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9th January 2015
A Halifax report has found that the number of UK first-time house buyers rose 22% to 326,500 last year, a seven year high. The average price of a property acquired by a first-timer climbed to £171,870 – up 9% compared with a year ago, while the average deposit fell 7% to £29,218. Additionally, the bank found that the average age of such a buyer was 30, up from 29 in 2011. The average age of a first-time buyer in London, however, was 32.
The Guardian, Page: 26 Daily Mail, Page: 22 Yorkshire Post, Page: 4 The Scotsman, Page: 2
9th January 2015
A series of letters carried in the Standard discuss potential solutions to London’s housing shortage. Wayne Hemingway of Hemingway Design suggests properly utilising excess space to create high density clusters of housing. He also recommends splitting large developments between multiple firms and forcing them to work on schemes on an open-book basis, meaning if profits are high, the firm would be obliged to increase the amount of social housing offered. New London Architecture’s Peter Murray argues that certain boroughs needs to shoulder more of the burden, such as Bromley which delivers just 470 new homes a year. Crossrail is also said to be a force for good, as it will make far flung outer London areas a more viable option for many to live in. Peabody CEO Stephen Howlett claims the answer is a complex one, made up of better transport links, public land purchased at lower cost and strong partnerships between developers and public bodies.
Evening Standard, Page: 49
2nd January 2015
The second phase of English Cities Funds’ 650-home Rathbone Market Development in Barking Road, Canning Town, is to be launched in the coming weeks. Code named Aurelia, and designed by CZWG Architects, it will offer 123 private homes and a further 42 units for shared ownership, and features facilities for market traders, retail units and community spaces, and is part of the £180bn regeneration of Canning Town. Duncan Cumberland, Development Director for English Cities Fund, said “Rathbone Market is an enormously important development not only for the people of Canning Town but for the whole of the East End. Together, we’re creating an attractive and vibrant new town centre which will improve life for those who live here”.
Source: Newham Recorder (19/12/14)
2nd January 2015
The Far East Consortium has submitted plans to Tower Hamlets Council for a 63-storey development on the Isle of Dogs. The residential-led Alpha Square project, at Marsh Wall and Manilla Street in Canary Wharf, offers 700 homes, along with a hotel, health centre and primary school. John Connolly from Far East Consortium said "Prior to submitting the application, Far East Consortium consulted extensively with the local community and our application incorporates the feedback we received from the public exhibitions we held in September and the ongoing contact we have had with the local community”.
Source: The Wharf (23/12/14)
2nd January 2015
Home ownership levels in Britain are about to fall behind France for the first time after a decade-long surge in buy-to-let lending that has pushed more people into the rental sector. Figures from Europe's official statistics bureau showed that the proportion of owner-occupied homes in France almost caught up with the UK in 2013 and was on track to overtake Britain last year for the first time since Eurostat started compiling the data in 1995. Kate Barker, a former Bank of England rate-setter, says the transformation of Britain's housing market was due to tougher mortgage standards making it harder for people to borrow. "That has meant there has been a rise in buy-to-let," she said, as landlords tend to have larger deposits or other properties from which to draw funds. Meanwhile, a study from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association has warned that: "If current trends in tenure continue, two decades from now for the first time since the early 1970s the majority of Britons will rent their home”.
Source: The Times (02/01/15)
2nd January 2015
The annual pace of house price growth is now at its slowest for a year, according to the Nationwide. It said that house price inflation fell to 7.2% in December on an annual basis, down from 8.5% in November. Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said that “The pace of annual house price growth continued to soften as 2014 drew to a close”. St Albans in Hertfordshire saw prices grow 24% to £494,777 in the three months to December, the nation’s strongest performance, while Reading and Belfast also did well over the period – with prices up 19% and 17% respectively. London continued to perform strongly, with prices up 17.8% to £406,730.
Source: The Times (31/12/14)