D_Property

According to the latest stats Moneypenny, calls from to estate and letting agents to request viewings and valuations rose 61% in Q1 of 2017. In a like-for-like comparison of calls to its estate and letting agent clients, the telephone answering service reported a 61% increase in calls during the first three months of 2017, when compared with the last three months of 2016. The findings come as the company, which looks after over 1.2m calls a year for over 1,300 agents of all shapes and sizes, announces the results of its first quarterly review of 2017, taking a look at property calls handled between January 1 and March 31. The property team at Moneypenny also reported […]

The UK property market gained momentum in March, according to the latest Property Activity Index from Agency Express. The monthly data shows a nationwide increase in both new property listings, which rose by 21.7%, and the number of properties sold, which was up by 18.0%. UK Property Market Gains Momentum in March, Reports Agency Express These increases appear consistent with recent reports from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which stated: “The housing market has been slowly building up momentum over the last few months, largely getting back to activity levels we saw in the beginning of 2016.” Assessing property market activity across the UK, Agency Express found that all of the 12 regions included in the […]

According to Henry Emson, Business development manager at MMC Ventures, Landlords who directly own a mortgaged buy-to-let residential property are facing a seismic change to their financial position as they cease to be able to run the arbitrage between rental income and cheap debt. Henry had this to say: “As of April 6th 2017 interest payments will gradually cease to be an allowable deduction against rental income, turning historically profitable portfolios into cash negative assets. So serious is this adjustment by the Government that former Bank of England economist, David Miles, referred to it as ‘terrible’. So, what does this mean for historic property owners who have relied on real estate to provide both wealth and […]

According to the latest report from Paragon Mortgages, more landlords are begining to understand of the implications of the Government’s changes to tax relief on finance costs. The Government’s reduction in buy-to-let mortgage interest tax relief, announced in 2015, is being phased in from this month and 78% of landlords surveyed reported an understanding of the personal implications of the changes, up from 71% in Q4 2016. This increase in understanding is paired with a smaller percentage of landlords saying they do not understand the implications (7% from 11%) or they require more information (13% from 18%), and is a further indication that landlords are preparing for the impact of the changes. Reassuringly, landlord optimism was […]

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced a partnership with one of the capital’s largest housing associations, L&Q, which will see £8 billion invested in 20,000 new homes. Some 12,000 homes, or 60% of the development, will be genuinely affordable in an agreement that is the first agreement under the Mayor’s £3.15 billion affordable housing deal secured from the Government last November which will ultimately see 90,000 new affordable homes started by 2021. City Hall is contributing £400 million towards the sum to help boost affordable housing delivery and to assist with land purchases and infrastructure costs. The announcement came on the same day that the Mayor confirmed 100,000 Londoners now have access to the […]

Manchester has now surpassed London when it comes to house price growth as Knight Frank’s Global Residential Cities index has revealed. Knight Frank’s Global Residential Cities index has ranked London below three other UK cities in the final quarter of 2016. Bristol came 38th in the world, with year-on-year house price growth of 10.1 per cent, Manchester came in at number 51, with growth of 7.9 per cent, and Birmingham was at number 53, with growth of 7.7 per cent. With house price growth of only 7.5%, London only managed to secure spot number 55. This is a rather significant fall for the capital after being ranked 36th during the third quarter of 2016. During the […]