LANDLORD NEWS
The cheapest areas to rent in the UK
The cheapest places to rent in the UK have been revealed by Hamptons statistics, with Wales topping the list, as the average cost of renting a new let doesn’t exceed £800. North of England comes in second, as the average cost of renting a newly let property has recently risen to £800. Rent in Scotland, which was at £750 before, has recently risen to £820. The Midlands experienced the largest proportional increase, with rents rising by 11.2% from £777 to £864. The smallest proportional change was in the East of England, where prices increased by 4.1% from £1,097 to £1,143, becoming an expensive place to rent in the UK. Inner London, Greater London, and Outer London remain the most expensive regions to rent in the UK – they all saw a large increase of at least £150.
London Evening Standard
Renters moving further out of London
Foxtons chief executive Guy Gittins has warned that people struggling to find rental properties in London will need to move further out. Mr Gittins said that the situation in the capital was so “dramatic” it meant people would need to compromise on location. He blamed a mismatch between supply and demand for driving renters out of London, rather than rising rents. He also predicted the shortage in the market would continue for the next two to three years. It comes as group sales at Foxtons increased by just 1% to £43.2m last year even as its average selling price increased by £13,000 to £590,000. The majority of Foxtons’ turnover growth last year derived from its lettings business, thanks mostly to a 25% jump in revenue per rental transaction offsetting a drop in volume sales. Foxtons’ revenues were further lifted by the acquisitions of the Douglas & Gordon lettings portfolio, bought in mid-2021, and the Gordon & Co and Stones Residential estate agencies acquired last May.
BBC News Financial Times The Independent
Landlords looking to agents amid complexity of BTL
A new survey has revealed that the majority of private landlords would consider switching to a letting agency because of the current complexity of buy to let. According to the research by USwitch, 63% of landlords are open to make the transition – and one of the biggest reasons is because of agents’ knowledge of the sector. And almost a third of landlords say agents’ capacity to manage repairs provides another reason to instruct a professional. USwitch says that on average, property maintenance is estimated to consume one-fifth of landlords’ income. Agencies are also more likely to accept tenants: 99% of independent professionals had to reject a tenancy application at some point, while just 88% of estate agents have done so. Over a quarter of landlords (27%) would switch to a letting agency to avoid scams and fraud.
Landlord Today
Holyrood approves 3% rent cap for private tenants
The Scottish Government has confirmed that private landlords will be able to increase rent by no more than 3% from next month. It follows last year’s temporary rent freeze for private and social tenants, and for student accommodation. Social landlords are required to keep any rent increases below inflation in 2023-24. A moratorium on evictions will remain in place for at least a further six months except in specific circumstances. The rent cap on student accommodation will be suspended after the Scottish Government said it had a “limited impact” on annual rent set on the basis of the academic year.
STV The National Herald Scotland The Daily Record
Most lucrative cities to rent out a room
The average spare room earned its host £2,400 last year as households turned to tourism to meet rising mortgage and utility bills. A typical private room lets for £55 a night in the UK, according to analysis by Airbnb, but hosts in sought-after city hotspots have earned almost double the national average. Cambridge was the most lucrative city for spare rooms in 2022, where hosts earned an average of £4,500 a year, according to Airbnb. Hosts in London made £3,500 on average. Private rooms in Belfast, Edinburgh and Exeter earned their hosts between £3,200 and £3,400 last year. More than a third of hosts rely on income from their spare room to afford mortgage , utility and living costs, the report said.
The Daily Telegraph
BUY TO LET
Buy-to-let product availability rises
Data shows the number of buy-to-let mortgages on the market has rebounded to levels last seen in August 2022, before the mini-Budget. According to new figures from financial data firm Moneyfacts, buy-to-let product availability rose 7% over the past month. There are now 2,400 mortgage products for landlords, the highest level since July last year, while at the same time average mortgage rates have continued to fall on both two-year and five-year fixed deals. Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts, said: “As both the average two- and five-year fixed rates sit above 5%, compared to around 3% a year ago, it’s clear that landlords are likely to see their monthly repayments much higher than they perhaps anticipated.”
Daily Mail
COMMERCIAL
Issa brothers plan sale of Asda properties
The Issa brothers, backed by TDR Capital, are targeting the sale and leaseback of Asda’s supermarket estate to combat soaring interest bills. Market sources said property experts have been called in to assess the prospects for the supermarket’s estate. Freehold properties were valued at £8.6bn, according to Asda’s 2021 annual report. The Daily Telegraph understands that Asda’s owners expect to retain a sizable “underpin” of freehold properties even if many of its sites are sold to investors and then leased back. The Issas are also seeking to ease the burden of their debt-fuelled deal-making on EG Group, the petrol station business which they own.
City A.M. The Daily Telegraph
Edinburgh with lowest retail vacancy rate of UK’s major cities except London
Edinburgh continues to have the lowest retail vacancy rate of the UK’s major cities, excluding London, according to Knight Frank. It found that despite the new St James Quarter shopping centre contributing to the expansion of Edinburgh city centre’s total retail space by 424,000 square feet year on year – an increase of 25% – the number of vacant units remained steady at 13%. The firm added that while Edinburgh’s sales productivity inevitably dropped, it has still remained “relatively resilient” at £389 per sq ft against the UK cities average of £357. Knight Frank said: “The introduction of St James Quarter has meant different areas have re-established themselves or begun to carve out their own distinct identities.”
The Scotsman
TK Maxx eyes London expansion
TK Maxx is launching a search for sites in London, as part of an expansion that could result in more smaller-format branches opening. The retailer has reportedly sent a number of UK retail property agents a list of locations that the chain would consider opening in, featuring a number of central London areas such as Holborn and Notting Hill. There are also 28 places named outside of the City and West End the company would potentially look at, including Archway, Barnet, Elephant & Castle and Upminster. Working with property consultancies KLM Real Estate and McMullen Real Estate the retailer has requested 10,000 to 30,000 square feet of space.
London Evening Standard The Independent
Blackstone sells London waterfront complex to Singaporean group for £395m
St Katharine Docks, the waterfront office complex near the Tower of London, has been sold by Blackstone for £395m to Singapore-based property group City Developments Ltd.
Financial Times
AUCTION NEWS
Auction opportunities for investors as sellers moderate expectations
In comparison to the same period in 2022, the number of lots offered at property auctions increased 74% in the first two months of this year. In comparison to the same period in 2022, the number of lots offered at property auctions increased 74% in the first two months of this year. My Auction recorded a 60% sale rate, with a higher percentage of lots actually sold before and after the auction than on the day itself. This is ultimately due to the overpricing of properties, and buyers having more control over the market, according to a Propertymark spokesperson. Richard Worrall, NAVA Propertymark’s advisory panel member, said he is seeing much of the same from his own Network Auctions. “Buyers are being cautious” he says. “If they are not 100 per cent they will wait until it is cheaper. They have the ability to do this at the moment, as we have so much stock, but we are only seeing a small percentage of that selling on auction day. Buyers are also being picky, as there seems to be less urgency in people needing to buy.” At its latest auction Network Auctions says it had to work with sellers to ensure their guide prices reflected the market, before the bids were sought. Network auctions sold 68% of their stock on the day and since then, five more lots have been sold, bringing the auction house’s total figure up to 88%.
Landlord Today
PROPERTY FINANCE
UK house prices rise
Halifax figures show the average UK house price was £285,476 in February, 1.1% higher compared with January and 2.1% higher than this time last year. It followed a monthly gain in house prices of 0.2% in January and a fall of 1.3% in December. Kim Kinnaird, the director of Halifax Mortgages, said: “Recent reductions in mortgage rates, improving consumer confidence, and a continuing resilience in the labour market are arguably helping to stabilise prices following the falls seen in November and December.” Halifax said house prices are down by about £8,500, or 2.9%, on the August peak but remain almost £9,000 above the average prices seen at the start of 2022 and are still above pre-pandemic levels. Halifax said annual house price growth slowed in all countries and regions in February, with the north-east posting the biggest slowdown, to an annual rate of 1.1% from 3.6%, with homes costing an average £163,953. Average house prices in London are £526,842, down by 0.9% over the last year.
The Times The Guardian The Independent
Zoopla reveals areas where strong annual house prices remain
Analysis by Zoopla of all of Britain’s 124 postcode areas has found there is still strong annual house price growth in a number of towns and cities – especially in the northern England and in Wales. Zoopla found Oldham and Wolverhampton are the postcodes with the fastest growing house prices over the past 12 months. Prices increased 8.9% to reach an average of £166,500 in Oldham, while prices in Wolverhampton increased 8.8% to an average of £195,900. For homes priced over £300,000, reflecting the national average house price of £294,000, Torquay has seen the sharpest rise in the past year, with prices increasing 7% to £311,400. This was followed by Exeter where prices have increased by 6.7% to £319,200, and Gloucester which has seen growth of 6.3% to £320,500.
The Daily Telegraph
LENDING CONDITIONS
Help to Buy extended in Wales until 2025
The Help to Buy scheme aimed at helping the purchase of new build houses will be extended in Wales until 2025. The Finance Minister, Rebecca Evans, confirmed that the Welsh government will spend £63m to keep the shared equity scheme going. Ministers plan to increase the cap on the purchase price on homes it can be used for from £250,000 to £300,000. She said the rises so far had not been “palpably excessive”. The average hike is 5.5% but one council, Conwy, saw an annual rise of almost 10%. The Welsh government says that all homes sold through the scheme will need to meet a minimum of the EPC B energy efficiency rating from 1 April, when the price cap will also rise to £300,000.
BBC News
ECONOMY
Mayors to take control of £500m budgets
The Times reports that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will announce in Wednesday’s Budget that the mayors of the West Midlands and Greater Manchester will be given control of budgets of around £500m each, covering areas including education, transport and housing, as part of ‘trailblazer’ plans to treat devolved regions as “mini Government departments”. The paper suggests the two regions are seen as “test cases” with effective administrations, with the prospect of greater spending powers being devolved in other areas.
Manchester Evening News The Times
