Category: Weekly News

• BTL mortgage rates fall to lowest level since start of 2021 – Good news for landlords looking to remortgage and this may encourage new investors to enter the market, the average two and five year fixed rates have fallen since the start of May and are currently at their lowest levels since the beginning of this year. Moneyfacts research into the BTL mortgage market has found that since the start of this month, the average two year fixed BTL rate has fallen by 0.04%, down from 2.99% on the 1st May to 2.95% on the 21st May. Meanwhile, the average five year fixed BTL rate has fallen by 0.05% during this same period, down from 3.35% to 3.30%.
• Buyers are making offers on homes before viewing amid booming market – This just sums up the desperation for property buyers in the current market conditions. BBC Wales Live reports that many estate agents in Wales are selling properties within hours of listing them, sometimes with multiple offers on the table. This is a trend also identified in some other UK hotspots. With demand incredibly high and stock levels low, buyers are now looking at new ways they can gain an advantage over their competition which has led to a growing number of buyers even offering on properties before viewing them. The term ‘mad market’ is becoming popular among estate agents.
• Rental White Paper – government gives hint of what it will contain – So you would have seen me mention this new rental white paper that the government has pledged to bring forward in a previous weekly newsletter and now we have a sneak peek at what it might contain. It came from a government response to a House of Commons committee. There is no surprise to see the removal of Section 21, amending Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 along with improving the possession process in the courts and the ‘lifetime’ deposit model mentioned. They also mentioned, requiring landlords to be part of a redress scheme and reforms to encourage improved property conditions.
• Nationwide predicts UK prices will continue to rise – This is a polar opposite to what they were predicting in December 2020 where they said that “housing market activity is likely to slow in the coming quarters, perhaps sharply”. As you can see from the headline they now say “house prices would continue to rise this year beyond the stamp duty holiday” and they highlighted that this may make it even harder for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics this week showed house prices rose 10.2% in the year to March, the highest annual increase since the lead-up to the financial crisis in August 2007. It will be interesting to see where we are with house prices a year from now.

That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected]  – if not, see you next week.

We would really appreciate it if you could subscribe and leave feedback for our Podcast on Apple.

• Renter eviction ban to finish at end of May – The ban on evictions enforced by bailiffs in England was brought in during the coronavirus pandemic and will come to an end on 31st May. Eviction notice periods, which were previously extended to six months as an emergency measure during the pandemic, will be set at four months from June 1st and they plan to return the pre-pandemic period of 2 months from October 1st. Alicia Kennedy, director of Generation Rent, has called on the government to introduce a Covid “rent debt fund”, to allow tenants to clear debts and landlords to claim for lost income as there is fear of increased homelessness that households may face which can only be helped by financial support for both tenants and landlords that face financial arrears brought on by the pandemic
• New ‘lifetime deposits plan for renters – In the Queen’s speech this week, it was announced that the ‘lifetime’ deposits initiative for renters will be among a raft of measures to reform the renting sector. This was something that the Conservative Party had promised to bring in ahead of the last general election. The new Lifetime Deposit scheme will allow renters to transfer their deposit from one property to another instead of being left out of pocket for weeks while they wait to be reimbursed from their old landlord but have to spend money securing their new property. In theory, this scheme will be helpful but the practicality of it remains to be outlined as you have to consider circumstances such as money being deducted from rental deposits to cover damages, repairs etc when a tenant vacates the property and how this would all work.
• Commonhold Council Launched – As part of the biggest reforms to English property law for 40 years, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has launched the Commonhold Council which is an advisory panel of leasehold groups and industry experts who will inform the government on the future of commonhold which is a collective form of home ownership. The commonhold model is used widely around the world and provides a structure for homeowners to collectively own the building their flat is in, with a greater say on their building’s management, shared facilities and related costs. There are no hidden costs or charges, preventing some of the bad practices currently seen in some leaseholds. These changes should make the leasehold system fairer, cheaper and simpler.
• UK house prices increase at fastest rate in five years – This comes from the latest house price index report produced by Britains biggest mortgage lender, Halifax. The monthly snapshot of the property market from Halifax showed a 1.4% jump in the cost of a home in April, taking the average selling price to a record high of just over £258,000. Halifax said that circa £20,000 had been added to the average house price since April 2020 when the first coronavirus lockdown hit. They forecast that the recent levels of activity should continue in the coming months even when the stamp duty holiday starts fading. This will be down to low stock levels, low interest rates and continued demand which will continue to underpin property prices.

That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected]  – if not, see you next week.

We would really appreciate it if you could subscribe and leave feedback for our Podcast on Apple.

• TMW reduces limited company rates – This is good news for landlords and investors that are buying via a limited company. The Mortgage Works (TMW) will be reducing their rates on its limited company buy-to-let range by up to 0.35%. This will include the reduction of its two-year fixed product, up to 75% loan to value (LTV), now priced at 2.94%, down from 3.19%. This shows that the mortgage market is getting fully back into the swing of things and also that LTD company mortgages are becoming more popular. With the mortgage market becoming more competitive for lenders, I think we will see more of this in the future as more and more lenders try to entice borrowers with more appealing deals.
• 40% of tenants planning a move now that Covid has eased says Nationwide – The UK’s leading mortgage lender Nationwide has conducted research and their data reports that we are about to have a mini-boom in the private rental market. Letting agents should prepare for a busy period as Nationwide’s findings would indicate they will see a higher turnover of tenants as more people move home as the nation emerges from Covid. The research that was conducted in April shows that the pandemic has prompted 29% of people to move or consider moving. 40% of those surveyed that said they would move or are considering moving were tenants in the private sector.
• Is the private rental sector in retreat? – The Morgage Works (TMW) has analysed the private rental sector and said that the share of PRS households in England edged down for the third year in a row in 2020 from 19.3% to 18.7%. In 2017 the number of households in the PRS was 4.7m and last year it fell to 4.4m. Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, says: “The shift reflects a combination of factors. Increased regulation, political uncertainty and tax changes (including the introduction of higher stamp duty rates on the purchase of additional properties from 2016 and a phased reduction to the tax deductibility of landlord expenses from 2017) dampened investor demand in the PRS”. So is it in retreat? I think it is a transitional period where some of the old school investors are leaving the sector that will be soon replaced by the new ones that understand and can navigate all the new changes the sector has been through.
• Why homebuyers should be wary of the new crop of 95% mortgages – The government has rolled out these 95% mortgages for homebuyers, but are they as good as they seem? This article looks at the drawbacks that would indicate they may not be. The scheme is state-backed and launched in mid-April and aims to help prospective home buyers with 5% deposits. First-time buyers and existing homeowners who are moving are eligible. Data from comparison site Moneyfacts shows that there were 391 95% mortgages on the market in March 2020, but one year later the figure had plunged to just five due to COVID-19. So what are the negatives to this scheme, well it doesn’t improve affordability so buyers need to meet income criteria for the amount they borrow still. They increase the chances of falling into negative equity, the interest rates are now higher sitting around 4% (pre-pandemic they were less than 3%) and due to lenders perceiving them as more risky the criteria is much stricter with brokers reporting 19 out of 20 applications are failing to get to the agreement-in-principle stage. So maybe it isn’t the saving grace that the government made it out to be.

That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected]  – if not, see you next week.

• Zoopla: £149bn worth of homes sold in the first 15 weeks of 2021 – This article just demonstrates how busy the property market has been and how strong prices are. The £149bn worth of property sales in the first 15 weeks of 2021 equates to almost double the value of homes sold in the same period in 2020 and 2019. April has also seen the number of homes available to buy drop nearly 30% in the first half of the month compared to average levels in the same period during 2017-19 which is not good news for the increasing number of buyers looking for property. Buyer demand is currently up 27% in the year to date compared to the average levels in 2020, despite the acceleration of demand recorded during the pandemic.
• Spike recorded in number of international landlords purchasing BTL properties via limited companies – Limited companies are becoming the preferred option for many UK landlords and it seems to be the same story for international landlords as well with a 62% year on year rise. The attraction of higher levels of tax relief and personal tax saving seems to be proving very popular in general and research shows that there were a record number of new limited companies set up, with 228,743 buy-to-let firms up and running. Last year, there were a total of 41,700 buy-to-let incorporations, an increase of 23% on 2019. We are noticing more and more international landlords asking us about investing using a limited company and have seen an uptick in them going on to purchase using one. Remember, buying property in a limited company won’t be for absolutely everyone so make sure you seek expert advice before doing so.
• Liverpool leads in PBSA beds race – This is great news for Liverpool students. Across the country, we are seeing a lack of supply of purpose-built student accommodation and Liverpool is leading the way in trying to tackle the problem. StuRents research shows that Liverpool’s PBSA bed supply has increased by 1,544 in the 2021-22 academic year to date, with a 5.8% year-on-year uplift. Manchester has also seen an increase with 1,095 new beds. These figures show that investors are still attracted to the UK PBSA sector and with growth in the 18-year-old population and continued growth in international students, Britain remains a highly attractive destination for the PBSA sector. Richard Ward, head of research at StuRents, said: “In the right location, there remain opportunities for investors to deploy capital into long-term income-generating assets that are countercyclical.”
• New proposed property tax represents ‘a fair contribution‘ – Before you panic, this tax won’t effect landlords and investors, it is aimed at housebuilders/developers. The HM Treasury has launched a consultation on the design of a new tax on housebuilders designed to raise at least £2bn over 10 years to help pay for the cost of cladding remediation work and is due to be introduced in 2022. The levy would apply only to developers’ profits over £25m. Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said, “We’re making the biggest improvements to building safety standards in a generation, investing over £5bn helping to protect leaseholders from the cost of replacing unsafe cladding on their homes and ensuring industry is held to account for the wrongs of the past. This tax will strike the right balance between developers making a contribution and ensuring fairness for the taxpayer.”

That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected]  – if not, see you next week.

We would really appreciate it if you could subscribe and leave feedback for our Podcast on Apple.

• UK landlords show increased interest in green buy-to-let mortgages – Research carried out by Mortgages for Business has reported that three in every five landlords are now interested in green buy-to-let mortgages. These mortgages actually reward borrowers with discounted rates for making their properties more energy-efficient and reducing their carbon footprint. I think this is a great idea and gives a great incentive for landlords which will ultimately provide greener and more energy-efficient homes in the long run.
• Stamp duty receipts surge to £1.2bn in March – Last month saw the stamp duty receipts surge to £1.2bn which made it the fifth-highest month since the tax was introduced in 2003. This was 22% higher than in March 2020. This further demonstrates the large volume of activity taking place in the property market. Between the 2020-21 tax year the taxman collected £8.7bn in stamp duty even with the temporary 0% rate for purchases up to £500,000. Still think the government will consider scrapping stamp duty?
• A new way of living – will Nottingham be the first true 15-minute city? – The pandemic has encouraged the concept of localism with people being confined to their local areas for the majority of last year leading to the 15-minute city concept coming to the forefront more than ever. It seems that the person who coined the concept, Professor Carlos Moreno, has said Nottingham has the qualities to be one of the world’s first true 15-minute cities. He said that Nottingham, a key regional city in the Midlands most famous for Robin Hood and football, has the chance to develop a polycentric model with the new Island Quarter showing potential to be “the 15-minute city in a nutshell.
• Beach huts sell for £325k in Dorest as demand soars ahead of summer staycations – Ok, I had to read this twice to double-check it said ‘Beach huts’ and not ‘Beach houses’. Three huts in Mudeford, Dorset, sold for a staggering £325,000 as demand for staycations explodes. With travel plans still rife with uncertainty, another summer of staycations has seen beach hut sale prices soar with a 41% uplift in the last year alone. Adrian Murdock, Hoo co-founder, said “The prospect of another summer of staycations has seen beach hut sale prices soar. Demand for beach huts is pushing up prices as holidaymakers invest in their own piece of beach hut bricks and mortar”.

That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected]  – if not, see you next week.

We would really appreciate it if you could subscribe and leave feedback for our Podcast on Apple.

• London Rents Climb for First Time in Over a Year – The London rental market seems to be finally stabilising after its turbulent time throughout the pandemic. The DPS (Deposit Protection Service) reports that rents have increased during Q1 2021 which is the first time in over a year. This would indicate that the tenants who decided to leave the city during the pandemic have already done so meaning the dust has settled in the market from where we had a mass exodus of tenants meaning a surge in stock with little demand which drove rental prices down. The marginal uplift of 0.61% could indicate some people are heading back to the city now lockdown is easing and businesses in the Capital are opening back up. The DPS’s quarterly Rent Index shows overall resilience in the UK’s rental market during Q1 2021 and if we take a look at rents across the North East, traditionally the most affordable UK region to rent, they increased by £37 (7.12%) to £557 the same quarter, largely owing to rents on flats going up by £40 (7.81%) to £552.
• Boris Johnson becomes a landlord (and will allow pets) – It is being reported that the Prime Minister has become a landlord and is charging a nice £4,250 per calendar month for his unfurnished Oxfordshire cottage. He is also accepting pets. The rental property boasts a heated swimming pool, tennis court and uninterrupted country views. We hope he has all his Gas Safety certificates and satisfactory EICR in place, I’m sure he will.
• Inside Bristol’s £140k tiny flat where bed is suspended over sofa in kitchen – You may recall we had a previous article not so long ago about a London apartment opposite Harrods which was practically the size of a walk-in wardrobe which was for sale at £150,000, well it has competition. Bristol has a flat on the market for £140,000 (originally £160,000) that is so minuscule that the bed floats over the sofa on a frame in the kitchen, use the link for the article to see the pictures as you need to see it to believe it. The estate agents selling it describes it as a “truly unique opportunity”.
• House of Lords approves interest rate cap for mortgage prisoners – There is good news for people that have been mortgage prisoners with no way out. A lot of people have found themselves in this predicament since the 2008 banking crash where they became trapped with a mortgage with an inactive or unregulated firm meaning they cannot remortgage because they do not meet strict borrowing criteria, even though they would often be paying less if they switched. This is something that Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com has been campaigning many years for. Lewis said: “I am delighted that the Lords has seen the injustice that has been heaped on 100,000s of mortgage prisoners. While the Government chose to bail out the banks in the financial crisis, it has never bailed out the banks’ customers who were victims of that collapse. Mortgage prisoners have been left paying obscene interest rates for over a decade, through no fault of their own.”

That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected]  – if not, see you next week.

• UK construction sector activity showed a strong recovery in March – It has been reported that UK construction activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than six years in March. The IHS Markit / Cips UK Construction and Purchasing Managers Index rose from 53.3 in February to 61.7 in March which was much higher than Reuters polled economists’ forecast of 54.6. Home construction was the highest performing category at 64.0 which ties in with the stamp duty holiday and flying property market. Further good news that commercial construction and civil engineering also reported expansion after a long recession.
• House Prices Reach New Record High – Is Another Property Market Boom on The Way? – We have had the latest Halifax house price index report released this week and it seems like the property market just continues to go from strength to strength with house prices up 6.5% year on year in March. The average house price is now at £254,606, a new record high. UK seasonally adjusted residential transactions in February 2021 were 147,050 – up by 23.0% from January. Russell Galley, Managing Director, Halifax, said “Overall we expect elevated levels of activity to be maintained in the coming months, with consumer confidence spurred on by the successful vaccine rollout, and buyer demand still fuelled by a desire for larger properties and more outdoor space, as work-life priorities have shifted during the pandemic. A shortage of homes for sale will also support prices in the short term, as lower availability always favours sellers.”
• Proposed rent controls ‘would be a disaster’ – The current London Mayor is being urged to forget about his plans to introduce rent controls in the capital and to instead focus on increasing the supply of much needed rental accommodation by enticing more people to invest in the PRS. The Mayor and his party would be doing the exact opposite by introducing such controls. The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) is warning that plans for rent controls, which are at the heart of Khan’s re-election bid, would be a disaster for aspiring tenants. The Treasury published a report in 2010 under the last Labour government that assessed the impact of rent controls before they were abolished in 1988 with the report concluding that they had been a major factor in the “decay of much of the inner city housing stock.” My opinion is that rent controls would be a disaster for London and more focus should be on enticing more landlords/investors to the PRS sector to provide good rental properties to tenants. The main driving factor for rental prices in London is supply and demand which has been clearly demonstrated during the pandemic. We saw supply increase and demand decrease leading to a drop in rental prices so that should be a clear indicator to the Mayor that more stock is needed, not measures that would lead to reducing stock.
• Surveyors launch Home Review concept to cut fall-throughs – Fall throughs are a big problem within the property market and are an estate agents worst nightmare. A surveyors group has launched a new ‘Home Review’ service which it claims will identify structural problems which create an immediate obstacle to sale and is being described as “a snapshot analysis of key structural risks to provide buyers, sellers and agents with advanced warning of any major issues which might jeopardise the sale of a property” by the Residential Property Surveyors Association. The survey would help sellers identify potential issues that could arise when the buyer has their survey and enable them to address known issues before going to market. This is a good idea and will be a helping hand in the fall through problem but other aspects of the buying/selling process also need to be looked at to help as well, such as the long conveyancing timeframes.

That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected]  – if not, see you next week.