The number of people privately renting homes has almost doubled over 10 years, the census found.
The 3.6 million homes rented from a private landlord or letting agency in 2011, which represented 15% of households, had risen from 1.9 million homes (9%) in 2001.
There was a decline in homes owned with a mortgage or loan, from 8.4 million (39% of households) in 2001, to 7.6 million ( 33%) in 2011.
But there was a rise in homes owned outright, from 6.4 million (29%) to 7.2 million (31%).
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Thursday 6 December 2012
Halifax says house prices to be little changed in 2013
House prices will see little change next year, predicts the Halifax.
Its forecast came as it reported a slight bounce-back in prices in November.Its latest monthly survey suggests that prices rose by 1% last month to £160,879, though that was still 1.3% down on a year ago.
During the past six months, the trend has been for average prices to drop slightly across the UK, on the Halifax's measurements.
The lender predicted that in 2013, prices would end the year somewhere in a range between 2% up on 2012, and 2% down.
"Conditions in the housing market have been largely unchanged over the past 12 months with little overall movement in either house prices or sales for the second consecutive year," said Martin Ellis, the Halifax's housing economist.
"This stability is remarkable given the poor domestic economic climate and the considerable uncertainty regarding the prospects for both the UK and world economies."
Wednesday 9 May 2012
Mortgage Lending hits 38 year low!
Lending for house purchase last year was the lowest for 38 years, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has reported.
It has also criticised the Government for ‘less helpful’ policies towards the housing and mortgage markets, which it says will increase repossessions.
Martijn van der Jeijden, chairman of the CML, says in his introduction to the CML’s annual report for 2011, that cuts in State support for borrowers in difficulty will put ‘upward pressure on mortgage arrears and repossessions in 2012 and beyond’.
He also criticised the Government’s ‘insistence that its welfare reforms should entail paying housing benefit to tenants rather than landlords’, saying that this would discourage lenders.
Van der Jeijden, who describes last year as ‘challenging’ for the UK economy, borrowers and lenders, is also critical of the FSA’s proposed reforms. He says: “It is clear that we still have a great deal to do to help deliver the right kind of regulatory reform which does not unnecessarily constrain the mortgage market.”
The report shows that there were 508,000 house purchase loans last year, down from 538,000 in 2010 – and the lowest annual total since 1974. Lending to first-time buyers slipped by 2% last year, compared with 2010.
Altogether, says the CML, there were 870,000 properties purchased last year, including cash purchases and buy-to-let.
Buy-to-let lending was the only sector that grew, expanding by 40% – with £14.1bn advanced, up from £10.01bn the year before. Even so, it remains subdued, and far down on the £45bn buy-to-let loans in 2007. Altogether, there were 124,000 buy-to-let loans last year, a 32% increase in number on 2010.
Remortgaging also grew, up by 18% to reach £46.7bn.
The CML’s annual report also criticises the European Commission for trying to impose its directive on credit agreements relating to residential property on the UK market.
It calls the Commission fundamentally misguided in its attempts to create a single mortgage market in Europe. Under the directive, buy-to-let mortgages would be treated like ordinary residential mortgages and assessed on the borrower’s income, but not on rents. The CML wants buy-to-let lending to remain outside the scope of regulation for the home-ownership market.
It has also criticised the Government for ‘less helpful’ policies towards the housing and mortgage markets, which it says will increase repossessions.
Martijn van der Jeijden, chairman of the CML, says in his introduction to the CML’s annual report for 2011, that cuts in State support for borrowers in difficulty will put ‘upward pressure on mortgage arrears and repossessions in 2012 and beyond’.
He also criticised the Government’s ‘insistence that its welfare reforms should entail paying housing benefit to tenants rather than landlords’, saying that this would discourage lenders.
Van der Jeijden, who describes last year as ‘challenging’ for the UK economy, borrowers and lenders, is also critical of the FSA’s proposed reforms. He says: “It is clear that we still have a great deal to do to help deliver the right kind of regulatory reform which does not unnecessarily constrain the mortgage market.”
The report shows that there were 508,000 house purchase loans last year, down from 538,000 in 2010 – and the lowest annual total since 1974. Lending to first-time buyers slipped by 2% last year, compared with 2010.
Altogether, says the CML, there were 870,000 properties purchased last year, including cash purchases and buy-to-let.
Buy-to-let lending was the only sector that grew, expanding by 40% – with £14.1bn advanced, up from £10.01bn the year before. Even so, it remains subdued, and far down on the £45bn buy-to-let loans in 2007. Altogether, there were 124,000 buy-to-let loans last year, a 32% increase in number on 2010.
Remortgaging also grew, up by 18% to reach £46.7bn.
The CML’s annual report also criticises the European Commission for trying to impose its directive on credit agreements relating to residential property on the UK market.
It calls the Commission fundamentally misguided in its attempts to create a single mortgage market in Europe. Under the directive, buy-to-let mortgages would be treated like ordinary residential mortgages and assessed on the borrower’s income, but not on rents. The CML wants buy-to-let lending to remain outside the scope of regulation for the home-ownership market.
Rightmove post strong start to 2012
Rightmove this morning announced a bullish performance to its shareholders after hiking its prices to agents.
It said that the business continues to trade in line ‘with the strong start to 2012’, with Rightmove traffic setting new records and up 20% on the same time last year.
The interim management statement, covering January 1 to May 9, said that average revenue per advertiser ‘has grown strongly as a result of sales of additional advertising products and price increases’.
It reported that over 75% of agents are now taking at least one additional product and that over 30% of their spend in April was on additional advertising products.
The statement added that Rightmove’s operating costs remain low.
It concluded: “Subject to their being no significant decline in the UK housing market, the Board remains confident of meeting its expectations.”
In February, Rightmove reported its results for last year, highlighting a profit margin of just over 71%. It will be paying a dividend to shareholders for 2011 next month, on June 8.
Last week, its shares hit a 52-week high of 1,600p after analysts upgraded the property portal in advance of today’s trading update. The analysts said Rightmove’s returns to shareholders remained ‘very high’, with no signs of cost pressure.
Panmure Gordon hiked its target price to 1,780p, whilst Alex DeGroote said Rightmove is proving itself capable of delivering good earnings per share without any growth in volume or clients.
However, the shares quickly retreated from their peak and stood at 1,470 at yesterday’s close.
It said that the business continues to trade in line ‘with the strong start to 2012’, with Rightmove traffic setting new records and up 20% on the same time last year.
The interim management statement, covering January 1 to May 9, said that average revenue per advertiser ‘has grown strongly as a result of sales of additional advertising products and price increases’.
It reported that over 75% of agents are now taking at least one additional product and that over 30% of their spend in April was on additional advertising products.
The statement added that Rightmove’s operating costs remain low.
It concluded: “Subject to their being no significant decline in the UK housing market, the Board remains confident of meeting its expectations.”
In February, Rightmove reported its results for last year, highlighting a profit margin of just over 71%. It will be paying a dividend to shareholders for 2011 next month, on June 8.
Last week, its shares hit a 52-week high of 1,600p after analysts upgraded the property portal in advance of today’s trading update. The analysts said Rightmove’s returns to shareholders remained ‘very high’, with no signs of cost pressure.
Panmure Gordon hiked its target price to 1,780p, whilst Alex DeGroote said Rightmove is proving itself capable of delivering good earnings per share without any growth in volume or clients.
However, the shares quickly retreated from their peak and stood at 1,470 at yesterday’s close.
Saturday 21 January 2012
Rightmove announces new record in site traffic
Rightmove has announced an all-time record of visitors to its site, with over 34 million pages of traffic on Monday.
The site, which claims market share of 84% among the top four property portals, says this was the second time in a fortnight that the record has been broken, after a high of 33.4 million pages was set on Tuesday, January 3.
Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “It seems like a popular New Year’s resolution must be to move home in 2012. The obvious next step for the British public is to jump on to Rightmove to see if they can turn their resolutions into reality.
“The record traffic on Rightmove is also an indicator of underlying demand, if and when the mortgage famine should ease.”
The record day included around 15% of traffic from Rightmove’s mobile platforms.
This early-year activity on Rightmove mirrors 2011 when a new record of 28 million pages was set on January 10.
Meanwhile, the NAEA has urged its members to write to the OFT about the proposed merger between Zoopla and Digital. Its email asks agents to mention the NAEA’s own website, PropertyLive, and the fact that the site is free to members.
The site, which claims market share of 84% among the top four property portals, says this was the second time in a fortnight that the record has been broken, after a high of 33.4 million pages was set on Tuesday, January 3.
Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “It seems like a popular New Year’s resolution must be to move home in 2012. The obvious next step for the British public is to jump on to Rightmove to see if they can turn their resolutions into reality.
“The record traffic on Rightmove is also an indicator of underlying demand, if and when the mortgage famine should ease.”
The record day included around 15% of traffic from Rightmove’s mobile platforms.
This early-year activity on Rightmove mirrors 2011 when a new record of 28 million pages was set on January 10.
Meanwhile, the NAEA has urged its members to write to the OFT about the proposed merger between Zoopla and Digital. Its email asks agents to mention the NAEA’s own website, PropertyLive, and the fact that the site is free to members.
Thursday 5 January 2012
Some new properties to buy or rent from REW
We've had a busy December and January so far. Here is a selection of some of those new instructions, a mixture of rentals and sales;
| Pengwern Grove L15 |
| Damwood Rd L24 |
| Cranwell Rd L25 |
| Hillingdon Rd L15 |
| Baileys Lane L26 |
| Lambton Rd L17 |
| Stairhaven Rd L18 |
| Maidstone Close L25 |
| Mines Ave L17 |
| Bowden Rd L19 |
| Buckingham Ave L18 |
| Rocky La L16 |
| Verdala Park L18 |
| Rocky La L7 |
| Melbreck Ave L18 |
| St Ambrose Grove L4 |
| St Michaels Church Road L17 |
| Acorn Court L8 |
| Critchley Rd L24 |
| Millwood Rd L24 |
| Hunts cross Ave L25 |
| Byron Ct L25 |
| Belle Vue Rd L25 |
| Minster Court L8 |
| Kingfield Road L9 |
| Hartsbourne Ave L25 |
| Vyner Road North L25 |
| Earp Street L19 |
| Talland Close L26 |
| Lambton Rd L17 |
| Bluefields Street L8 Check all of these on our website at http://www.rewproperty.co.uk/ or go the property portal at http://www.rightmove.co.uk/ |
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