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14th July 2017
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has signed a £1.7bn agreement to build 50,000 new affordable homes with councils and housing associations including L&Q and Peabody. This will form part of his goal to help supply 90,000 new affordable homes in the next 4 years through £3.15bn of devolved Government funding. He vowed to aim for 50% affordable housing on all developments during the mayoral campaign, but then lowered this target to 35%. Earlier in the week, Mayor Khan announced plans to send in building experts to town halls to help improve the architectural standard of new homes being built. A new social enterprise would oversee the team of 50 planners and designers, who would be seconded to councils across London for up to a year.
The Daily Telegraph (13/07/2017) Evening Standard (11/07/2017)
14th July 2017
UK house price growth fell 0.1% in the three months to June, Halifax's house price index shows. The average price fell 1% between May and June from £220,515 to £218,390, and annual growth fell to a four-year low of 2.6%, while economists had expected 3.1% growth. Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis suggested rising inflation, combined with the new stamp duty on buy to let and second homes, has put off prospective buyers. “A continued low mortgage rate environment, combined with an ongoing acute shortage of properties should help continue to underpin house prices,” he added.
The Times (07/07/2017)
7th July 2017
The latest set of homes to go on the market at Ballymore and Oxley’s Royal Wharf development are being launched with a family fun day at Royal Wharf Park on Saturday, July 29th, from noon to 4pm. Activities will include face painting and a Park Life themed baking workshop by BKD, with a selection of food and drink available for children and adults. A four-bedroom show apartment in Endeavour House, one of the development’s completed buildings, will also be unveiled. Located next to Thames Barrier Park on the riverside, the predominantly split-level two, three and four bedroom flats are set in the mansion-style Compass House and Latitude Building overlooking the water. The 39 properties are all due for completion this year, with some ready for occupation by the end of the summer. Homes at the site currently available for sale include two-beds from £695,000, three-beds from £680,000 and four-beds from £700,000.
The Wharf (03/07/2017)
7th July 2017
A study from Halifax shows that first time buyers across the UK need an average deposit of £32,899. The Halifax First-Time Buyer Review found that first timers in Northern Ireland face saving toward the lowest deposit, at an average of £16,457. The figure in London is far higher at £106,577, while first time buyers in Scotland need an average deposit of £21,565. The report also found that the average price paid for a first home is at a record high of £207,693. Across the UK, the number of first-time buyers reached an estimated 162,704 in the first six months of 2017, a figure just 15% below 2006’s peak..
The Independent (01/07/2017)
7th July 2017
More than half a million homes could be built in London without sacrificing green space by copying Paris and replacing existing buildings with five storey apartment blocks, the Campaign to Protect Rural England says. Its new report suggests building low-rise development over schools and commercial buildings to protect the Green Belt, estimating that there is enough "airspace" above existing one or two-storey buildings in the capital to provide at least 500,000 new homes.
The Times (06/07/2017)
7th July 2017
Research by Santander for the Standard shows that house prices in London are rising by more than their owners’ salaries each year. Through 2015 and 2016, property prices in London boroughs rose by an average of 11%, or £46,370 - a figure exceeding the capital’s £37,114 average wage. Researchers say evidence of the trend stretches back over analysis covering both the last five years and the last decade.
Evening Standard (05/07/2017)