Direct Property News

A new £25 million fund has been launched to help local authorities in England deliver more high quality, well designed homes. Housing and Planning Minister Alok Sharma announced that the Planning Delivery Fund is now open for bids and will support ambitious local authorities and third sector organisations in areas of high housing need to plan for new homes and infrastructure. Initially opening up £11 million of the fund, councils will be able to apply to help gain the skills or capacity they need to deliver high quality housing growth at scale, pace and implement wider planning reforms. The fund is aimed at encouraging more innovation in the design quality of new housing developments, as well […]

It has been a busy year for the sales and lettings property markets in the UK with ups and downs in both sectors, according to an overview from agents. Perhaps one of the most striking trends was the number of properties that sold for less than their asking price, on average 77% of the time, while only 4% were sold for more than the original asking price. According to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) demand spiked in January and February with 425 house buyers registered per branch. Demand was higher than in 2016, with an average of 380 prospective buyers registered per branch, compared to 365 on average over the course of last year. […]

The value of privately owned homes in the UK had risen by £1.94 trillion over the last decade with over half of this increase in London and the South East, new research shows. It means that the total value of privately owned UK housing stock has surpassed £6 trillion for the first time, according to new research by the Halifax. Since 2007, the total value of private residential property in the UK has grown by 48% to an estimated £6.02 trillion and in the past year alone, the value has grown by £376 billion, mainly reflecting average house price growth of 5% in the year to August. The average value per household in the UK now […]

The Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, has delivered his second budget and used it to urge the UK to “seize the opportunities” from Brexit while tackling deep-seated economic challenges “head on”. As many expected, there was a larger focus on housing than in previous budgets, announcements included local authorities to be allowed to levy 100% council tax surcharge on empty homes, £44bn injected over the next 5 years to support housing market, promises of 300k new homes built per year and most notably the abolishion of Stamp Duty for first-time buyer purchases up to £300,000. As ever, the property industry was quick to respond. Here’s what they’re saying: Paul Shamplina, Founder of Landlord Action, reacts to changes to […]

Residential property sales in the UK increased by 1.7% between September and October 2017, some 9.2% higher than the same month in 2016, official figures show. The data from HMRC also shows that there were 105,260 residential sales and 11,280 non-residential sales. It is more evidence that the property market is progressing at a steady pace despite political and economic uncertainty and the decision to leave the European Union with Brexit having no impact. Stephen Wasserman, managing director of West One Loans, pointed out that stamp duty hikes have had more of an impact on the housing market and believes that further change to the property tax paid by buyers could boost the market. ‘The uptick […]

The average time it takes to sell a home in the UK has been revealed to be just over three months, a slowdown on what it was a year ago. It takes an average of 96 days to sell a home, according to the latest data from Post Office Money, compared to the 91 days it took 12 months previously. The fastest place to sell has been revealed to be Edinburgh, where it takes just 41 days on average. This is closely followed by Glasgow at 50 days, just over half the average. Despite London’s reputation as a place where property gets snapped up fast, it fell below the UK average at 111 days. The average […]