An interesting piece on the BBC website highlights the different attitudes to Olympic period short-term lets. In some places... fill your boots. But not in others.
The reasoning is that short-term tenants are casual about how they treat the place. They don't have to look after the property, or be courteous to neighbours. I imagine - however - that this news will come as a disappointing surprise to many London with plans for 2012.
Prices fell 0.3% in August, following a 1.3% rise in July. Annually, prices are in the red by 2.6%. You won't be surprised to learn that the figures are highly regional. In Wales, prices are down 5.5% on the year. In London, prices are up 2.1% across the 12 months. Get the official release here.
A plethora of commentators line up to sell property as the long term investment in the Express, following data showing the different price rises for both different regions and different property types over a decade.
Congratulations to Douglas & Gordon's Ed Mead for this fabulously risky and funny bit of work. Under Offer... a mockumentary following the exploits of the Hammersmith office of a leading London estate agents.
1) Interest rate rises 2) restricted lending 3) increased building 4) reduced immigration. The first two, of course, go without saying. The third rests on a supply/demand view of the housing market that I always thought Money Week had a more sophisticated and sceptical view on. The fourth? Is it so significant? Unless they're referring to the foreign money propping up the fragrant end of the London market. Read it here.
The Telegraph blurs the distinction somewhat between campaigning and reporting in this piece by Ian Cowie, suggesting that country home owners can look forward to the prices of their properties dropping by almost a third if the Government pushes ahead with changes to planning laws. It goes to a number of sources, but there's definitely the impression that quotes are being chased to serve an agenda. The most eye-catching claim:
An interesting piece in MoneyWeek, here, characteristically bearish about the property but a good read if you're interested in the way interbank lending might come back home and affect your mortgage.
Already, building societies are only lending what they can attract as retail deposits. They aren't borrowing in the wholesale money markets at all, Ray Boulger of John Charcol tells Lorna Bourke at Citywire.
Mortgage lending is already tight. If it tightens any further, then that'll make it even harder for the housing market to defy gravity.
According to Savills, the UK's safe-haven status continues to attract big money from the East, although the biggest property price rises over the last few years were still in the developing economies of Russia, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong.
What's their secret? With transactions down 25% on last year and at a two-year low in August (RICS figures), Foxtons - after a good year - continue their march. This time, a new branch in Stratford, their eighth new office since 2010 and their 32nd in total, due to open its doors on October 1.
The Telegraph is making much of Primelocation research showing 41 towns with a higher proportion of properties valued at £1m or above than London. Leading the way is Beaconsfield (47%), followed by Virginia Water (44%). The article uses the research to rubbish the LibDem mansion tax proposals. It looks like a bit of opportunism timed to coincide with the conference, though, since this is fairly old data. What also isn't clear is whether the data set is simply made up of properties currently for sale, which would tell us very little given current levels of supply. It is interesting, however, to notice how the top slots are all taken by commuter towns, contradicting - for what it's worth - this recent report courtesy of the Halifax. For better reasons to rubbish a mansion tax, go here.
Asking prices are - inexplicably - on the rise, according to Rightmove. They're up 0.7% on the month and 1.5% on the year, despite consistently gloomy, sometimes apocalyptic, economic forecasts from every corner. However, accompanying commentary from Rightmove warns:
According to a new study by the Halifax, the average London worker living an hour's commute from work are saving £375,000 (60% less) in house prices. The average yearly cost of train travel in and out? £4,400. More here.
RIBA says the average UK three-bedroom new-build is now 8% smaller than the recommended size for a decent quality-of-life, the equivalent of a single bedroom. Furthermore, the most common new-build design was 23% smaller than it should be... the size of two double bedrooms. As a result, the report concludes people can't fit the furniture they need into their homes, they don't have enough room for possessions (43% actually said they didn't have adequate room for food preparation), they don't have enough room to entertain or to enjoy privacy. The study's called "Case for Space" and to read it yourself, click here.
Most significantly, transactions are down to a 26 month low and levels not seen since the days of 2009's recession. Price expectations fell, too. The general message from RICS? A lack of confidence and a lack of lending mean the market's likely to get worse before it gets better.
The research is significant because it's in contrast to official figures that place the practise at 50,000 homes, and it suggests that 3% of council property is being illegally sublet, at a time when waiting lists are strained. Experian's primary focus, however, appears to be to demonstrate the secondary value of its data. It claims its ability to analyse data activity by people using council or housing association addresses, and social housing tenants not using council or housing association addresses, can give a swifter and more accurate picture than conventional means.
The figures come courtesy of the Council of Mortgage Lenders and show: overall lending up in volume and value terms in July, but down on the year; remortgaging up on the month and on the year; lending to ftbs at its highest level in a year. Have a look at the official report here.
The word is that Phil Spencer is about to font a new Channel 4 show in which he acts as estate agent for viewers who are having problems shifting their homes. He's going to leap in unannounced and work out what's going wrong... overpriced, house looks crap, overpriced, not marketed properly, overpriced... you get the picture. The show's going to be called "Phil Spencer - Secret Agent". More here.
Unlike income taxes, he argues, they can't be avoided, and suggests re-examining the old council tax bands, adding a few more to reflect house price inflation and going mad.
However, unlike income tax, a property tax is a tax on an illiquid asset whose rise and fall in value is outside the control of the owner. Next step... reluctant remortgaging to pay the tax built up on a house in the good times, negative equity in the bad.
The MPC voted to hold interest rates at 0.5% for the 30th successive month. Concerns over the growing economy outweighed concerns over inflation. More here.
God, not this again. This time, he's talking on the phone to Bloomberg, but the message hasn't changed. The market's unfair and dysfunctional, but this government has the power to change all that, breaking the addiction to property ownership as a form of personal investment and making property affordable again. How? Building. Somebody needs to point out that the last time building was "in", it was the height of the property boom.
Prices are down 1.2% on the month, following three months of small rises, leaving them 2.6% in the red over 12 months. The quarterly change, however, is positive, at 1%. HBOS's Martin Ellis points to low transaction levels as a reason for the volatility, and prefers to use the quarterly figure as a measure... in other words, house prices are rising. Download the report, here.
Estate Agent Today points out a socially "interesting" aspect of the Localism Bill. Anyone applying for social housing will no longer be able to turn down private rented sector accommodation offered them by their council.
So what about those struggling caravan parks, empty during the rainy season (September - May) and barely full even in the summer? Could operators be tempted to turn them into modern day Weedpatch Camps? There's progress for you.
And they say nobody's building... here's a development project with a difference. Homes for 270 people, great sea views and separate country status, meaning it's governed by its own tax (and other) laws. It's the brainchild of Paypal's Peter Thiel, More here. (Note that the image is the product of 3D modelling. The project is still theoretical.)
It's a 15-bedoom house that, until 2004, belonged to the Russian Government and was apparently used as a spy base. It still had "radio rooms" when its previous owners took it over and spent £20m making it a home. Roman Abramovich reportedly spent £90m buying the property. More here.
A poll by 4cast of 60 economists shows little expectation for interest rates to start moving up before October 2012 at the very earliest. One expected a cut, to a nowhere-else-to-go 0.25% before the end of 2011. Last year, the poll revealed a somewhat different picture, with the majority expecting rates of over 1% by the start of 2011 and 1.75% by June 2012. Which all goes to show... none of us know anything. More here.
It's a monthly house price fall of 0.6% in August, leaving prices down 0.4% on the year. That's the first fall since April, but the overall picture is one of stability. The only monthly changes exceeding 1% in the last two years came in April 2010 (+1.2%) and August 2009 (+1.8%). Download the release in pdf format here.
