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Mortgage lending to first-time buyers increased by 2% in March, to £5.1bn, according to UK finance, as first-time buyer mortgages completed in the month fell 1.9% to 31,200. There was £6.1bn of new lending to home-movers in the month, 4.7% down year-on-year, with 28,400 new home-mover mortgages completed in the month, 7.8% fewer than in the same month a year earlier. UK Finance found 32,400 homeowners remortgaged in March, down from 36,800 a year earlier. The value of mortgages taken out by landlords in March fell by 20% compared with the same month of 2017, with the 5,500 buy-to-let loans taken out in the month down from 6,800 a year ago.
The Daily Telegraph (16/05/2018)
Tower Hamlets is London's quietest neighbourhood, according to new research by Barratt Homes, which has ranked the 32 London boroughs by noise levels and found that the east London enclave recorded the lowest average decibels (dB) levels across the capital at 53.3 dB. Sutton was second (53.8 dB) and Waltham Forest (56.1 dB) third, Croydon fourth at 56.5 dB and Ealing fifth at 57.3 dB. Islington was recorded as the noisiest.
The Daily Telegraph (15/05/2018)
House prices saw the biggest dip since 2012 in April, led by the upper tier of the property market. Rics said a net balance of 8% of surveyors reported prices falling rather than rising, with falls in London weighing down the overall price growth reading across the UK. In the capital, a balance of 65% of surveyors saw prices fall over the month rather than rise - the weakest reading since February 2009. Nearly seven in 10 surveyors reported that sales prices were coming in below asking prices for properties valued above £1m, while 59% said sales prices were either at the same level or slightly above asking prices for properties marketed at £500,000 or less. Regionally, drops in prices were reported in the South East and South West, for the first time since May 2013; Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland saw rises.
The Daily Telegraph (10/05/2018) The Times (10/05/2018)
The scale of London's super-basement craze has been revealed in a study that found 4,650 had been approved in a decade. Around 1,000 gyms, 550 media and cinema rooms, 380 pools, 380 wine stores and 120 staff rooms have been uncovered in plans for huge basements built between 2008 and 2017. In total 112 'mega basements' with three or more storeys had been approved, and 785 'large' basements with two or more storeys, the Newcastle University study shows.
Daily Mail (08/05/2018)
First-time buyers are missing out on £9.4bn of extra cash as fewer than 2% of those eligible are using a Lifetime Isa, research from savings app Moneybox suggests. It says that while 9.5m Britons are potential first-time buyers, only 150,000 have opened the Isa launched in April 2017 which lets savers aged 18 to 39 add up to £4,000 in each tax year - with the state adding 25% to the pot.
The Daily Telegraph (04/05/2018)
UK construction output fell 2.7% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics, the biggest decline since August 2012, driven by falls in both repair and maintenance, and new work, which fell 2.8% and 2.6% respectively. On a month-on-month basis, construction output fell 2.3%.
City AM (10/05/2018)