LANDLORD NEWS
Tenants increasingly seeking ‘bills included’ homes
Rightmove has revealed that all-inclusive rents are rising up the list of priorities among people searching for somewhere to live. The property portal found the phrase “bills included” is second on the list of search terms, having been fourth a year earlier, reflecting the pressure of surging prices. Tim Bannister, property data expert at Rightmove, said: “Any landlord able to offer this to a tenant is likely to be met with a long queue of applicants”. It comes as the growing Build to Rent sector has been trying to tap into this demand – offering flats that include the cost of bills, and at the higher-end may also provide membership at on-site gyms. Jermaine Browne, co-founder of one such operator – ARK – said it was a “simple and effective solution” to financial uncertainty. The Rightmove data also suggests that potential buyers are less certain about what they can afford. Based on search on the portal, this has led to a wider range of prices being looked at by house hunters, including a rising proportion extending their search to cheaper properties than were included in their original enquiries; people continuing to look in a wider geographical area than pre-pandemic; and people often looking at more properties in cheaper areas further afield.
BBC News
MP accuses landlords of ‘making up stories’ to change UK tax rules
Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), has been accused of “making up stories” about the state of the rented sector as part of efforts to persuade the Government to remove UK tax measures forecast to cost landlords close to £1bn a year. Beadle has recently warned “landlords are selling because of punitive taxation” and of “decimated” supply hitting tenants. On Wednesday he met Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, about planned rent changes. However, speaking to an industry webinar, Beadle said: “Actually the truth is that while some landlords are leaving the sector, this sector is actually still increasing. That’s not terribly helpful to our argument to be honest with you. But in the context of cost of living and rising costs we have to tell that story and link the two.” Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke said webinar clip showed Beadle and the NRLA being “caught red-handed making up stories about a ‘shortage’ of rental stock so landlords can jack up rents and to scare politicians who should know better.”
The Guardian
BUY TO LET
Best areas for student landlords
Despite the ups-and-downs of the property market, investors are still taking out buy-to-let mortgages, often with aim of becoming student landlords. Over the past year, online searches for “cheapest buy-to-let mortgages” have grown by 160% as investors look for the best strategies to profit from their real estate investments and limit their losses due to the cost of living problem. Uswitch’s buy to let mortgage specialists examined university towns and cities to determine which were best for student landlords to invest in. The analysis took into account property pricing and the proportion of students renting there in addition to profit, allowing each university to receive a score out of 10. The research found that Scottish university cities are the best locations for student landlords to purchase real estate, with five of their universities ranking in the top ten.
24 Housing
COMMERCIAL
Retailers warn business rates need urgent fix
Leader retailers have questioned business rates reforms, describing them as a “far cry” from what the High Street needs. The Government had promised a “fundamental” review, but retailers said changes so far are insufficient and warned that the tax is still “throttling local economies”. M&S chief Stuart Machin said shops make up just more than 5% of the economy, but pay almost a quarter of business rates, stifling investment and forcing up prices. Machin said the levy “cannot continue” as it is, adding: “We welcomed the Government freezing rates and ending downwards transition last year but it’s time they take decisive action to protect the retail industry, create jobs, bring customers back and support communities.” Alex Baldock, chief executive of Currys, said: “The system is outdated and punitive, and change is necessary to keep pace with a modern retail environment. We’d like to see the Government follow through on the promise of fundamental reform.” He added that while recent changes were welcome, “there is a long way to go.
Daily Mail
Capital & Counties reports losses ahead of Shaftesbury merger
Capital & Counties has reported it fell to a loss of over £200m last year, in large part down to Capco’s investment in Shaftesbury, which dropped in value to £357m in 2022 compared with £596m in the previous year. It comes after the Competition and Markets Authority has given the green light for a merger between the British property companies. Capco, which owns the Covent Garden estate in central London, increased its rental income to £57.2m in 2022, up from £48.9m a year earlier. Capco also signed 71 new leases and renewals during the period at rents “well ahead” of its previously rates. The company also revealed the value of its portfolio was unchanged at £1.8bn, with a 5% increase in its valuation in the first half of 2022 offset by a 5% fall in the second.
The Times
Regional universities seek space in London
Regional universities are rushing to find space in London for new student courses and collaborations with companies. Figures from property news and data company CoStar show non-London universities have taken 350,000 sq ft of office space in the capital over the past three years – more than double the 152,000 sq ft of the previous three years. The study said: “The motivation behind these London expansions is varied but mainly involve promoting courses and enrolments to a wider pool of students, particularly international students that pay the highest fees, as well as offering access to London’s wealth of start-ups and major corporates for collaboration purposes.”
London Evening Standard
AUCTION NEWS
Increase in auction sales boosts agents
In anticipation of a shift from investors to owner-occupiers, iamproperty agents sold more than 7,000 properties through its auction service last year, the proptech company has revealed. New figures released by iamproperty shows a spike in auction activity in the south, with 2022 sales, instructions and viewings overtaking the north for the first time. Southern sales made up 35% of iamproperty’s 2022 auction sales. iampropertysaid that although agents in the South saw particular success, demand for auction reached record levels across the UK. Partner agent earnings from auction sales also reached a record-breaking £25m, up 46% from 2021. Rewards totaling more than £400,000 were also paid out. These record profits were made possible by the sale of property using the modern method of auction (MMoA) for more than £1.25bn in capital value in 2022, a 54% increase from 2021.
Estate Agent Today
‘Leaning Tower of Rotherhithe’ sells for £1.5m
A solitary house in Rotherhithe which teeters over the Thames has been sold at auction for its guide price of £1.5m. Known as “The Leaning Tower of Rotherhithe”, 1 Fulford Street, the house’s neighbouring buildings were destroyed in the Blitz or sold to London County Council for demolition. It has been in the hands of its current owners for the past 28 years. Initially, they used the whole building as their home, but more recently rented out the top two floors and used the bottom as a live/work space. Thanks to its lone position and height, 1 Fulford Street boasts 180-degree views over the river, including Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf. Lot Negotiator Steven Morish at Savills said: “Auction works really well for quirky lots like this. The value in this is an art rather than a science; the buyers will set the value.”
BBC News London Evening Standard
Live music venue features in Clive Emson’s latest auction
Clive Emson Auctioneers’ March auction features an Isle of Wight live music venue with a guide price of £160,000-plus. The freehold of units 9 and 9B Brickwood House, Orchard Street, Newport, which houses Strings, is among 139 lots listed across southern England by the regional land and property auctioneer.
Isle of Wight County Press
PROPERTY FINANCE
Average house price has risen nearly £50,000 since start of 2020
House prices have soared almost £50,000 on average since the beginning of the pandemic. It is the equivalent of a 20.4% rise on average, compared to a 7.8% increase in the three previous years, according to new data from Halifax. At a national level, average house prices grew by a total of £48,620 – from £237,895 to £286,515 between January 2020 and December 2022. Wales saw the strongest house price growth of any UK nation or region during the past three years, rising by 29.3% from £168,101 to £217,328. In cash terms, the South East of England saw the biggest jump, up by £69,224 – the equivalent of 21.3% – from £325,448 to £394,672. Detached homes grew in value more than all other property types, fuelled by a race for space. Detached house prices leapt by about a quarter in the three-year period, rising from £359,725 in January 2020 to £453,070 in December 2022.
Daily Mail The Daily Telegraph
House prices set to fall but unlikely to crash
UK property prices will fall less than previously expected in 2023, according to analysts polled by Reuters. A survey of 19 housing market experts suggests house prices will fall by 2.4% this year. This marks an improvement on the 4.7% decline predicted in November’s survey. The experts expect the average price to rise by 1 % in 2024 and 3.5% in 2025. The survey also predicts that average rental prices will go up by 5% this year and in 2024, followed by a 3.3% increase in 2025.
Reuters
Home Counties borough named discount property capital of Britain
Surrey Heath has been named the house price discount capital of Britain, with three out of five sales done at a price below the initial listing. According to TwentyCi, a data company, some 59% of homes sold in the Home Counties borough district in February had a price change before a sale was agreed, compared to the national average of 32%. Julian de la Poer Beresford, of Hamptons estate agents in Sunningdale, said discounts in Surrey Heath average between 5% and 8%. Overall, across the South East, more than 5,000 properties were sold at a discount last month, accounting for 37% of sales in the region. A year earlier only 26% of sales in the South East faced a discount. Daniel Burstow, at Strutt & Parker estate agents, said: “Compared with the pandemic, we have probably seen at least a 50% reduction in inquiries on properties.”
The Daily Telegraph
LENDING CONDITIONS
Rise in first-time buyers who will be paying off mortgage in retirement
New figures show that 17% of all new mortgages taken out in December were for terms of 35 years or more, almost double last February’s rate, when it was just 9% of home loans. Overall, around 55% of mortgage loans are now taken out for terms of 30 years or more, compared with just 9% in 2005. According to Halifax, the average age of a first-time buyer is now 32 and even older in London, meaning that many borrowers are now on course to still be paying off their home loans in their sixties or even seventies. A spokesman for UK Finance described stretching out mortgage terms as a relatively low-risk option for borrowers to increase their borrowing potential. He added: “It does, however, limit the ability of borrowers to save or invest in other areas – for example their pensions – for a longer period while they are still paying off their mortgage.”
The Sunday Telegraph
Treasury scheme failing to sustain low-deposit mortgage numbers
The latest figures show that banks are offering fewer low deposit mortgages than they were before last September’s mini budget, despite the Treasury extending a scheme designed to keep them in the market. Banks have bought £818m worth of insurance policies from the Government, which covers 95% of the losses on a portion of these loans if the borrower defaults. This was extended following concerns that mortgages for those with a 5% deposit would disappear and first-time buyers would be frozen out of the housing market. However, according to the financial data provider Moneyfacts, there were 161 mortgages at 95% LTV at the start of March, compared with 274 at the start of September. It comes as data from the consultancy CACI provided by First Direct found there were 20,845 mortgage applications by first-time buyers in January, down from 31,308 in the same month last year. Nick Morrey, a mortgage broker, said lenders were exercising a “duty of care” by not offering two-year fixes at 95% LTV if they thought property prices would fall in the next two years.
The Times
ECONOMY
Johnson calls on Sunak to cut corporation tax to “Irish levels”
Boris Johnson has joined a chorus of voices urging Rishi Sunak to halt his plans to hike corporation tax. He told the Global Soft Power Summit: “There’s no point now in just emulating the high-tax, high-spend, low-growth European model,” the former PM said. “We should think not about raising corporation tax but cutting corporation tax to Irish levels or lower and really turbocharging investment to drive levelling up across the whole country, really showing the world what they wanted to see from 2016 onwards…That we are different now, because this is a Brexit government or this is nothing.” Mr Sunak is expected to increase the levy from 19% to 25% in next month’s Budget and Mr Johnson’s challenge to the policy follows pleas from three former Tory chancellors and numerous business leaders for the tax hike to be scrapped.
The Daily Telegraph
