Cranes point to upturn in city's property market

According to this article by Manchester Evening News on October 16th, 2013 Manchester now leads the property market and is soaring ahead of its regional rivals

Research by Deloitte Real Estate shows that 19 major new developments are underway in the city centre – compared to 13 in Birmingham and eight in Leeds.

Eight new residential developments, three new hotel developments, two student housing schemes and one new office development have contributed to Manchester’s growth, according to the Deloitte Crane Survey.

The new residential developments are around Salford, Ancoats and the Northern Quarter and between them add up to 963 new homes, the highest number under development in the central Manchester area since 2009.

The two new student housing schemes will add 1,246 new bedrooms.
Hotel development is already gathering speed – and expected to be one of the fastest growth areas in 2014, say the authors of the Crane Survey.


They report that 633 new hotel bedrooms are under construction. Four further hotel developments could add another 830 beds, with two of the projects likely to start on site imminently.

The office market is also improving, says Deloitte. The company says that 324,500 sq ft of new office space is under construction, half of which is already let to occupiers. Deloitte warns that the supply of new office space will soon run short.

The total under construction is well below the 480,000 sq ft averaged over the last ten years and so far no new developments are planned to complete construction work in 2015 or 2016.

Meanwhile, demand for office space is rising, with total take-up of all grades of city centre office space up 49 per cent in the first half of 2013.

Last year, they recorded just five developments for Manchester across all sectors.
The Deloitte report comes as other economic data points to an upswing in the fortunes of the city’s economy.

Earlier this week, the latest Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking North West PMI index revealed that levels of new business across the north west expanded for the eighth consecutive month in September.

Article Source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/research-deloitte-real-estate-shows-6192874

Help to Buy Has No Safeguards to Ensure the North Feels the Benefit Too

This article by Graham Jones of The Northener Blog on October 10th, 2013 tells us that constituent's tax should not be used to give a leg-up to bankers who want a 95% mortgage on a £600,000 London townhouse.

This week the government launched the second part of the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme – the means by which the state will guarantee 15% of the deposit on a mortgage.

The government claims this will help people who can't save for a deposit to get onto the housing ladder. Critics – everyone else from financiers to economists to housing specialists – claim it will create a new and unsustainable housing bubble; subprime lending that was the cause of the banking collapse.

For someone struggling to save, a reduced deposit is an easier route to home ownership.

But this has to be about more than one mortgage. It has to consider the cumulative impact and the colossal risks that brings to government finances should it all go wrong.

But the aspect of the policy I find particularly interesting is the huge and conflicting disparities between the housing markets in and around London, and much of the north of England; in particular in very low demand areas such as my constituency, Accrington. A quick glance at current average house prices on Prime Location shows a gigantic disparity between London (average price £491,000 – predicted to rise to £500,000 by the end of the year) and Lancashire (£141,000 to £157,000, depending exactly where).

The policy therefore runs the risk of pumping far more money into already super-heated housing markets in London simply by virtue of the cost of properties there. The policy has no mechanism to ensure a geographical allocation of the guarantees – there is nothing to prevent the majority of the £12bn being spent on fewer, more expensive mortgages.

Even in Lancashire this high bracket has seemingly perverse consequences – the £600,000 upper limit could purchase a very large property indeed. It is possible to buy five-bedroom properties with significant land with room for stables and horses. Should the hard-pressed taxpayer support the wealthy of Lancashire?

As the Guardian itself warned this week, City bankers were holding off buying a property and getting 95% mortgages instead in order to free up cash that would otherwise be locked into a property through the deposit. I do not think city bankers and those hoping to bump themselves up the ladder (up to a potential £600,000 house!) are particularly the people that we ought to be focusing on when it comes to housing aspiration – and it certainly wasn't the way the policy was sold to the public. My hard-pressed constituents are paying into a pool of money which could be being used to guarantee the mortgage of someone who gets very highly paid so they can buy a £600,000 house.

The reason we have low demand in East Lancashire is in part due to the economy, but that in turn is partly due to the housing market: we have an oversupply of houses that people don't want to live in (many of which as a result stand empty, boarded up). If the government wanted to improve the housing prospects of first-time buyers they would focus on building new houses across the country. £12bn to prop up mortgages could be spent to massively open up supply and build hundreds of thousands of new dwellings.

I hope this policy works for the people who take part in it, and anything that helps (or could help, as long as the budget isn't swallowed up on a smaller number of expensive properties) young people should be welcomed – however it is a short-term solution to the problem of undersupply of housing in parts of the country, and undersupply of quality properties in others.

My constituents' tax is being used to guarantee these mortgages – they ought to benefit from it (I hope the Treasury is at least monitoring where the money is going, though I am not optimistic). There are better policies the government could have pursued, but this is the one they chose – the least they could do is guarantee my constituents have an equal opportunity to take part.

• Graham Jones is the Labour MP for Haslingden and Hyndburn

Article Source: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/the-northerner/2013/oct/10/help-to-buy-scheme-north-safeguards

House Prices Rise Again Fuelling Fears of a 'Bubble'

Another house prices increase in addition to low mortgage interest rates could be mean economic crisis for the country according to this article by Eileen Kersey of Digital Journal on September 16th, 2013.

London - When the economic crisis hit in 2008 it had direct links to the housing market. The UK has experienced inflated house prices in the past and the "bubble" subsequently bursting. Could the introduction of a Government scheme to help buy homes be bad news? 

 

People buy homes for many reasons -- to get a step on the housing ladder, investment, to get a family home or as there is little alternative available. 

 

News that house prices in parts of the UK are rapidly increasing, added to low mortgage interest rates, may be a winner for householders but it could be bad economic news for the country. 

 

The UK is suffering a housing shortage. The ill-thought out "bedroom tax" was allegedly created to ease this shortage, but to date has failed. Householders faced with a reduction in benefit or moving to a smaller property faced "Catch 22" -- there were no properties available. 

 

The coalition government's Help To Buy Scheme offers a lifeline to would be homeowners. On the surface it sounds a good scheme but there are some possible pitfalls. One for the British economy is that it could create a "housing bubble" which sooner or later will burst. If that happens any short term monetary gains you may have made will soon be wiped out. 

 

Deputy Prime Minister, and leader of the Liberal Democrat party, Nick Clegg insits that the UK is not facing another "housing bubble". The Lib Dems are holding their annual conference and Monday the Irish Examiner reports: 

 

 Nick Clegg, Britain’s deputy prime minister, has said that the UK is nowhere near a house-price bubble and the Bank of England has tools to prevent it, amid growing concerns that government support for home-buying is stoking another boom. If there’s another bubble, the Bank of England and the government “have means by which we can anticipate that and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Mr Clegg told the BBC. 

 

 An increase in the value of your home is good news if you are a home-owner. House prices in the UK have stagnated, with some decreasing in value, since 2008. 

 

A false house price increase, stoked by a boom in the housing industry though, is bad news. In the past it meant that banks had expensive mortgages on properties that had reduced in value. 

 

This shortfall hit the banking industry in Spain and that economy has yet to recover.

 

The UK and US can pinpoint there financial woes to the banking sector, and housing industry. 

 

Getting a mortgage in the UK has been difficult since 2008 but this weekend Santander announced that it was offering a raft of new deals to open up the mortgage market. 

 

More good news but what about a possible housing bubble? Monday the Guardian reports: 

 

A leading estate agent has tripled its forecast for house price rises in 2013, stoking fears of a destabilising house price bubble. 

Online estate agent Rightmove has raised its 2013 house price forecast for the third time this year to more than double the rate of inflation. The chain expects the average property price to increase by 6% this year, up from the 4% it predicted just two months ago. At the start of the year it predicted prices would rise by 2%

On Wednesday the Bank of England's financial policy committee will meet to discuss the possibility of a property bubble, and what remedial measures can be taken. 

 

Calls for that committee to cap annual house price growth in the UK at 5% a year illustrate concerns about a housing bubble which could quickly form and rapidly burst. According to the Independent: 

 

 Britain’s leading chartered surveyors have made an unprecedented call for the Bank of England to put a cap on annual house price inflation in order to avoid a “dangerous” debt bubble. 

 

Surely, however, this will hit confidence in the UK housing market and deter those who buy property as an investment? 

 

With a north south divide in the UK house prices are already a hotch-potch across the country.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/358436#ixzz2f7dQ2Rsn

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

Private Rents Edge Up Slightly

This August 16, 2013 article by Express & Star reveals that private rents has only lifted a slight pace.

Private rents have edged up by just £1 on average over the last couple of months as more people find it easier to get on the property ladder, according to a major lettings network.

Rents saw a small 0.2% increase in July to reach £738 a month typically, following a flat month in June, according to LSL Property Services, which owns chains Your Move and Reeds Rains.

The findings mean that rents across England and Wales have risen by just £1 typically since May, LSL said.

Its report comes in the same week that the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that first-time buyer numbers have soared to their highest levels since 2007.

A range of Government schemes have made it easier for people with smaller deposits who may have found themselves previously "trapped" in the rental sector to get access to a mortgage.

London is the only area where rents have lifted at a faster pace than inflation over the last 12 months, with an annual increase of 5.7%. Rents in London rose by 0.3% month-on-month to reach a new high for the study of £1,118 typically.

Wales and the South East saw the strongest month-on-month increases in rents, both recording rises of 0.8%. By contrast, rents in the South West fell by 1.1% and the North East saw rents drop by 0.8% on a monthly basis.

Across England and Wales, rents are around 1.8% higher than they were a year ago, which is well below consumer price index (CPI) rate of inflation of 2.8% in July.

The easing pressure on rents led to an improvement in tenants' finances. Some 8.1% of rent across England and Wales was late or unpaid in July, edging down from 8.3% in June.

LSL said that in the medium-term it still expects rents to at least keep up with wider inflation as demand in the sector is still strong, despite the softening in demand due to people getting on the housing ladder.

David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, said: "This summer, the house purchase market has jerked into motion. And everyone is feeling the impact of that sudden change of gear.

"Buying a first home might only be possible for those with a big enough deposit and sufficient earnings, but the effects are reverberating through the rental market too."

He added: "It's unlikely July will be typical after the initial change of pace in the purchase market, but a few months of more affordable rents are win-win for everyone."

The findings are based on rents achieved on 19,000 properties.

Article Source: http://www.expressandstar.com/business/uk-money/2013/08/15/private-rents-edge-up-slightly/