Docklands News

Analysis by data firm Twenty7Tec shows that thousands of people looked to lock into a long-term mortgage deal last month, with homeowners hoping to get in ahead of further interest rate rises. Almost 7,000 people searched for a mortgage with a fixed rate of more than 10 years in April, a 72% increase on the same month last year. There was a 26% increase in the number of borrowers searching for a 10-year fixed mortgage and a 25% spike in those seeking a five-year fix. The respective number of borrowers searching for two and three-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by 35% and 57% year-on-year in April. On average, people are fixing mortgages for a year longer than they were a year ago. 

The Daily Telegraph (04/05/2022)  

While prime London property prices have remained largely flat on a year on year basis, some postcodes are seeing average sale prices climb by as much as 114%. Research shows that London's high-end homes commanded an average selling price of £3,229,509 in 2021, down when compared to 2020 albeit by just -0.8%. According to the research by debt advisory firm Henry Dannell, Camden's WC1A postcode saw the average sold price for £2m+ properties increase by 114%. A total of 30 prime London postcodes have seen positive movement where the average sold price for homes at £2m or above is concerned. However Westminster's WC2E postcode has endured the largest market decline, with sold prices down by -71% on an annual basis.

City AM (27/04/2022)  

The mounting cost of doing business in London is deterring developers from building new tower blocks in the capital, with applications for buildings of 20 storeys or more down 13% on 2020 figures. 

Financial Times (25/04/2022)  

Capital Economics forecast that house prices will keep rising this year, up by 9% at the end of 2022 compared with 2021. But analysts at the firm say homeowners should brace for a 5% fall in values across 2023 and 2024 brought on by a doubling of the average mortgage rate to 3.2% at the end of the year and a peak of 3.6% in mid-2023. Andrew Wishart at Capital Economics, said: “That would be the sharpest rise in mortgage rates since 1990.” Wishart expects the interest rate on new mortgages to rise from 1.6% at the start of this year to 3.6% by late 2023. 

The Daily Telegraph (27/04/2022)   The Times (27/04/2022)  

A new analysis of first-time buyer house prices looked at the cost of purchasing a first home before the start of the pandemic in December 2019 and how it has changed. The research shows that across Britain, the average first-time buyer paid £195,267 prior to the pandemic. Today this has climbed 17% to £228,627, meaning they are now paying £33,000 more, according to the data from Stipendium. First-time buyers in Wales have seen the largest percentage increase at 22%, while in London it stands at 8%, the lowest in the country. In Kensington and Chelsea, first-time buyers have seen the largest monetary increase, at £118,559. 

City AM (26/04/2022)  

The Times offers a guide to Canada Water, a former docklands on the Rotherhithe peninsula currently undergoing a $4bn regeneration that includes thousands of new homes, along with a leisure centre, a public square, shops, offices and an improved primary school. The first phase of the project, just one stop on the DLR from Canary Wharf, by the developer British Land, which owns most of the 53-acre site, will deliver 265 homes, of which 87 will be affordable. A new red timber pedestrian bridge, spanning the lake where the former docks were, will link Canada Water train station with the new town centre. The first three buildings are expected to be completed in 2024. Existing homes are in abundance, with the average property price over the past year at $498,443.

The Times (21/04/2022)