Planning Permissions for Housing Rise 49%

This article by Alex Johnson of The Independent on September 24th, 2013 shows that 49% year-on-year increase in the number of planning approvals for new homes between April and June in 2013.

Figures from the Home Builder’s Federation show a 49% year-on-year increase in the number of planning approvals for new homes between April and June in 2013. Although this is a slight drop from the previous three months, there were 77,686 permissions granted in the first six months of the year, a 26% year-on-year increase.

Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman of the HBF, said: “The overall trend in residential permissions is very positive. It reflects house builders’ increasing confidence in the market and also the positive principles of the new planning system. With Help to Buy forging ahead strongly and developers looking to increase output, we need to see the increase sustained.

“However, at a time when developers are looking to build more much needed homes, we are increasingly concerned by the conditions attached to many of these permissions that prevent actual work starting on site. Local Authorities must ensure planning conditions are not overly onerous or unrealistic otherwise despite the success of Help to Buy, the much needed increase in housing supply will be held back. Despite the increase in permissions granted, we are still well short of the 220,000 permissions required annually to meet housing need.”


House haggling

A study of 2,000 UK adults by Gocompare.com suggests that 89% of those who ask for a discount are successful in their negotiations. Cars and motorbikes (34%) top the list of goods and services people successfully haggled over, followed by electrical products (30%) and furniture (28%). Around a quarter said they had haggled over the price of a house.

New buy-to-let ranges

Virgin Money has launched a new range of buy-to-let mortgages with rates starting from 3.38% for a 2 year fixed rate with a £1,995 fee. Following the fixed or tracker period, all mortgages from the new range will revert to the Virgin Money Buy-To-Let Variable Rate, currently set at 4.99%.

Meanwhile, Accord Buy to Let has launched three new mortgages with zero completion fees, all available at a maximum of 75% loan to value with rates starting from 3.79%. They also offer £500 cashback on completion. The full details are:

* Two year fixed rate at 3.79% with £195 product fee and £500 cashback

* Three year fixed rate at 4.09% with £195 product fee and £500 cashback

* Five year fixed rates at 4.69% with £195 product fee and £500 cashback

Article Source: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/09/24/planning-permissions-for-housing-rise-49/

Region’s Buy-To-Let Property Boom Will Last

According to the reports by Knighht Knox International, a leading property firm, the buy-to-let property boom is here for the long haul as shown on this article by lep.co.uk on August 22, 2013.

The buy-to-let property boom is here for the long haul, reports leading property firm Knight Knox International.

The North West is one of the best-perfoming areas, with Manchester and Liverpool particularly buoyant, latest figures show. More purpose-built student accommodation has been heralded as the answer to an increasing demand for rental stock.

The number of first-time buyers in England has now fallen to 200,000 per year, a staggering drop from 600,000 in 1999 according to Jones Lang La Salle.

Although rewards are strong for landlords investing in the buy-to-let market across the country, LSL confirmed in their buy-to-let index for April 2013 that rewards were in fact the strongest in the North West, where yields were highest.

The index documents that the North West produced yields of 7.2 per cent, topping London’s 5 per cent.

The average North West rent was £568, outshining the average rents of near counterparts Yorkshire and the North-East.

Article Source: http://www.lep.co.uk/news/business/region-s-buy-to-let-property-boom-will-last-1-5976941

Record Numbers Plan to Fund Retirement by Selling Property

According to this article by Patrick Collinson on August 13th, 2013 of The Guardian nearly five million homeowners say they will sell or rent their main property, as annuity rates slump to new low.

Record numbers of people are planning to sell their main home to fund their retirement, according to research published on Tuesday, which comes amid claims that pensioners will have to live to 90 to make annuities "good value".

The research, by Baring Asset Management, found that 13% of people (nearly 5 million) say they are planning to rent or sell property to fund their retirement, up from 11% last year.

But there were big regional variations, with people in the south west four times more likely to have property to sell their primary residence in retirement compared to people in Scotland and the West Midlands.

Faith in property as an investment for retirement mirrors the decline in confidence about annuities. An annuity is the annual income that savers buy from their pension pot, but rates have collapsed over the past decade, and moved to new lows as quantitative easing and Funding for Lending has depressed interest rates.

Ros Altmann, a former pensions adviser to Tony Blair, told the Daily Mail that annuities are now "the biggest gamble" of pensioners' lives, and that they will have to live to 82 to get their money back, and 90 before they become "good value".

She said: "Buying an annuity is considered the 'safe' thing to do when reaching retirement. This is misguided. The 'safety' only refers to the fact that the amount of income will be set for the rest of your life.

"But the capital itself is at risk. Most people will receive a very poor return on their money – and many will not get their money returned to them at all."

Many people have turned to buy-to-let as an alternative to traditional pension plans, as the investment does not have to be turned into an annuity – and have enjoyed much better returns than equities or bonds.

The Office for National Statistics reported on Tuesday that house prices rose 0.4% month-on-month in June, as they had done in May, which pushed the annual rate of increase up to 3.1% from 2.9%. This is being inflated by strong price rises in London (up 8.1% year-on-year in June).

The figures come hard on the heels of a report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which indicated that Help to Buy and other schemes are fuelling a rapid recovery in prices.

Economist Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said: "It is looking ever more likely that house prices will see marked increases over the rest of 2013 and during 2014, with the result that we have raised our house price forecasts. We now expect house prices to rise by at least 3% over the rest of 2013 and to then increase by 7% in 2014."

Article Source:  http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/aug/13/record-numbers-retirement-selling-property