the second child may be more expensive because the family may have to move to a larger house. Families with a second baby on the way are paying an average of £60,000 to move to [...]

November 11, 2011 | 0 Comments More