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Homebuyers with smaller deposits are being offered mortgage rates at record lows after a spate of cuts by lenders. Interest rates on mortgages for borrowers with a 5% deposit have dropped as lenders compete for new business. Post Office has launched a two-year fixed-rate deal at 3.06% with no fees and a free valuation - the lowest fee-free deal on the market, whilst Virgin Money cut its two-year rate to 3.09%. TSB also announced reductions, cutting the rate on its two-year deal to 3.29%.
The Sunday Times (25/11/2018)
Senior government ministers warn house prices will fall and mortgages become more expensive in the event of a no-deal Brexit. "It will become much harder for people to get a mortgage, so it’s bad for those who are on the property ladder and for those who want to get on it," said one of the ministers who support close trading ties with the EU.
Evening Standard (26/11/2018)
Five "urban explorers" have been spared jail for climbing a Canary Wharf skyscraper, despite defying a court order banning them from trespassing on the site. Judge Jeremy Freedman said he would not jail them for contempt of court "as an act of leniency to safeguard [their] futures". The teenagers had climbed to the top of Canary Wharf Group’s Newfoundland building, which when finished will host 636 apartments.
ITV News (26/11/2018)
Hackney has recorded the highest rate of house price growth of all London boroughs, having leapt 489% in the last two decades, thanks to gentrification within areas such as Dalston and Shoreditch. According to data from London estate agent Ludlow Thompson, the average house price in Hackney now stands at £536,000, up from £91,000 in 1998. Other London boroughs with the highest growth in house prices include the City of London, where the average property has jumped 447% to £767,000 since 1998. Separately, NestEast has secured £4.7m in development finance from Shawbrook Bank for the high-end property developers latest scheme in Cambridge Heath Road, Hackney. The project nvolves redeveloping a former hairdressing academy into nine brand new loft-style apartments with a large rooftop garden.
Source: City AM (19/11/2018) Growth Business (21/11/2018)
According to a poll conducted by Reuters, London house prices will fall 1.7% this year and another 0.3% in 2019. Asking prices in London fell 1.7% this month from October, according to Rightmove. Along with Brexit uncertainty, a sharp increase in Stamp Duty Land Taxhas particularly affected the capital.“The high rates of SDLT will continue to stifle transaction volumes, especially in expensive price areas like London and the South East,” said Ray Boulger, a senior manager at mortgage broker John Charcol. After next year’s modest dip London prices will rise 1.5% in 2020, the poll found.
Source: Reuters (23/11)
Asking prices have dropped 1.7% this month to an average of £302,023, marking the largest November drop since 2012, with the South East leading the way at a 2.1% decline. The price of newly marketed property across the UK is 0.2% cheaper than it was 12 months ago — the first national year-on-year price fall since November 2011. In Scotland, average asking prices are down by 1.3% month-on-month, while in Wales they have fallen by 1.2% . However the lowering of prices has signalled a slight uptick in activity, with a 1% year-on-year rise in the number of November sales. While prices typically edge down ahead of the Christmas period, Rightmove, which compiled the figures, said the data signals a higher-than-usual drop as sellers lower their demands in a bid to lure in cautious buyers amid Brexit uncertainty and wage stagnation. Rightmove also found that the average property took 61 days to sell, up from 56 days earlier this year, while the number of properties on the books of the average estate agent is 52, compared with 42-47 earlier this year.
Source: City AM The Times The Guardian Daily Mai Daily Express (19/11/2018)