Current property information headlines have a tendency to color an image of falling home costs. But a narrative in Which? journal on the 1st of December indicated that common costs – primarily based on official Land Registry figures – have fallen by solely 0.1% prior to now 12 months. The common worth of a house within the UK stays near the all-time excessive of £293,000 recorded in November final yr.
Against that background, let’s take a peek at a few of the different property information.
House Price Index: November 2023
When it compiled its home worth index for November, the net listings web site Zoopla recorded a considerably steeper annual dip in common home costs – down 1.2% to £264,600 in contrast with the common worth only one yr in the past.
Although rising mortgage rates of interest have dampened demand, says Zoopla, the amount of transactions holds moderately regular because the variety of properties available on the market reached a six-year excessive.
This has created one thing of a consumers’ market, with sellers granting reductions of a mean of 5.5% or £18,000 on the marketed worth.
Zoopla forecasts a continued decline in common costs through the course of 2024, however the fall may very well be arrested if mortgage rates of interest are decreased.
Flat conversions could not want planning permission
During his Autumn Statement to Parliament on the 25th of November, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed authorities plans to abolish the necessity for planning permission when homeowners select to transform a single home into two flats.
In its protection of the proposals, the Mail Online acknowledged that the transfer is proving controversial as a result of it may deny native communities the fitting of enter to adjustments that might alter the character of the realm.
Nevertheless, the federal government – and supporters of the plans – argues that the proposed “permitted development right” would encourage a rise within the provide of properties each for hire and on the market whereas additionally serving to to decrease the common price of extra reasonably priced dwellings.
Slashing the necessity for purple tape may assist to extend the variety of reasonably priced properties, say commentators, though the next variety of residents will exacerbate parking issues and possibly invite opposition from these already residing within the neighbourhood.
Up to 50% of southern England landlords seeking to promote up
The exodus of landlords from the purchase to let market continues apace – although with notable variations within the south of England in contrast with the north, argued an article in Landlord Zone on the 30th of November.
Landlords in components of southern England, for instance, are promoting up and leaving the market altogether on the alarming price of 52%. While half of the present variety of landlords are leaving on this a part of the nation, the speed is “only” 26% and 22% within the northern conurbations of Leeds and Manchester respectively. Across the nation as an entire, the proportion of landlords giving up their purchase to let companies is round 17%.
The causes for the north-south divide are many and assorted. At least one purpose superior for the distinction in attitudes amongst landlords is that the north has seen the next price of progress within the worth of residential property prior to now yr – creating the impression of it being a safer place for funding than the south of the nation.
Older renters shifting to cheaper areas and smaller properties
Against the background of rising rents and a dearth of accessible properties, older tenants need to cheaper components of the nation and usually smaller properties during which to maneuver, in response to a narrative in Landlord Today on the 30th of November.
The pattern is supported by figures on the forms of tenancy agreed by older renters with incomes of between £30,000 and £70,000 a yr. In this pattern, a current survey indicated that through the first six months of this yr fewer than half of latest tenancies have been for properties with three or extra bedrooms (the rest have been for one and two-bedroom rental properties.
During the identical interval in 2020, nevertheless, 57% of latest tenancies have been for properties providing three or extra bedrooms.