Docklands News

The average asking price for a home in Britain has been driven to a new high, following months of “frenzied” buying activity, according to Rightmove. The average price of homes coming to market has reached a fresh record high of more than £338,000, up by more than £21,000 in the past six months, according to Rightmove. The property portal said that the 0.7% monthly rise was the highest recorded since July 2007. In the first half of this year, 140,000 more sales were agreed and there were 85,000 fewer new listings than the long-term average. Rightmove estimated that there was a shortfall of 225,000 homes for sale to meet demand. Rightmove's Tim Bannister commented: "Choice is more limited compared to the same period in 2019." 

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Property sales in the UK hit a new record level in June, according to figures from HMRC. An estimated 213,120 sales were completed during the month - more than twice the total in May. Some 428,620 house sales took place in the second quarter of this year - the highest quarterly figure since the third quarter of 2007 and the highest total for the second quarter of any year on HMRC's records. Experts say a rush to buy before the end of the stamp duty holiday fuelled the boom, but with demand outstripping supply, prices are expected to keep on rising. London estate agent Jeremy Leaf commented: "These figures clearly illustrate the frenzied rush to the finishing line for buyers to take advantage before the stamp duty holiday drew to a close. However, activity has reduced since, particularly in London where the savings were greatest. Early signs are that sales will be down significantly but we have noticed nearly all of our transactions are continuing with very few renegotiations. This leads us to believe prices will not be markedly different over the next few months." 

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Women now make up 48% of the 2.6m buy-to-let landlords in the UK according to an analysis by London estate agent, Ludlow Thompson. Their income has also increased almost twice as fast as men's in the last 5 years. Women's buy-to-let income has grown by 27% in five years, rising from £12.7bn to £16.1bn. Whilst the number of male landlords increased by 10% to 1.38m between the 2014/15 and 2018/19 tax years according to HMRC data, the number of female landlords rose by 17% to 1.25m in the same period. “With the gender gap in buy-to-let ownership narrowing, it might not be long until we see a 50:50 gender split amongst buy-to-let investors,” commented Stephen Ludlow, chairman of Ludlow Thompson.

Daily Mail  

The average property price climbed by 10% in the year to May, with Office for National Statistics data showing that the typical value hit £254,624 as the stamp duty holiday drove demand. The figures, which are based on sales that have been completed and registered, show that homeowners making a move saw the biggest increase in prices, paying an average of £296,872 – 10.7% more than in May 2020. First-time buyers also saw an increase, paying an average of £213,336 in May – 9.5% more than May last year. London continued to be the region with the lowest annual growth for the sixth consecutive month, with property prices growing just 5.2%. The North West was revealed as the property hotspot, with house prices soaring 15.2% over the past year. At a country level, the largest annual house price growth in the year to May 2021 was recorded in Wales, 13.3%. London recorded the slowest property price rise over the year, of 5.2%.

BBC News (14/07/2021)   Daily Mail (14/07/2021)   Evening Standard (14/07/2021)   The Daily Telegraph (14/07/2021)  

Banks expect mortgage lending to ease off in the coming months as a result of the tapering of the stamp duty holiday. “Demand for secured lending for house purchases was expected to decrease over the next quarter,” the Bank of England said. Robert Payne, co-founder of Bristol-based Langley House Mortgages, said: "The housing market has boomed this year and we have submitted more mortgage applications than ever before but there is a huge amount of uncertainty in the economy and people need to be vigilant in terms of what they should borrow.” Ashley Thomas, director of London-based mortgage broker, Magni Finance, commented: "With the main Stamp Duty relief now over, demand has certainly reduced and is likely to cool in the months ahead.” Meanwhile, UK banks expect defaults to rise over the coming months as households struggle to service debt taken on to cope with the financial pressures of the coronavirus crisis, new figures reveal. 

City AM (15/07/2021)  

The UK's domestic property market is set for a quicker recovery than previously expected, putting Britain on track to reclaim its title as the top destination in Europe for international real estate investors. The property market tends to track the health of the wider economy, and analysts at CBRE predict that the British economy will grow by 7.7% this year, followed by 6.6% in 2022. Previously, they had expected 6.7% and 5.9% respectively. CBRE's Miles Gibson commented: “The resolution of Brexit is one thing and the other is that it is now much clearer what our path out of the pandemic will be.” Before Brexit, the UK was the go-to destination for overseas real estate investors but it fell behind Germany shortly after the referendum. “Now that those uncertainties have been resolved, we expect that, once again, the UK will overtake Germany as Europe’s biggest real estate investment destination,” Gibson added. 

The Times (12/07/2021)