Docklands News

House prices in the prime London market have fallen year-on-year and are now back at 2014 levels, according to new data from Lonres. Figures from the property consultancy showed house prices in prime London are now 2.5% below their pre-pandemic level having fallen by 7.1% annually. Activity in the prime London sales market is up, however, the number of properties put on the market in January and the number of properties under offer grew by 4.2% and 5.4% respectively last month. The value of ultra-central properties in South Kensington and Chelsea has dipped, while Mayfair & St James has shown significant growth due to new high-end developments. Rental growth in prime London slowed, too – although average rents are still over a quarter above their pre-pandemic average. 

City AM (19/02/2024)  

Treasury officials have proposed a new scheme that would allow first-time buyers to take out 99% mortgages, with the government guaranteeing the additional risk to lenders. The scheme aims to make it easier for young buyers to get on the housing ladder by requiring only a 1% deposit on their first property. A Treasury source told The Times that Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, had asked officials to cost the scheme before next month's budget but added that an announcement might not be made until the autumn. The source added that Hunt wanted to prioritise tax cuts at the budget and that 99% mortgages could be part of a larger package to support homeownership to be announced in the autumn. Lucian Cook, head of residential research at the estate agency Savills, said that any scheme that boosted buyer numbers would need to be matched with measures to increase the housing supply. "You might be addressing the deposit affordability issue, but you're still left with the mortgage affordability issue," he said. 

The Daily Telegraph (22/02/2024)   The Times (22/02/2024)  

Olympian Homes has secured a £7.5m facility for a co-living block at Canary Wharf. The loan from Recognise Bank will aid the development of a 46-storey tower housing 795 units, a residents' lounge, cinema room, fitness studio, and gym. Olympian chairman Mark Slatter commented: "This facility will allow us to commence site investigation works, progress the scheme design to BSA gateway 2 and demolish the existing structure in preparation for seeking an equity partner to build out the project". 

Development Finance Today (12/02/2024)  

A new prime property report from Investec reveals that houses in the Home Counties valued at over £1m have seen an average of £151,130 knocked off their asking prices since last summer. Analysis shows that sellers are having to drop their prices by 10% on average to attract buyers. It comes as homes in or close to London are back in demand as employers backtrack on work from home arrangements introduced in response to the pandemic. The Greater London area outperformed the home counties, with home owners selling £1m plus properties reducing their asking prices by 8.6% on average, taking £159,540 off the price tag. In West Sussex, where the average price of a £1m plus property is £1.49m, sellers knocked £187,805 off their asking prices on average - a reduction of 12.6%. Essex saw the second largest drop in asking prices for homes over £1m, with sellers knocking an average of £159,671 off their asking prices, a discount of 11.2%. 

Evening Standard (12/02/2024)  

Experts claim mortgage rates of below 4% could disappear within days as a price war between banks appears to cool. Halifax cut rates on Tuesday and was offering a market-leading 3.93% five-year fixed rate for buyers, then put it up to 4.18% on Friday. On Thursday someone remortgaging with a 40% deposit could get a five-year fix at 3.89% from NatWest. By Friday the best rate was 3.93% from Cumberland Building Society. Nick Mendes from the broker John Charcol said: "It won't be long before those remaining sub 4% deals are no longer available. Any rate war seems to have cooled off". Martin Stewart from London Money said: "The honeymoon period seems to be over for what many thought was a new direction of travel for mortgage rates. Hoping for things to improve may come with an expensive price tag, as I think only a significant recession is going to see a big reduction in the overall cost of borrowing".

The Sunday Times (11/02/2024)  

The cross-party Housing and Finance Institute has urged Jeremy Hunt to allow first time buyers to take money from their pension contributions to fund a deposit on a home. The HFI says that it will bring home ownership within reach of tens of thousands of young people currently priced out of the housing market. The report also calls on Hunt to introduce new Government-backed housing deposit guarantees, and housing deposit loans which would be repayable through the tax system in the same way as student loans. It also estimated that the pension transfer and new Government loan schemes recommended in the report could result in 30,000 more people being able to get on to the housing ladder every year. Sir Steve Bullock, chair of the HFI and former Labour Mayor of Lewisham, said: "From homelessness and affordable housing to home ownership and house building, the housing crisis is getting worse. The measures in this report are practical steps that can be taken in the Budget to end the housing crisis".

Daily Mail (12/02/2024)