Like every month, Rentila offers you an overview of the main real estate news of interest to landlords and tenants. This month, we focus on: What is going to happen to house prices next year?; Chronic shortage of rental homes to worsen due to Labour squeeze on landlords; Mortgage rates won’t dip below four per cent this year, experts say; Tenants want greener homes – but not higher rents; Rents drop 12% in October as market cools off; Is the government destroying the UK’s rental market?; Stamp duty hike: a ‘bitter but manageable pill to swallow’ for UK landlords… Happy reading and… renting!
Construction falls 20% in Build to Rent sector
Latest analysis by Savills reveals the slow-down despite numbers from the British Property Federation (BPF) showing that the total number of purpose-built rental homes has reached more than 120,000 – a 23% increase over the past 12 months.
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Property industry reacts to Rightmove House Price Index
Housing market activity remains strong, but the muted Autumn price increase of just 0.3% month-on-month to £371,958 comes as buyer choice and seller competition rise.
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Stunning UK city has an astonishing demand for its rental market
Rentals in Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) receive an average of 45 enquiries per property, Rightmove’s Demand Tracker has revealed. This makes BANES the tenth busiest rental market in the UK, with property to let costing an average of £1,784 per month.
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House prices look set to rise as mortgage approvals hit two-year high
The latest data from the Bank of England shows last month saw the highest number of mortgage approvals since August 2022, the period just before the market turmoil brought about by Truss’s financial statement.
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What is going to happen to house prices next year?
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) released its latest predictions this week for both house prices and future mortgage rates moving forward and it showed an uptick compared to its March predictions.
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Cash buyers: UK cities with biggest shifts in outright property purchases in last 10 years
Recent research has revealed the UK regions that have experienced the biggest shift in the percentage of properties bought outright and in cash between 2013 and 2023.
The study analysed data from the HM Land Registry to compare the percentage of properties sold in cash in each local authority across the ten year period.
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Rent and mortgage spending reaches record highs amid growing confidence in the housing market
A report reveals rent and mortgage spending grew by 6.4% in October, the highest rate of growth recorded since September 2023.
Despite these rising costs, many people feel more confident about the housing market and their ability to afford rent or mortgage payments.
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UK house prices set for consistent year-on-year growth – five-year forecast
With inflation returning to the 2% target and the prospect that interest rates will continue to fall over the next two years, house prices are expected to return to consistent year-on-year growth.
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Chronic shortage of rental homes to worsen due to Labour squeeze on landlords
Tenants will compete over fewer homes and likely pay ever-higher rents as a consequence thanks to the government’s attack on landlords, as more investors look to flee the buy-to-let market.
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BTL landlords expand portfolios amid lower mortgage rates
Falling buy to let mortgage rates have revitalised the UK’s landlord market, leading many to expand their property portfolios, research reveals.
Despite government reforms aimed at deterring investment in the sector, landlords are increasingly confident in their ability to weather the storm.
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UK banks to post first results since interest rate cut
Major UK banks are to reveal whether borrowers are benefiting from lower interest rates as they report third-quarter results over the next two weeks.
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Mortgage rates won’t dip below four per cent this year, experts say
As inflation has come in cooler than expected, markets are predicting that the Bank of England might begin cutting rates next summer. This in turn has brought down mortgage rates, which are tied to future expectations of where interest rates will go.
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Mortgage approvals jump but housing market on ‘tenterhooks’ ahead of Budget
The number of mortgage approvals for home-buyers rose to a fresh two-year high in September, as borrowing costs continued to come down, new Bank of England figures have shown.
Some 65,600 loans were approved last month, 700 more than in August.
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Average five-year fix sits at 4.66%
Rightmove found that the average monthly mortgage payment on a typical first-time buyer type property when taking out an average five-year fixed, 85% loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage, is now £1,093 per month, down from £1,159 per month a year ago.
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What does the Bank of England’s rate cut mean for property investors?
Insider hears from business figures to learn how property investors can navigate the current landscape after the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to cut interest rates.
The cut is the second this year, after its 0.25 per cent drop in August – but what does it mean for property investors and their portfolios?
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Rent rises stall – but with big regional disparities
The average rent rise in the UK has stalled but regional disparities show that some areas are seeing double-digit rises, research reveals.
The data shows that while the national average rise is at a standstill 0% landlords in Wales and the North East saw rent growth of 15.1% and 12% year-on-year respectively.
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Tenants want greener homes – but not higher rents
Tenants are increasingly demanding greener homes to rent, but they’re not willing to pay more for them, a survey reveals.
The findings reveal a big gap between tenants’ desire for energy-efficient properties and their willingness to shoulder the financial burden.
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Bristol one of the UK’s ‘least affordable’ cities for renting
Credit providers for renters investigated various indicators to reveal that Bristol is the eighth on the list of top ten cities that are least affordable to rent.
Bristol has a rent-to-income ratio of 40.9 per cent, which is just about seven per cent less than the least affordable city on the list, Bournemouth.
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Manchester Has Been Named The UK’s Second ‘Most Unaffordable’ Place To Rent Behind This London Borough
There are plenty of people who (rightly) complain about rent prices in Manchester, and now, new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data has revealed that those people are pretty spot on, with Manchester being named the second least affordable place to rent in England and Wales.
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Rents drop 12% in October as market cools off
In October, England’s rental market experienced a noticeable slowdown, with monthly rents dropping by more than 12% and yearly increases reaching their lowest annual point.
Additionally, void periods were extended, further indicating a substantial easing of the intense market pressures seen between July and September.
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Rising London rents are ‘a pressure cooker ready to explode’ as home ownership ‘inching out of reach’
“A pressure cooker ready to explode” is how one expert has described the current situation in the UK housing market as data showed rents jumped close to 10 per cent in London over the past year.
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Rent growth will slow down – but remain higher than inflation
Rent price growth is set to slow down but will still outpace inflation.
An estate agency is predicting that rents will rise by 4.5% in the final quarter of 2024 – and by the same amount next year.
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Rent arrears soar by 22%
Landlords in the UK have seen rent arrears soar with the average claim reaching £2,064 in the third quarter – a 22% year-on-year increase.
According to data, this figure significantly eclipses the traditional five-week cash deposit, which averages £1,347.
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Government urged to deliver Budget tax relief for landlords
Organisations representing landlords and agents have issued a plea to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves for urgent tax breaks to help alleviate the housing crisis and curb rising rents.
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Larger number of Airbnb rentals associated with higher crime rates – study
Larger numbers of Airbnb properties are associated with more robberies, burglaries, theft and violence in London, research suggests.
The study, led by Cambridge University, indicated that a 10% increase in active Airbnb rentals in London would correspond to an additional 1,000 robberies per year across the city…
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The imminent collapse of the UK private rented sector: a national crisis in the making
What if the UK’s Private Rented Sector (PRS)—once a thriving backbone of housing for millions of people—collapsed overnight? It might sound far-fetched, but the signs are already there. Landlords are leaving the market in droves, overwhelmed by crushing tax changes, impossible regulations, and rising costs.
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Landlords are worried about the future despite a strong PRS
Landlords across the UK are growing increasingly pessimistic about the future of the private rented sector (PRS), despite strong tenant demand and record-high rental yields.
A new report reveals that 91% of landlords believe the Labour government will have a negative impact on the sector.
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New service designed to help landlords meet EPC targets
With all private rented sector properties needing to meet EPC C targets by 2030, many landlords are under financial pressure.
More than five million rental properties will need to be upgraded to meet energy-efficiency targets which could cost landlords thousands of pounds.
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Is the government destroying the UK’s rental market?
Landlords across the UK are facing mounting challenges, from skyrocketing taxes to endless regulations, making it harder and harder to stay in the rental market. It feels as if the government has declared a war on landlords, and it’s not just landlords who are feeling the heat—tenants are being dragged into this crisis too.
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Nearly half of renters struggle with mould
The wet UK weather is exacerbating a growing problem – mould and damp in rental properties and a survey has found that 43% of renters have battled these issues.
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Stamp duty hike: a ‘bitter but manageable pill to swallow’ for UK landlords
Last week’s Budget announcement raised Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) to five per cent tax, yet household landlords seem unfazed.
London-based estate agent carried a survey to find out how UK landlords reacted to this hike.
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Two-thirds of landlords not meeting proposed EPC ‘C’ targets
The latest research from Foundation Home Loans for Q3 2024 has revealed that just over two-thirds of landlords (67%) currently own at least one property that does not meet the new requirements for the government’s proposed EPC ‘C’ targets.
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Labour urged to bring in secret inspections of rented properties
Landlords could face secret inspections of their rental properties under Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill after being urged to do so by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).
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