Docklands News

Boomerang effect fuels London house-price surge So-called “boomerang buyers” are fuelling London’s soaring property market, estate agents have claimed, as those who moved to the country during the pandemic are now flocking back to the city. Thousands of Londoners are thought to have quit cramped flats and houses in search of more space during lockdown, sending prices in the Home Counties soaring. But the return of commuting three or four days a week, combined with the opening up of theatres and restaurants, has persuaded many to come back. Others who were considering moving to the provinces are now putting their plans on hold as average home prices in London shot up 5.6% in August to an all-time high of £525,893. 

Evening Standard (22/10/2021)  

Detached homes accounted for a third of new build properties being registered in Q3 of 2021 – the highest proportion since 2002, according to an industry body. Around 36% of new homes registered to be built in the third quarter of 2021 were detached, compared with 28% in 2020, according to the National House Building Council (NHBC). Flats made up just 13% of new home registrations in the third quarter of 2021, falling from 29% in the same period last year. Total new home registrations were up by 14% compared with a year earlier to 33,779 in the third quarter of 2021, with the highest rises in the East Midlands, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. 

The i  

Experts are predicting that sub-1% mortgage rates will completely disappear in the next month. The Bank of England has hinted heavily at an interest rate rise next month and mortgage lenders have started pulling their cheapest rates from the market. The number of fixed-rate sub-1% mortgages has fallen by almost a third in the past two weeks, from 131 to 93, according to Moneyfacts. Samuel Tombs, of consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said more sub-1% deals were likely to disappear in the next month. "There has been a rapid reassessment of how quickly rates will rise. Lenders do not have the scope to absorb this, so they will have to pass the cost of a base rate rise on to borrowers,” he said. 

The Daily Telegraph (22/10/2021)  

British home-movers are spending £748 on average each time they move house, on top of estate agency fees, conveyancing fees and stamp duty land tax. Research by the home-moving app Moveable shows that the cost is rising along with inflation and a booming housing market. As we move at least five times in our life on average, and the total cost of these add-ons is £4,116, up 12% on 2020 (£3,688) and 20% on 2019 (£3,417).

The Times (28/10/2021)  

Ballymore has submitted a planning application for a mixed-use quarter at the 15-acre UNEX-Thames Road Industrial Estate in London’s Royal Docks. The proposals at the site, identified as suitable for mixed-use development in the Newham Local Plan 2018, include up to 1,610 new homes, including three-storey townhouses, lower blocks of six-to-nine storeys and taller blocks of between 15-to-18 storeys, as well as light industrial and commercial space and a two-form entry primary school. The proposal also features a major new public park along the river and community leisure facilities, such as a gym, outdoor pool, tennis court, rooftop running track and café. If planning is successful, construction is estimated to start in 2023, with the site anticipated to complete 2027.

Property Week (18/10/2021)  

Morgan Sindall is set to start work imminently on the construction of a £107m, 34-storey tower block in Canning Town. The development will have 355 apartments, as wells as 8,000 sq ft of commercial and retail space. The £107.25m Manor Road Quarter scheme is being developed by English Cities Fund (ECF), a joint venture of Homes England, Legal & General and Morgan Sindall’s property development arm Muse. The tower block represents phase one. There are plans, approved by Newham Council back in 2019, for 804 homes across eight buildings eventually. It  follows on from the nearby £180m Rathbone Market development that ECF delivered in Canning Town.

The Construction Index (16/10/2021)