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House prices cost nearly eight times earnings on average in England and Wales last year. The Office for National Statistics said in 2017, full-time employees could typically expect to spend around 7.8 times their annual earnings on purchasing a home in England and Wales, up from 7.6 in 2016. The change was driven largely by the decreasing housing affordability in England, with no significant change in Wales, the report said. A regional breakdown shows London was the least affordable area with the average price relative to average earnings ratio stretching to 13.24, while the lowest regional ratio was in the North East at 5.18. The average house in 2017 rose 4.5% to £225,000, the ONS said.
The Times (26/04/2018)
Just 92,270 homes were sold in March, according to HM Revenue & Customs' latest figures, a 7.2% month-on-month fall and 11.8% lower than the same point a year ago. Brian Murphy, head of lending for Mortgage Advice Bureau, suggests that in the vast majority of towns and cities across the UK it is not a lack of consumer demand which is putting the brakes on the housing market - but what’s available to buy and lack of choice. Non-residential property transactions also decreased, slipping 7.9% between February and March, and down 12.1% compared with the same period last year.
Daily Mail (24/04/2018
Some 70,000 first-time buyers have collectively saved £159m in stamp duty since the exemption was introduced in November last year, an average of £2,300 each. The Government still collected around £1bn more in stamp duty (£12.9bn) in the 2017-18 tax year, compared to the previous 12 months. First-time buyers in London claimed the highest relief, according to HMRC, with residents in the capital claiming on average £4,300, almost double the national average.
City AM (26/04/2018)
Centrally located "hotel-room sized" studio flats are ideal for busy millennials, a leading architect has said. In a paper published by the Adam Smith Institute, Patrik Schumacher, a senior designer at Zaha Hadid Architects, argues that the minimum size of 38 square metres on newbuild flats is "paternalistic" and stops poorer young people from getting on the housing ladder. "Lifting this prohibition would allow a whole new (lower) income group, which is now excluded, to enter the market. This move would both boost overall unit numbers and affordability," he believes.
The Daily Telegraph (25/04/2018) City AM (25/04/2018)
A number of sky lofts are on the market at Canary Wharf Group’s One Park Drive, a tower overlooking the South Dock on the Isle of Dogs, neighbouring One Canada Wharf. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, the 483-apartment building’s sky lofts feature sliding glass walls and deep, curved terraces of up to 1,300 sq ft. Prices begin at £2.75m. However, one doesn’t need to be a City grandee to afford a property in and around Canary Wharf. New Union Wharf, which faces the Greenwich Peninsula across the Thames, offers 399 homes, on a waterside plot designed with families in mind, with 75,000sq ft of child-friendly play space and ground-floor flats with small private gardens grouped around safe courtyards. Developer L&Q has made 157 of the homes available for private sale, priced at £475,000 and above. The low-deposit Help to Buy scheme is also available.
Evening Standard (16/04/2018)
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows London house prices fell 1% on the year in February, the first decline since September 2009. The average value of a home in the capital dropped to £471,986. The official data comes after surveys also reported a fall in London prices. According to research from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a net balance of 47pc surveyors had seen prices in the city fall. The ONS figures show that the average amount paid for a house in the UK was £225,000 in February - a 4.4% increase, which marks a dip on the 4.7% recorded in January.
The Daily Telegraph (18/04/2018)