Docklands News

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is kicking off a housebuilding drive in a controversial bid to prop up Transport for London's budget. The London Mayor is plotting up to 46,350 new homes on land owned by the capital's transport authority. A commitment to press ahead with the plans is understood to have been crucial to a £1.1bn bailout from the Government to keep TfL afloat until December. It took the total central government grants during the pandemic to more than £5bn. Mr Khan, TfL's chairman, is now in talks with ministers over a £2.1bn taxpayer grant to finance the housebuilding project. It has been speculated that the project is a way for Boris Johnson to impose more new homes on the capital while Mr Khan faces any criticism. Robert Jenrick, the Housing Secretary, wants to force local authorities to commit to new housing targets under a new Planning Bill following the Government's commitment to build 300,000 new homes a year. Mr Jenrick is facing opposition from a group of up to 100 Tory MPs, however. The proposed planning reforms were blamed for the Tories' shock defeat by the Liberal Democrats in the Chesham and Amersham by-election last month.

The Sunday Telegraph  

Homes worth a collective £15bn are lying empty in London, according to new data gathered by insurance firm Admiral. London has made a name for itself as a destination for ultra-wealthy buyers to snap up prime real estate as assets and holiday homes, while prospective homeowners squabble over a reduced supply. “It is, of course, worrying to see that so many houses are sitting empty and unused across the country, especially as in 2020, more than a quarter of a million people in England alone were placed in temporary accommodation amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” head of Admiral, Noel Summerfield, said. He added: “Beyond that, this also impacts on the housing market as a lack of supply, can result in low affordability for people looking to get on the housing ladder.” Some 29,242 houses have been left unoccupied for at least six months in the capital, with Southwark being home to the highest number of long-term empty properties, according to Admiral's Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

City A.M.  

Londoners are paying a 10% premium to rent homes with pools, according to estate agents, as overseas breaks appear increasingly unlikely for many Britons this year. Staff at Savills' Richmond office have just let out a house with an asking rent of £4,515 per week. Despite costing well over £200,000 to rent for a year its big selling point was its indoor pool — which attracted 17 viewings from families all over London. “The last time we rented it out we had about six viewings over a couple of months,” said Rory Wallace, a director in Savills' south-west London lettings team.

London Evening Standard  

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." 

The Times   Daily Express   Daily Mail  

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." 

BBC News   The Times   City A.M.  

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