Docklands News

Savills has revealed that popular parts of north and east London have seen a 2.2% fall in house prices in the last three months of 2022. The estate agents' quarterly tracker of "prime" property prices said that prices in these areas - which include parts of Hackney, Islington, Shoreditch, and Clerkenwell - have fallen more sharply than in other areas where cash buyers are more prevalent. Savills' analysis also found that north-west London - which included Hampstead, St John's Wood, Primrose Hill, Maida Vale and Little Venice - was least affected, with prices down just 0.3% between September and December. Buyers in this area tend to be wealthy and are more likely to buy properties without mortgages, Savills said. 

The Daily Telegraph (28/12/2022)  

While Rightmove data shows that house prices in some regions have risen by up to 20% since 2019, the latest predictions from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast a 9% drop by the third quarter of 2024. The OBR says the prices will fall £26,550 by summer 2024, with the decline driven by “significantly higher mortgage rates as well as the wider economic downturn.” Elsewhere, Zoopla expects price growth to dip into negative territory as the market adjusts to weaker buying power and concerns over the economic outlook. Capital Economics and Oxford Economics expect prices to fall by 12% in 2023, while Lloyds, Pantheon Macroeconomics and the Centre for Economics and Business Research have each forecast an 8% fall. Nationwide expects a 5% drop but, in a worst-case scenario, it said values could plunge by 30%. 

Daily Mail (28/12/2022)   The Daily Telegraph (28/12/2022)  

Michael Gove has claimed that opposition to new housing developments could be reduced if there was a greater focus on design and the “heart and soul” of places. He criticised “indifferent or insipid” planning and suggested that the potential of some public spaces was being squandered as a result of poor design and maintenance. Mr Gove said: “Much of the opposition to new housing developments is often grounded in a fear that the quality of the new buildings and places created will be deficient and therefore detrimental to existing neighbourhoods and properties." He added: “If a general improvement in the standard of design reassures the general public that this will in fact not be the case, then they may be less likely to oppose it.” Mr Gove was speaking in the foreword to a report by the Policy Exchange think tank arguing for the creation of a new national school of urban design and architecture. The intake for the new school would include architects, planners, designers, engineers and consultants in an attempt to break down divisions between these fields. The report says that although the school would “seek to wholeheartedly revive traditional architecture from the annals of obscurity to which contemporary architectural education has unfairly consigned it”, but it would also offer a “broad range of other stylistic approaches”. 

City AM (28/12/2022)   The Daily Telegraph (28/12/2022)   The Independent (28/12/2022)  

York saw the country’s biggest house price increases in 2022, data from Halifax shows, with prices in the city up 23% compared to a year ago and 41.9% higher than they were at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. The average price in the city has risen by about £70,000, passing the £300,000 mark. Other areas to see significant increases over the last 12 months include Woking, Surrey, at 19% and Chelmsford, Essex, (16.8%). Prices in the East Midlands towns of Kettering, Derby and Wellingborough all rose by between 15% and 16%, while Swansea was the highest riser in Wales, with prices up 17.5%. Leicester was the worst-performing area this year, with average prices dropping by 3.6%. Kim Kinnaird, director of mortgages at Halifax, said: “Overall 2022 was another year of rapid house price growth for most areas in the UK.” adding that “unlike many years in the past, the list isn’t dominated by towns and cities in the South East.” 

Daily Express (30/12/2022)   The Sun (30/12/2022)   The Times (30/12/2022)  

Developer Linkcity has received approval for Phase 4 of its masterplan for the Hallsville Quarter scheme in Canning Town. The latest phase includes a seven-storey mixed-use block containing 377 purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) rooms and 6,090 sq ft of ground-floor, flexible commercial floorspace. The overall masterplan comprises 1,148 homes, over 322,900 sq ft of leisure and retail space, a health centre and community facilities close to Canning Town underground station.

Property Week (15/12/2022)  

A forecast from Halifax suggests that house prices will fall by 8% in 2023, with the decline driven by higher mortgage costs and broader economic pressures. The lender said the market is rebalancing, having seen some of the steepest ever rises in prices in recent years, with the pandemic fuelling a boom. Halifax’s Andrew Asaam said: “Following such rapid house price growth, and the growing economic headwinds, a slowdown was almost inevitable.” He added that with the increasing cost of living and rising interest rates, “there’s understandably more caution among both buyers and sellers,” with this prompting demand to “soften.” Halifax data shows that the average UK house price increased by almost 23% between the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and August 2022, hitting a record high of £293,992. The average UK house price is currently £285,579. 

I (16/12/2022)   The Guardian (16/12/2022)