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The amount of money lent in new mortgages has dropped by 26.3% year-on-year, according to Bank of England figures. Some £58.8bn was borrowed in new mortgages in the first three months of 2023, the lowest level since the period between April and June 2020 when the pandemic lockdown led to a temporary housing market shutdown. New mortgage applications approved for the coming months totalled £48.9bn, down 40.7% from £82.5bn a year ago and again the lowest since April-June 2020. The share of people borrowing to remortgage increased to 34.8%, up 5.8 percentage points since the same time the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of borrowing to buy a new home was 50.1%, down 0.6 percentage points in a year and again the lowest since the start of the pandemic. Borrowing by buy-to-let landlords accounted for 9.8% of the total, the lowest seen since 2011. |
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Daily Mail (17/06/2023) |
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Developer London Square has withdrawn plans to build more than 1,200 homes around the Ikea store in Greenwich due to "spiralling costs" of construction and building materials. The scheme, called Peninsula Gardens, would have added 1,290 new homes to the east Greenwich area. The site's B&Q store would have been demolished and the Ikea car park reduced by more than 200 spaces. London Square said it was reviewing the viability of the development and may submit a revised application in the future. Nearly a quarter of the homes would have been for London Affordable Rent. |
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Evening Standard (09/06/2023) |
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Banks have been instructed by the Prime Minister to protect struggling homeowners from soaring mortgage costs as traders price in further interest rate hikes following the release of strong wage growth data. Markets are forecasting that rates could rise as high as 6%, sending Government borrowing costs to their highest since 2008. The yield on two-year gilts rose to as high as 4.9%, surpassing the peak of 4.65% reached in the autumn. Mortgage rates have been climbing sharply in recent weeks, cutting further into household disposable income and diminishing profits for landlords. Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said: “The Chancellor has made clear his expectation that lenders should live up to their responsibilities and support any mortgage borrowers who are finding it tough right now.” Banks are expected to offer support to vulnerable borrowers, including mortgage holidays and deals to restructure their payments. |
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Daily Mail (13/06/2023) The Daily Telegraph (13/06/2023) The Guardian (13/06/2023) The Times (13/06/2023) |
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Millions of Britons are living in areas where they are either unable to afford a mid-priced property, face a disproportionately high rent, or both, a Guardian analysis reveals. It shows that close to half of the postcode districts (48%) included in the research are "rental traps" - areas in which a family cannot afford to buy a mid-price property. In a further 11% of the areas it is not only unaffordable to buy but also to rent because the cost eats into a disproportionate amount of the household's income. Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that, while earnings in England and Wales have doubled since 1997, house prices have increased at a much faster pace, multiplying by 4.5 times over the same period. In the year to September 1997 a mid-range house in England cost 3.5 times the median full-time salary, by 2022 that ratio had grown to 8.3 times a person's median earnings. |
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The Guardian (10/06/2023) |
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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has reported that the flow of fresh homes coming on the market reached its strongest level in nearly two years in May. A net balance of 14% of property professionals reported seeing new instructions to sell rising rather than falling in May, marking the best reading for new property listings since March 2021. The latest survey result also broke 13 months in a row of new instructions falling rather than rising. Housing market demand was also at its least negative level in a year in May. However, Tarrant Parsons, Rics senior economist, warned that the UK's stubbornly high inflation is likely to undermine the recent improvement in activity. A net balance of 7% of surveyors reported a drop-off in sales rather than a rise in May, Rics said. In London a balance of 3% of surveyors reported prices falling rather than rising |
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Daily Mail (10/06/2023) The Independent (10/06/2023) |
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Sadiq Khan says he is “committed to protecting” London’s green belt and that even “derelict and unsightly” parts of it should be shielded from development. It comes despite Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer stating councils should be given the ability to build on certain areas of the green belt as he vowed that a Labour government would be on the side of the “builders not blockers”. Asked about the mayor’s stance in light of Sir Keir’s comments, a spokesman for Mr Khan pointed to his London Plan – a strategy drawn up in 2021 to inform planning decisions in the capital for the next two decades – which is emphatic in its support for the green belt. |