D_Property

One of the few sectors to have come through the pandemic in positive territory, property values were 6.5% higher than a year ago. House prices hit a record high of £254,606 on average in March, jumping by 1.1% month-on-month, according to an index. Across the UK, property values were 6.5% higher than in March 2020, Halifax said. This means the average price is around £15,000 higher than it was since the start of the national coronavirus lockdowns. Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said: “Following a relatively subdued start to the year, the housing market enjoyed something of a resurgence during March, with prices up by just over 1% compared to February.” The rise is the first since […]

The latest house price indices reveal regions and cities in the north of England are leading UK house price growth. And this will likely continue in the coming years. In recent years, the north’s property markets have performed strongly, remaining particularly resilient through economic and political uncertainty. This has continued to be the case throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as well. And it is expected to remain that way in the coming years. According to HM Land Registry’s House Price Index for January, the average annual house price for a property in the UK increased by 7.5%. This led the average UK property price to come in at £249,309. With a regional outlook, the north-west of England has led […]

Being hailed as the first part of the biggest English property law reform in decades, the announcement of new ground rent legislation is set to extensively change the residential property market. Steven Glover, co-founder and land & sales director of developer Consero, helps explain the changes and what it means to leaseholders. What are the reforms? Glover says a freeholder owns both the property and the land it stands on while leaseholders only own the property. Previously, leaseholders of flats could extend their lease most often at a zero ‘peppercorn’ ground rent, but usually only for 90 years and could be charged extensively to do so. House owners also faced barriers and high costs when trying to […]

The belief that the stamp duty break would end on March 31 caused a predictable frenzy among home buyers and sellers in February. Transactions were almost 50 per cent higher than the average over the last five years and up more than a fifth on January’s level, according to the latest figures from HMRC.  The jump in housing transactions reported for February might not repeat to the same extent over the coming months, but the extension to the tax holiday means annual comparisons may well remain positive. March house price indices seem likely to indicate a renewed flurry of activity.   Yet for all the encouragement given by government stimulus in recent months, the stage has been set for […]

An additional 2% stamp duty surcharge will be introduced for foreign investors next month. Will overseas buyers still invest in UK property after this takes effect? From 1 April 2021, a new 2% stamp duty surcharge will come into effect for overseas-based investors. This will be on top of the existing rates of tax. The government says the idea behind the policy is to bring down house prices and put the emphasis back on homeownership within the UK. For years, the UK property market has been a major target for overseas investors. This has continued at strong levels. Overseas investors even ranked the UK as the best residential property investment hotspot for this year. Many foreign buyers and investors have been snapping […]

Post-Brexit chaos? Priced–out first-time buyers? The latest round of stats suggest we might need to revise what we think we know about the property market. There are certain truths about the housing market that hardly need repeating, they are so widely accepted. First-time buyers can’t afford their homes (a recent survey by Halifax revealed that in some parts of Britain house prices are on average more than 12x local earnings), there’s a shortage of rental properties pushing up rents (new research from referencing company HomeLet reveals the average cost of renting outside London rose by 5.1 per cent in the 12 months to April, while in the capital it rose by 7.7 per cent) and, a […]