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Over 1m new homes could be built on brownfield sites currently unused across England, with 8,277 separate sites in England having been identified as suitable for housing by councils. London could supply a minimum of 170,000. according to research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). The campaign group is now calling on the Government to adopt a "brownfield first" policy to encourage councils to prioritise empty sites which have previously been built on for housing developments.
The Daily Telegraph (25/03/2019)
Demand for housing has slumped to its lowest level in almost six years, according to data from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), which shows that sales to first-time buyers, who are taking full advantage, have risen to a seven-month high. The number of buyers registered per estate agent branch dropped by 15% to 252 in February, the lowest number since July 2013. Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, said house hunters are evidently delaying their plans until the impact of Brexit is clearer.
City AM (25/03/2019)
Home sellers in London and South East are increasingly concerned about “gazundering”, new data suggest. The term refers to when a buyer lowers their offer price just before contracts are exchanged and is becoming a serious problem for an increasing proportion of sellers. A survey of 2,000 people by campaign group the HomeOwners Alliance found that some 45% of people were concerned about the issue – an increase on 40% last year.
Daily Mail (27/03/2019)
The average UK property price has dropped almost £4,000 in four months, driven by declines in London and the commuter belt. Annual growth in January dropped back to 1.7%, from 2.2% in December, while prices in the capital were down 1.6%, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. The figures come one week after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) downgraded official forecasts for house price growth over the next few years, predicting that average prices will drop by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019 before growth returns in the second quarter of 2020, to 0.9% - well below the previously forecast figure of 3.1%.
The Times (21/03/2019) The Daily Telegraph (21/03/2019)
A new report reveals that rent in London is the most expensive in Europe and the fourth most expensive in the world. The report by global mobility experts Employment Conditions Abroad International found London's average monthly rent for a three-bedroom home came in at £5,187. Manchester has the most expensive rental accommodation in the UK outside of London, at £1,844 per month, while Birmingham has seen the biggest spike in rental costs across the UK, increasing by £110 per month since 2018.
Evening Standard (14/03/2019)
Mortgage rates have dropped by almost 50% since the financial crisis, according to Moneyfacts. The report found the average two-year fixed rate home loan has fallen from 4.79% in March 2009 to 2.49% today, with the average five-year fix also down by 2.73 percentage points. “It would have been difficult to predict 10 years ago that we would ever see mortgage rates at historic lows and product numbers at record highs, with providers now vying to compete for new business across most loan-to-value tiers,” said Darren Cook, finance expert at Moneyfacts.
Daily Mail (20/03/2019) The Daily Telegraph (20/03/2019)