Docklands News

The number of property sales taking place in July was 16% lower than it was in the same month last year, as reduced lending rates failed to allay prospective buyers’ hesitancy. Some 86,510 sales on properties were completed in the UK throughout the month, up 1% when compared to June, new figures from HMRC show. ’There is some hesitancy as to whether now is a good time to buy while there is uncertainty as to where interest rates will peak and what will happen with property values,” Gareth Lewis, managing director of property lender MT Finance, said.  ‘As we’ve been saying for a while now, we need some stability in order to give buyers and sellers confidence. The volatility of the past few months, combined with soaring living costs, are extremely unhelpful to the smooth functioning of the market.’

City AM  

Almost a third of first-time homebuyers in Britain received financial help from family, with support from siblings doubling in the past six years. Brothers and sisters assisted in a record 11% of family-funded first-time purchases, according to research from Skipton Building Society. The decline in homeownership rates among parents has led first-time buyers to rely more on other family members for deposits. Family support allows buyers to put down larger deposits and purchase homes at a younger age. While support from parents and grandparents is slowing, parents remain the most generous, with 72% of first-time buyers who had help receiving it from their parents, providing an average gift of £15,250. This was down from 80% in 2018. Some 8% were given money by grandparents, 4% aunts or uncles and 1% a son or daughter.

The Daily Telegraph (30/08/2023)   The Guardian (30/08/2023)   The Times (30/08/2023)  

Long delays in registering properties with the Land Registry across Great Britain are causing frustration among homeowners and buyers. Latest figures from His Majesty's Land Registry (HMLR) show that it is taking almost two years for some applications to make changes to the register to be completed. Emma Jones, managing director of mortgage brokers When The Bank Says No, said one of her clients who bought their property through the right to buy scheme in December 2021 is still not registered as owner. The Property Litigation Association told the Observer: "In some cases, parties are having to spend time and money dealing with issues on properties they sold many months before. In others, properties are being sold with hundreds of outstanding Land Registry applications against them which then have to be investigated".

The Observer (27/08/2023)  

According to research by Nationwide, an extension or loft conversion could add 25% to the value of a property, while an extra bedroom could add 14%. The study also found that an extra bathroom could increase value by 6% and a 10% increase in floor area could lead to a 5% uplift in property value. The research used data from Nationwide's lending records and factors such as property type, age, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, floor area, and location.  

Mail on Sunday (27/08/2023)  

Analysis by Halifax reveals that housing is more affordable than a year ago but the rising cost of borrowing has cancelled out any benefit. Research found a typical home in the UK cost 6.7 times average annual earnings of a full-time worker. This is down from 7.3 times a year ago, which was a record level. However, Halifax said that mortgage costs now typically accounted for 35% of a homeowner's income, up from 30% in a year and not far short of the level seen at the start of the financial crisis in 2007. The most expensive place to buy a home, according to the data, was London, despite the region recording a 2.6% decrease in house prices over the last 12 months. Average property prices are £533,057 in the capital and, based on average London earnings, the house price-to-income ratio is 9.3, the highest of any region.

BBC News (22/08/2023)   Daily Mirror (22/08/2023)   Sky News (22/08/2023)   The Guardian (22/08/2023)  

The housing market is experiencing a deep mid-summer freeze, with viewings per property falling by 98% compared to last year. Propertymark, the leading membership body for estate agents, reports that there were only 1.5 viewings per property in July, compared to 3 viewings in June and 4.4 viewings in July and August of the previous year. Compared to July last year, there are 37% more homes on the market, and the highest level recorded over the past 12 months. The average number of new prospective buyers registered per member branch is down to an average of 64 in July 2023, down from 86 in June 2023. However, Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark claims the sales market remains buoyant despite rising mortgage rates. He said: "As the number of viewings drop, this indicates a shift to only the more serious homebuyers and sellers that are remaining proactive in the market." 

Daily Mail (21/08/2023)