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One in nine UK homeowners has taken a so-called “mortgage holiday” as their finances have been hit by the effects of COVID-19. Lenders have agreed that 1.2m homeowners can delay repayments as jobs are cut and wages reduced. Typically, this defers a mortgage bill of £775 a month, with borrowers given the option of delaying up to three months of repayments. More are likely to take up the option, which should not affect credit ratings. However, the scheme has drawn criticism after it was revealed that banks are set to make more than £600m in extra interest paid by cash-strapped homeowners taking payment holidays.
BBC News (14/04/2020) Daily Mail (14/04/2020)
Tower Hamlets Council has asked the High Court to review Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick’s decision to approve PLP Architecture’s Westferry Printworks scheme. The development, which will deliver 1,524 new homes in towers of 19 to 44 storeys, was given the green light by Mr Jenrick in January against the advice of both Tower Hamlets council and planning inspector David Prentis, who presided over an inquiry into the scheme. The council said the decision to approve was made just one day before changes to Tower Hamlets’ Community Infrastructure Levy charges had been adopted, and that the updated levels would have required the developer to pay “significantly more”.
Building Design (06/04/2020)
The latest Halifax research has revealed that UK house prices were up 3% year on year in March, but remained flat on a monthly basis. However lockdown measures introduced in response to coronavirus at the end of the month have seen buyers and sellers put house moves on hold, with a negative trend predicted for house prices as a result. Across the UK, the average property price in March was £240,384, compared with £240,461 in February, Halifax Managing Director Russell Galley remarked: “The UK housing market began March with similar trends to previous months,” continuing: “However, it’s clear we ended the month in very different territory”.
The Independent (07/04/2020) The I (07/04/2020) Daily Mirror (07/04/2020) City AM (07/04/2020) Daily Mail (07/04/2020)
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is urging the government to introduce an emergency stamp duty holiday to help revitalise the housing market after it came to a standstill as the COVID-19 crisis gripped the nation. Hew Edgar, of RICS, said: “The Government will need to start considering medium and long-term measures that could assist a post-pandemic housing market. As we start to emerge from this crisis, however, it is likely that the finances of potential homebuyers will be under strain, and the burden of stamp duty could put buyers off.” Edgar continues: "For those who can afford to move they may lack confidence in the market, adding to the slowdown. A stamp duty holiday could be one of the ways to reactivate the housing market quickly as a short-term measure.”
The Daily Telegraph (08/04/2020)
More than one in five millennials who had been saving for their first home are diverting the money towards coping financially day-to-day, a survey found. Some 22% of 26 to 40-yearolds who had been hoping to get on the property ladder will be dipping into their savings instead, according to the research from credit checking company TransUnion.
Daily Mail (03/04/2020) The Sun (03/04/2020)
Figures from Nationwide show that house prices rose 3% year-on-year in March, outdoing the 2.3% increase recorded in February. On a month-by-month basis, UK house prices were up 0.8% in March, compared with a 0.3% climb in February. The average house price in the UK hit £219,583 in March. Wales had the biggest increase at 6.4% in the first quarter. Prices in London rose 1%. On an annual basis in England, house prices increased by 1.9%, with regions except the North seeing price growth of between 0% and 5% - in the North prices were down 0.3%. In Scotland and Northern Ireland they rose by 0.8% and 0.7% respectively. Nationwide notes that the figures gauge the period just before the coronavirus outbreak started to impact the market, with the bank saying housing market activity is “grinding to a halt”.
The Daily Telegraph (02/03/2020) Daily Mail (02/03/2020) The Times (02/03/2020)