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The number of houses being bought and sold edged further down last month, with residential transactions 3.2% lower in July 2018 compared with the same month last year, according to the latest HMRC data. Deals also fell 0.8% from June to July, with 99,270 residential transactions reached.
Daily Mail (21/08/2018)
Linden Homes has completed the transformation of a listed Victorian infirmary in Bow. The walled St Clements estate on the Mile End Road has been converted into a 252-home development, a mix of new-build flats and refurbished properties, with 39 apartments in the old clocktower. The site backs onto the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park nature reserve, and is within walking distance of the Central Line. Prices start at £489,995.
Evening Standard (16/08/2018)
House price growth slowed to its lowest annual rate in five years in June, driven by the slowdown in the south and east of England, especially in London. Average UK house prices increased 3% in the year to June, down from 3.5% in May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which said the average price of a UK home was now £228,000. In London, house prices dropped 0.7% in the year, the lowest annual growth rate since September 2009 when they fell 3.2%. Jeremy Leaf, former RICS residential chairman, said: “House price growth outside of London is being supported by a continuing shortage of stock whereas the capital and the south-east can’t hide behind this excuse any longer".
Financial Times (15/08/2018) The Guardian (15/08/2018)
The number of first-time buyers in Britain is at its highest for 12 years, despite the national average deposit being over £33,000. This is the third consecutive year that first-time buyer numbers have topped 150,000 in Britain, more than double the record low of 72,700 in the first half of 2009 following the financial crisis. First-time buyers now make up 51% of all mortgage applications, according to data from Halifax. Assistance from the “Bank of Mum and Dad” played a big part in helping buyers get a deposit together, with separate figures from the ONS showing more than a third of new buyers received financial help from parents either as a gift of money or a loan. Data also revealed that eight out of the 10 most affordable local authority districts for first-time buyers are in Scotland, while the 10 least affordable are in London. With the average starter home in the capital now costing almost £420,000, first-time buyers in London are now putting down deposits of £114,952, according to the Halifax, enough to buy outright a three-bedroom terrace house in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, or a two-bedroom cottage in the Midlands.
The Daily Telegraph (10/08/2018) The Times (10/08/2018) Evening Standard (15/08/2018)
BBC analysis suggests house-building across half of England is slower than it was before the financial crash. Almost a decade on from the 2008 crisis, some 52% of councils saw fewer homes built last year than in the year leading up to the crisis. The Government claims last year saw the largest percentage increase in new homes in nine years. Overall, some 217,000 new homes were built in 2016-17, two-thirds of the Government target of 300,000. Nine of the 10 local authorities that saw the fewest number of homes built compared to Government estimates of need fall within London.
BBC News (13/08/2018)
Three-thousand new homes are in the pipeline in Poplar, the gasworks and factories of the last century being replaced with smart residential developments fit for the next 100 years. Red Loft’s 160-home scheme at Leven Wharf, on the site of a defunct metalworks beside the River Lea offers a quarter-share in a one-bedroom flat for just £85,000, with the same share of a two-bed apartment available for £111,250. Elsewhere in the area, a new-build one-bedroom apartment at Bellway Homes’ Lansbury Square project can be had for £399,995. Although Poplar’s regeneration is well behind neighbouring areas such as Stratford, the near future will see the creation of Poplar Riverside, with walkways and footbridges, along with a new park two new schools, and redeveloped Chrisp Street Market.
Evening Standard (09/08/2018)