Overpriced Housing Market Puts People 'on Knife Edge'

This article by Ian Silvera of International Business Times on November 11th, 2013 tells us how property prices and rents increased making family budgets put under enormous pressure.

Signs advertising homes, sold, for sale and under offer in London (Reuters)

The cost of home ownership and renting in Britain has "dangerous consequences" and is eating into people's pockets by decreasing their disposable income by more than a third, a report has claimed.

A BBC-commissioned Ipsos Mori poll of 1,003 adults found that 31% of the 697 who pay a mortgage or rent a property spend 40% of their disposable income each month on accommodation.

Nearly half (46%) of the respondents said  property prices were too high in their area and 39% wanted rates to fall.

"Our severe shortage of affordable homes has pushed up house prices and rents so much that family budgets are now being put under enormous pressure," said Campbell Robb, chief executive of homelessness charityShelter.

"Already, our advisers see people living on a knife edge, paying out so much each month that it just takes one thing - illness or a cut in hours - to tip them into a spiral that quickly puts their home at risk."

Robb explained that the widely accepted test of affordability was that housing costs should take up no more than a third of someone's income.

Kathleen Kelly, a policy and research manager for housing at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, argued that the UK's housing market had been "ignored for too long" with "dangerous consequences".

She warned: "To reduce the £22bn ($35bn, €26bn) annual housing benefit bill we need more affordable homes to help bring down costs. Without a step change in housing supply, we'll stay locked into a boom and bust housing market, which increasingly crowds out the young, the poor and the vulnerable."

The research follows the news in August that the average property price in the UK soared to nearly a quarter of a million pounds (£247,000), according to official figures.

Article Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/521312/20131111/joseph-rowntree-foundation-shelter-bbc-poll-survey.htm

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RBS Agrees 1,080 Mortgages Through UK's 'Help to Buy' Scheme

This article by The Star Online on November 11th, 2013 tells us that RBS agrees mortgages with 1080 customers through Help to Buy scheme.

LONDON: State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed in principle mortgages with 1,080 customers since Britain's flagship 'Help to Buy' housing stimulus programme was launched a month ago.

The Conservative government is pushing the plan, with a 2015 election in mind, as a way to help people move onto, or up, the property ladder, and stimulate growth after three years of economic stagnation.

RBS, which owns NatWest, said 73 percent of the mortgages were for first-time buyers. If all of the applications are approved, the bank will be lending 171.6 million pounds under the scheme.

It said the average amount its customers wanted to borrow was 159,000 pounds and the average price of the home they wanted to buy was 167,565 pounds.

"These are majority young first-time buyers who, without 'Help to Buy', wouldn't have been able to consider a mortgage or buy a home," said Lloyd Cochrane, head of mortgages at NatWest and RBS.

Meanwhile Halifax, owned by RBS's part-nationalised rival Lloyds Banking Group, said it had received 1,309 mortgage applications from home buyers across the UK who have found a property to purchase.Halifax said the applications were for mortgages worth a total of 194 million pounds.

Critics say that unless the three-year scheme is properly scrutinised it could drive up house prices in sought-after areas like London and create a housing bubble that might burst when interest rates start to rise later this decade.

RBS is allowing customers to draw down the funds before the scheme officially launches in January and said 5 customers had already purchased new homes through the scheme.- Reuters

Article Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/11/11/RBS-Agrees-1080-Mortgages-Through-UKs-Help-To-Buy-Scheme.aspx

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Osborne Said To Be Considering Tax For Foreign Property-Buyers

This article by Amanda Banks of Tax-News Global Tax News on November 5th, 2013 reveals George Osborne has declined to reports confirming that the govt. is considering moves to foreign investors.

UK Chancellor George Osborne has declined to confirm reports that the Government is considering moves to make foreign investors pay Capital Gains Tax on property sales in Britain, as a measure to calm property prices in London.

Asked by the BBC, Osborne said that he would not comment ahead of next month's Autumn Statement, but that the reports were "not a leak that's come from anyone near me."

Currently, foreign investors are exempt from paying the tax, which is imposed on UK residents who sell a property that is not their main residence. The exemption has been described as an "extraordinary anomaly" by Vince Cable, who is the Government's Business Secretary and a member of the Coalition Government's junior partner, the Liberal Democrats.

Lucian Cook, who is Director of Residential Research at estate agency Savills, judged that move would be a "much more targeted and much less controversial solution" to property prices than a proposed Mansion Tax on the most valuable properties. However, the British Property Federation (BPF) reacted by warning that reports about the tax would cause uncertainty, and it has instead called for more homes to be built.

Estate Agency Frank Knight was quoted as saying that around 70 percent of the most expensive new London properties have gone to foreign investors, and that 65 percent of these buyers were buying properties for renting out rather than to live in. Property prices in London rose by 9 percent in August, against a national average of 2 percent.

Overseas purchasers are also thought to be responsible for house prices rises in Hong Kong, Sydney, and Vancouver. Last year, Hong Kong introduced a 15 percent stamp duty surcharge on purchases by buyers who are not permanent residents, while a senior banker in Australia recently made news by suggesting a 5 percent stamp duty surcharge for foreign buyers.

Article Source: http://www.tax-news.com/news/Osborne_Said_To_Be_Considering_Tax_For_Foreign_PropertyBuyers____62574.html 

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Details of Foreign Buyers of Property in London

This article by Property Wire on October 24th, 2013 reveals the large number of foreign buyers in London especially in prime property market according to new research from Knight Frank.

There has been a lot of talk about the huge number of overseas buyers in London, especially in the new build prime property market, but a new detailed analysis shows that only a small proportion do not live in the UK.
 
Of all £1 million plus prime central London new build sales in the 12 months to June 2013, just 28% were to buyers not resident in the UK, according to an analysis report from Knight Frank.

While most analysis to date has concentrated on the nationality of purchasers, this research focuses on a buyer’s residence. In a city as diverse and globally connected as London, where, for example, 38% of inner London residents were classified as foreign born in the 2011 census, this is perhaps more accurate when assessing foreign demand, the firm said.

The research reveals that over the 12 months to June 2013 49% of all £1 million plus sales in prime central London went to foreign buyers by nationality and the 28% who were not resident in the UK were mostly investors looking to earn an income by letting their properties to Londoners.

To understand the scale of international purchases across Greater London Knight Frank’s research team assessed a sample of 3,500 property titles for new build property purchased in the 24 months to June 2013. This involved developments in all 33 Greater London boroughs, with sales prices ranging from £200,000 to £5 million.

Residence of ownership was based on the proprietor record in each title from the Land Registry. Where there were companies or trusts the researchers took a view that with the exception of registered social landlords, or other obviously UK based entities, these records represented international purchasers.

The research found that 51% of new build purchases in the relatively small prime central London market were to UK residents over the past two years. Across the remainder of inner London the portion rises to 80%. In outer London, that is the remaining 19 boroughs, more than 93% of sales were to UK residents.

Overall the most number of foreign buyers come from Europe, the Middle East and Russia, the research also shows.

‘Our estimate is that over the past two years 85% to 90% of all new build purchases in Greater London have been to UK residents,’ said Liam Bailey, global head of residential research.

‘When we considered the two year period covered by our sample of new build sales records there was no indication of a shift towards higher non resident purchases over that period. While some developers have noted rising interest from overseas buyers in areas outside central London, these appear to be localised examples,’ explained Bailey.

‘Our research points to the fact that the majority of demand for new build property in London from overseas remains focussed on the relatively small and concentrated market made up of the central London postcodes,’ he added.

Article Source: http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/london-international-buyer-research-201310248384.html

UK House Rrices Recorded Their Fastest Rise

This recent news article by Reuters on September 10th, 2013 reveals the fastest rise of house prices ever recorded in almost seven years and sales volumes also jumped to a multi-year high.

(Reuters) - British house prices recorded their fastest rise in almost seven years last month and a measure of sales volumes also jumped to a multi-year high, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' seasonally adjusted house price balance climbed to +40 from a slightly upwardly revised +37 in July, staying at its highest since November 2006.

The balance reflects the percentage of property professionals saying that prices rose minus those reporting falls.

Britain's housing market has shown signs of a revival this year, spurred by a healing economy and help from the government and the Bank of England to ease access to finance. But the scale of the recovery has raised concerns about a new property bubble.

The RICS survey found that a net balance of +45 of surveyors expect further price growth over the next three months. Over the coming year, house prices are forecast to rise by 2.2 percent.

"Momentum is increasingly broad-based across the country; this isn't just a London story," RICS said.

The average number of sold properties per surveyor rose to 17.9 over the last three months, the highest since January 2010.

The number of properties going on sale also increased markedly in August, with the relevant balance jumping to +26 from 16 in July.

"With positivity starting to return to areas right across the UK, it seems those who may have been waiting for the right time to sell are choosing now to do so," RICS said.

(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova; editing by Ron Askew)

Article Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/09/uk-house-prices-rise-further-sales-jump-idUKBRE98817R20130909

Is Shared Ownership a Real Housing Solution?

With the ongoing nation's housing crisis it has been carried out that shared ownership plan is the solution according to this article on August 31st, 2013 by Patrick Collinson of TheGuardian.

A Shelter report has concluded that a robust and organised shared ownership scheme is a key part of solving the nation's housing crisis.

The shared ownership flat in London's Docklands seemed like salvation for Mark and his partner, who had spent years trying to find a home in striking distance of where they work in the capital. It was pricey, at £437,000, so they could only afford a 25% share, but with the rent set at a reasonable level it was just about affordable.

Yet just a few months later it turned into a nightmare for the first-time buyers, with the service charge hiked up by 73% to an unmanageable £380 a month, or £4,560 a year.

The service charge, plus the mortgage payment and rent, make the property no longer viable for Mark who feels conned by the housing association that sold the flat. At the time of the purchase, the association provided him with an "estimate" of the service charge, even though, he claims, it later admitted it knew this was not an accurate reflection of the costs, and that it would be raised in a matter of weeks.

If the true charge had been disclosed Mark would not have proceeded with the purchase, and in any case would have failed the affordability test.

Mark's tale is just one among many about this hybrid form of property buying for the desperate. One former head of the National Association of Estate Agents likened shared ownership to "sending lambs to the slaughter".

The concept of "staircasing", where a young buyer takes on a 25% share then buys further portions on the way to full ownership, is largely illusory.

A Cambridge University report found that of the estimated 145,000 shared ownership properties already sold in England, only 27,908 have been staircased up to 100% ownership since 2001.

Many shared ownership apartments are overpriced new-builds flogged by housing associations using dubious techniques whereby the buyer is almost guaranteed instant negative equity. So-called "affordable" homes sell for as much as £640,000 (a two-bed in Tower Hamlets, east London) with combined monthly costs adding up to as much as £2,000. To qualify buyers need incomes of up to £80,000 a year.

Legal fees to staircase can be high, service charges are steep and selling up is difficult when you are restricted to just a small pool of potential buyers. Much of the public subsidy that goes into shared ownership ends up in the pockets of developers and landowners, which are able to charge an inflated price.

Yet housing charity Shelter, after a long investigation into the property market focusing on the 1.8 million low-to middle-income "forgotten families" trapped in renting this week concluded that the solution to the UK's housing problem is … shared ownership.

To be fair to Shelter, its inquiry makes no bones about the current shoddy state of the shared ownership market. It has developed in a piecemeal way, with multiple schemes launched by successive governments, none having a material impact on the market.

Shelter's vision is for a major, mainstream shared ownership market supported by the government to the tune of £12bn in order to provide 600,000 decent homes for priced-out families throughout their lives.

Shelter reckons the minimum share of ownership should be as low as 12%. That effectively turns the purchase into a controlled rent home from a social landlord with a bit chipped in by the "buyer". But maybe that is no bad thing. The main attraction of shared ownership is that unlike the private rented sector it gives full security to the occupiers, as they can't be evicted with just a couple of months' notice.

Shelter acknowledges that shared ownership is not the entire answer – we need to address the chronic undersupply of new homes in other ways as well. The government's Help to Buy scheme won't help, either. Shelter estimates that when the second part of the scheme goes live in 2014, three in four families will still be unable to raise enough money to buy an average three-bedroom home in their area.

It is good that Shelter has put shared ownership under the spotlight, as it is a sector that urgently needs reform. But it's sad that the best we can offer today's younger generations is a quarter share of what the baby boomers saw as their birthright.

Article Source: http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2013/aug/31/shared-ownership-housing-solution

First-time Buyers Get on Property Ladder

This article of Exeter Express and Echo on August 29, 2013 discusses Barratt pledge to help first-time buyers in Exeter to get into the property ladder and will have more shot in owning their own home.

Leading house builder Barratt has pledged to help as many first-time buyers in Exeter as possible take their first step on the housing ladder this summer.

Barratt, which has a wide range of developments across Exeter, has a number of schemes available for first time buyers, the most popular being Help to Buy.

The Government-backed scheme, Help to Buy, is helping first time buyers take the first steps onto the housing ladder with just a fice per cent deposit.

"We know first-time buyers face a number of challenges but we believe Help to Buy will give more people than ever before the chance of owning their own home," said Barratt Homes sales director Lee Monk.

"There are so many advantages for first-time buyers. In past years, we know that saving money for a deposit was difficult, but if you can raise the five per cent deposit you will be able to buy a new home with Help to Buy," added Lee.

Help to Buy, which is only available on new homes, is made up an "equity loan" and "mortgage guarantee". This means that you only need a five per cent deposit to qualify for the best mortgage rates and then the Government will lend you up to 20 per cent of the value of your property through an equity loan.

Among those who have bought their first home with Help to Buy are Wayne Bacon and Alicia Andrews.

"We got engaged earlier this year and decided to buy a home together," said Alicia. "Help to Buy was fantastic for us because it shortened the time it would take for us to get onto the property ladder."

If you would like find out more about how Barratt is helping first time buyers call 0844 5710 385 or log onto www.barratthomes.co.uk

Article Source: http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/time-buyers-property-ladder/story-19721313-detail/story.html#axzz2dLGx3NWR

Best Places to Live Around the UK: Manchester

This very interesting article of WhatHouse? on August 21, 2013 simply tours you around Manchester and why it is one of the ideal places to live around UK.

Famed for its vibrant individual culture, Manchester brings together a love of football, an eclectic clubbing scene and a rich arts and culture scene established from the city's industrial heritage. One of the most popular places to live and work outside London, Manchester is a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures.

With several universities, an accepted gay scene, a compact and easily accessible city centre, unbeatable shopping and leafy close by suburbs, the diverse mix of attractions and activities on offer is undeniable.

Making life easier for its inhabitants, public transport is available in abundance. An impressive bus, tram and railway network connects the city centre with the extensive Greater Manchester area. Conveniently accessible to London, Scotland and the network of nearby northern cities, Manchester is ideally placed to touch base beyond the city limits.
Becoming increasingly popular as a location for business investment, the BBC is among the big names attracted by the benefits of Greater Manchester.

Something Manchester can't shake off are its associations with some very wet weather. Living in Manchester may require an investment in a heavy duty umbrella!

Arts and culture

What the city may be lacking in identifiable landmarks, Manchester more than compensates for with the large number of cultural attractions to choose from. The Museum of Science, Imperial War Museum, The Manchester Art Gallery all provide something different. If visiting neighbouring city Salford, The Lowry Theatre overlooking the canal is worth visiting.

Entertainment

Manchester has long been known for its bustling music scene which continues to be a strong influence. From arenas to quirky pubs filled with character in the interesting Northern Quarter, there is always something of interest for all tastes of music. The Northern Quarter is also the place to be for those looking for a more alternative shopping, eating and drinking experience.

For those who like to indulge in some retail therapy, Manchester is hard to beat. Designer department store Selfridges, often voted as the "World's Best Department Store", has a base in the city and in the extensive out of town shopping mall, The Trafford Centre. Traditional high street stores can be found at the Arndale with high-end boutiques surrounding the modern business hub of Spinningfields.

Sport and Manchester come hand in hand. The city's two hugely successful football teams host a wealth of world-class football games. Following the Commonwealth Games in 2002, Manchester received a huge boost in terms of its sporting facilities, world-class for their time.

Also worth a visit are the bars and restaurants of Deansgate. With its flowing overlooking canals the vibrant area is the perfect place to spend a sunny afternoon.

Escaping city life

Living in Manchester doesn't always have to be about city life. Suburbs in Greater Manchester provide a good balance between city and rural living, well served by local amenities and established schools.

The beautiful and scenic areas of the Peak and Lake Districts can be accessed in under one and two hours respectively. Both offering National Parks, there is unrivalled natural beauty to enjoy by boot, boat or bike.

Looking for a getaway further afield? Manchester's International Airport is the largest outside of London offering access to attractive and exotic locations worldwide.
In spite of the city's increasing popularity, one of the key benefits of Manchester how cost-effective it is for its size and amenities on offer, especially when compared to life in the capital. From housing, to leisure activities and entertainment, Manchester is guaranteed to give you more for your money.

What is your favourite thing about life in Manchester?

Article Source: http://www.whathouse.co.uk/news/best-places-to-live-manchester-160?page=1#.Uhrp0z_tYh8

Property Asking Price Discounts in the UK are Falling Sharply

This interesting article by the Property Wire on August 20, 2013 shows how property market accumulate new figures displaying a part of discounted properties for sale has greatly fallen.

As the UK property market picks up new figures show that the proportion of discounted properties for sale has fallen from 37% to 32% over past 12 months.
 
Average asking price discount on the original asking prices has come down to 6.3% from 7.6% a year ago but there are regional differences.

The North/South property divide remains clearly evident in the Zoopla research, showing all of the top 10 areas with the highest proportion of discounted properties being in the North and nine of the top 10 areas with the biggest discounts on offer also being in the North.

For example, some 42.7% of properties currently for sale in Barnsley have had their asking price reduced at least once since being put on the market, with Rotherham at 42.3% and Wakefield at 42.1% not far behind.

London continues to have the lowest proportion of discounted properties on the market with less than a quarter, 22.8%, of properties for sale in the capital today having seen their asking price reduced since being listed for sale.

Edinburgh at 27.7% has the second lowest proportion of price reduced properties on the market currently, followed by Wolverhampton at 29%. Poole has the biggest average discount in the UK today, currently standing at 9.9%.

‘A fall in the proportion and level of asking price discounts suggests sellers are feeling more confident and happy to wait it out to achieve their target asking price. First time buyers are finally getting a look in due to improved mortgage availability which in turn is lifting the whole market,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla.

‘Banks, sellers and buyers are all more bullish about the state of the economy, which bodes well for the months ahead. And the Bank of England’s forward guidance on interest rates has generated a greater sense of certainty about the future, which should lead to even more activity,’ he added.

Article Source: http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/uk-asking-price-discounts-201308208136.html

UK Property Asking Prices Up 5.5% Year/Year in Aug

According to Rightmove on Monday Britain's asking home prices are 5.5% up compared to last year as revealed on this article by Reuters on August 18, 2013.

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Asking prices for homes in Britain are 5.5 percent higher than a year ago, property website Rightmove said on Monday as it urged the government to boost the supply of new homes to avoid a house price bubble.

Rightmove figures, which are not seasonally adjusted, show the price of property coming on to the market has risen 8.8 percent in the first eight months of the year.

Record low mortgage rates, government lending incentives and rising optimism in Britain's economic recovery have fuelled a marked pick up in house price inflation in recent months.

Mortgage lender Halifax reported prices rose an annual 4.6 percent in July and a survey last week from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors suggested house prices were rising at their fastest pace since 2006.

The rally has been most marked in London where prices are up 10.2 percent on the year, according to Rightmove.

With house prices already rising faster than inflation, the government is under pressure from some quarters to abandon plans to offer state-backed guarantees to riskier homebuyers.

The scheme, part of the "Help to Buy" initiative announced by the government in their March Budget, is due to take effect in January.

"Demand is already on the up, and that's before the roll-out of phase two of the Help to Buy stimulus," said Rightmove director Miles Shipside. "It is now critical that the supply of property improves so that the goal of a significant increase in transaction numbers is not over-shadowed by an unsustainable boom in property prices."

The first phase of the government's "Help to Buy" scheme took effect in April and offers subsidies to buyers of new-build properties.

Article Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/18/britain-property-rightmove-idUSL6N0GH1KA20130818

Property Sales on the Rise in Cheltenham say Estate Agents

Good news for property buyers because property sales are prospering in Cheltenham according to this article by Gloucestershire Echo on August 14th, 2013.

PROPERTY sales are booming in Cheltenham, according to local estate agents.

There are less houses on the market than there are willing buyers, making demand for homes the highest it has been in four years.

During July, the number of potential buyers looking to enter the market nationally grew at the fastest rate in the UK since July 2009.

Since the start of the year, buyers have gradually been returning to test the market and the number of would-be buyers seen have grown.

Erling Lindoe, branch partner for RA Bennett & Partners based in Bath Road, Cheltenham, said: "Everything is wonderful.

"The housing market is booming and there are not enough properties to go around.

"If you have got a property that is priced well, it will sell, which is probably due to demand.

"Over the past four years, rents have been increasing and have caused borrowing to stay very low." With rising buyer confidence, more potential sellers looked to test the market and place their homes up for sale.

Last month, 15 per cent more respondents reported rises rather than falls in new instructions.

Mr Lindoe said: "I wasn't necessarily aware that there is a major issue in the market.

"The market in Cheltenham is a very simple case of demand and supply. Demand is currently exceeding supply which helps. But I don't see that house prices are rising at the moment."

As part of continued growth, a Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) residential market survey expects sales to rise rather than fall over the next three months.

RICS global residential director Peter Bolton King said: "These results are great news for the property market as it looks like at long last a recovery could be around the corner.

"Growth in buyer numbers and prices have been happening in some parts of the country since the beginning of the year but this is the first time that everywhere has experienced some improvement.

"It is clearly good news those parts of the property market that were struggling are at last showing some signs of life."

Article Source: http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Property-sales-rise-Cheltenham-say-estate-agents/story-19655110-detail/story.html#axzz2c02FvAzB

Who Lives in a House like this? Some Vendors will go to Great Lengths to sell their Property

This very interesting and informative article by The Independent on July 30, 2013 simply suggests homeowners the dos and donts in selling their houses to potential buyers.

What’s the best way to sell your house to a potential buyer? Put a pot of coffee on to brew before they arrive or make sure there are fresh flowers in every room when your estate agent comes around to take some pictures for its online listing? Well, one enterprising vendor in east London has given their bedroom a boudoir feel by leaving a racy fuchsia negligee, complete with bottle of red and two glasses on the bed for the estate agent’s snapper to capture.

Dodgy estate-agent pictures are a bit of an internet meme right now and there’s even a blog called Terrible Real Estate Agent Photographs on Tumblr. But this saucy shoot – which is gleefully doing the rounds on Twitter – for up-market estate agent Foxtons, takes the concept of “dressing” a room for sale to a whole new level.

Sadly it isn’t the worst example of property pornification, though. “The worst case of this sort of property ‘dressing’ I’ve seen is a set of sexy silk underwear draped seductively over a mink bedspread in a £20m mansion near One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge. All it needed were burly Russian bodyguards to complete the picture,” says Tracy Kellet, director of BDI Homefinders buying agents. “And perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s usually a male developer or interior designer that thinks it’s a good idea to sex up a property.”

Kellet isn’t the only property insider to have come across an unlikely scene. “I once saw a set of photographs with a man asleep in the second bedroom,” says Jo Eccles, the managing director of Sourcing Property, a search-and-relocation company. “And on a viewing once I saw an owner go a step beyond fresh flowers and set out a full jug of Pimms complete with ice, chopped mint and freshly chopped strawberries.”

So does all of this help sell your house? “In the end all it does is detract from your home, so potential buyers spend more time thinking how odd you are, rather than imagining themselves living in your home,” warns Eccles.

Article Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/property/who-lives-in-a-house-like-this-some-vendors-will-go-to-great-lengths-to-sell-their-property-8680507.html

First-time Home Buyers Priced Out

This is an interesting report by the CNBC on July 23, 2013.

Home buyers face competition as investors want to rent the homes out, with CNBC's Diana Olick; Mike Aubrey, HGTV host of "Power Broker"; and Jared Jones, Horizon Realty Group. "In the next year, buyers may get a baton pass from investors," says Jones.'

To watch the video, click here.