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13th November 2015
The value of Britain's stock of private housing has jumped by an average of £76,316 per household over the past ten years as prices have soared. Altogether, it surged by 53% over the period to hit £5.1tn this summer, according to the Halifax. London led the way, with values more than doubling from £552bn to £1.1trn over the decade, further exacerbating the North-South divide. The value of housing in the north has increased by 36%, compared with 66% in the south during the past ten years. As a result, the south's share of UK housing assets rose from 56% in 2005 to 61% in 2015. The value of mortgage debt also has grown, rising by 35% from £942bn to £1.28tn, although the value of the private housing stock has grown by more than five times as much as outstanding mortgage debt.
The Times (11/11/2015)
13th November 2015
Lending to first-time buyers and home movers increased in the third quarter of the year compared with the previous three months, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has said. The CML said that gross mortgage lending totalled £61.4bn in the third quarter of the year, up 18% on the previous quarter and a 12% rise on the third quarter of 2014. Overall in the third quarter, the value of homeowner loans for house purchases accounted for 57% of gross lending, remortgaging activity was noted to be 24% of lending and buy-to-let accounted for 18%. The number of buy-to-let mortgages rose to its highest level in more than seven years in the summer. The figures showed that 11,300 buy-to-let loans worth a combined £1.5bn were advanced in September, an increase of more than a third on the same month in 2014.
Financial Times (10/11/2015)
6th November 2015
Plans for a £2bn redevelopment of a 46-acre site at Canada Water, near Canary Wharf, which will include luxury flats and office space, have been unveiled by developer British Land. The property company intends to apply for full planning permission next year and start construction in 2017.. The site is on the south side of Canada Water Dock; architects Allies and Morrison are working on designs for the site. Sellar Property is working on a neighbouring site to create a 1,000 home development, including some in a 40-floor tower. High rise buildings in the area are restricted because of rules protecting sight lines between Greenwich and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Financial Times (06/11/2015)
6th November 2015
London mayor Boris Johnson is looking to secure a guarantee from ministers that any cash raised from the sale of London properties through right to buy initiatives will be used to fund housing in the capital. The mayor is said to be seeking assurances that every council home sold in the capital to fund the flagship housing policy will be replaced by two more, acting on fears that cash will be moved on to fund building projects elsewhere in the country. Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith said he agrees with the scheme but is “pressing for a legal guarantee that London will see a clear net gain in affordable housing.” Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan called the policy a “disaster for London”, with 13 Labour boroughs also in opposition of the plan.
Evening Standard (31/10/2015)
6th November 2015
The average cost of a home in the UK is now ten times higher than the average annual income of a full-time worker, according to data from the ONS. While the average property costs £284,000, the average yearly wage stands at £27,200, and for first time-buyers the average cost of a home is around £215,000, eight times higher than the average income.. A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: "Government initiatives have helped more than 230,000 people to buy since 2010, and we are delivering 200,000 new starter homes, which will be available at a 20% discount to first-time buyers".
Daily Mail (01/11/2015)
6th November 2015
The Independent i has reimagined the Monopoly board 80 years after it first came out, supplementing the grid with the 2015 property market statistics for London. For example, Pall Mall has shot up in value and would now be a green property rather than a pink one.
Independent i, (06/11/2015)