Current Housing Market
Subdued
Average UK House Price*
£230,907
Growth In 2019*
0%
Over the past few months, it seems that everyone — this news roundup included — has been wittering on about Brexit, and sadly, this month is no different. Boris Johnson is facing difficulties in parliament, there might be another general election, and no one really knows what’s going on.
But on to business… here’s the roundup of this month’s latest property news.
The Latest House Price Indexes
We start with the house price indexes from two major lenders, Nationwide and Halifax.
The Halifax house price data shows an annual change of 1.8% and a monthly change of 0.3%. This is been moderately consistent over the past few months, showing an annual rise of around 1% to 2% year-on-year. However, this doesn’t seem to be borne out by Land Registry figures, which has consistently shown a sub-1% increase. Halifax has stated it’s going to update its model in response to some criticism, however.
Nationwide, which has historically been better aligned with the Land Registry, shows no rise in house prices over August and a 0.6% annual change. It also published some research on property desirability near stations. In London, homeowners typically pay around 9.4% more (approximately £42,900) to be within 500 metres of a station, while those in Manchester were only willing to pay 7.8% more. Glaswegians tend to pay a lot less at 3.8%.
Nationwide shows a housing market that is slowing down, but this is fairly standard for this time of year.
Housing Market News
A proposed shakeup of the Shared Ownership scheme has been announced, subject to consultation. Instead of only allowing people to buy out 10% chunks, the new proposal suggests allowing people to buy out 1% chunks. In addition, it permits mortgages of over 25 years. Critics suggest that this makes the scheme much more complex and expensive to buyers.
Persimmon, the house builder and developer, could be forced to rescind a number of leasehold contracts. After Trading Standards brought legal action against the firm regarding mis-selling on a Persimmon estate in Cardiff, the company admitted it “could have communicated better”. Campaigners are calling on the company to rescind its leasehold across its entire portfolio.
Chancellor Sajid Javid has denied news that he was considering a change in stamp duty, switching it from the buyer to the seller. Cynics noted that this switch would’ve hit some of the Tory party’s core voters hard, notably older buyers downsizing to smaller properties.
Rental Market News
The two biggest landlord associations are to merge. The Residential Landlords Association and the National Landlords Association announced that they would be creating a single organisation to campaign and represent landlords. This follows substantial upheaval in the residential landlord market.
Rents rose by 4.5% year-on-year in June, reviving fears that the tenancy fees ban merely pushed letting agent costs into recurring rental fees. The data, released by Belvoir, also shows that there were a larger-than-normal number of queries after the tenancy fees ban came into force. ARLA Propertymark also reported similar rental hikes.
Estate Agency News
The government has confirmed that developers do not have to be registered for anti-money laundering regulations, unlike estate agents. This anomaly occurs because developers with their own sales team are treated as private sellers, whereas an estate agent is representing a party. Private sales do not require anti-money laundering checks as outlined in the Money Laundering Regulations.
And Finally…
The Sun newspaper has published some of the weirdest estate agent pictures it has ever seen. Expect creepy toilets, jaw-droppingly bad design and extraordinary “what on earth?” moments as you peruse the bizarre collection of photos.
