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: Tenant demand soars to new heights in UK housing market; How could a stamp duty incentive help the property market?; Lower house prices could cause higher mortgage rates; Monthly UK rents fall, but are up 9% year-on-year; How to evict a tenant in England; 1 in 4 landlords will sell their properties in 2024, new survey reveals… Happy reading and… renting!
House prices in England and Wales plummet by 4.1% in October
The housing market in England and Wales suffered a blow in October as the average house price fell by 4.1%, or £15,700 to £362,777, according to latest data…
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Tenant demand soars to new heights in UK housing market
The UK private rented sector continues to attract buy-to-let landlords thanks to high tenancy demand and rising rents. Forecasts show that rent prices will continue to grow in 2024.
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How could a stamp duty incentive help the property market?
There’s no doubt the market is in need of a boost at present, as higher borrowing costs have reduced buyer demand and, as a result, the rate of house price growth seen in recent months. In fact, the annual rate of house price growth has slowed to just 0.8%.
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UK Housing Market Was “Better-Than-Predicted” in 2023
With asking prices dropping slightly, property investors may find good-value properties for less than their typical market value, primarily if they focus their search on areas with strong rental yields and below-average property prices, such as Liverpool in the North West.
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House prices set to fall by 4.7% next year
The UK’s average house price will fall by nearly £25,000 in 2024 – and won’t recover their 2022 house price high until 2027, it has been revealed.
Price recovery would take three years, but homebuyers will be dealing with an average mortgage rate of 5%.
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Zoopla Sees Values Fall But Says Volume Of Sales Is Increasing
Overall the market is showing resilience, according to Zoopla figures, with the number of home sales up by 17% year-on-year. Other market commentators are predicting there will be greater stability and confidence in 2024 in their mortgage and housing market forecasts.
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UK house prices inch higher but ‘rapid rebound’ in property market unlikely
UK house prices rose for the third month in a row in November, as hopes of mortgage costs coming down and rising wages has helped warm up demand across the property market, according to Nationwide Building Society.
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House prices are falling in London but how does it compare to the rest of the UK?
The capital’s property market has always been viewed separately to the rest of the UK, particularly in prime central areas where there is more of an international focus and high mortgage rates don’t make much difference to buyers who can either afford it or are less reliant on debt.
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Revealed: the top 10 UK cities for house price growth
Using the economic and demographic drivers that will likely underpin price growth, analysts at CBRE, a global commercial real estate company, ranked 50 towns and cities by sector, including office space, retail, leisure, tourism, student accommodation and housing supply.
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Property market remains strong despite economic backdrop
According to Bank of England data, mortgage approvals, a leading indicator of demand, are 18.5% higher than in January. The 8% uptick between September and October reflects growing confidence in the market.
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Wrexham is named UK’s busiest rental market with 56 enquiries per home
Wrexham has been named as the busiest rental market of 2023, with landlords in the area typically receiving 56 enquiries per property.
Wrexham – which became a city last year – has recorded eight times more enquiries on average for each available property.
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Lower house prices could cause higher mortgage rates
A drop in house prices could result in people being on higher mortgage rates if they are pushed into different loan to value (LTV) brackets, Bank of England economists have suggested.
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Interest rates blamed for plunging property transactions as UK housing market cools
UK property transactions fell 17% in October as high interest rates are making it harder to climb the property ladder.
There were 90,920 UK residential transactions in October, which is 2% lower than in September and 17% lower than October 2022.
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First-time buyers facing deposits twice their annual income
First-time buyers are being forced to put down deposits of double their annual income to secure a house amid high property prices and higher mortgage rates.
Figures from UK finance show that first-time buyers with household incomes of less than £50,000 are now having to put down deposits equal to twice their annual earnings.
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Average two-year mortgage rate dips below 6% for first time in nearly six months
The average two-year fixed-rate homeowner mortgage is sitting below 6% for the first time in nearly six months.
Across all deposit sizes, the average two-year fixed-rate homeowner mortgage on the market dipped to 5.99%…
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Mortgage lending set to fall in 2024
In 2023, higher interest rates and household costs limited access to mortgage credit. Affordability constraints have also dampened external remortgaging activity, although there was growth in the internal product transfer market, where affordability tests are not required.
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London leads the way in rental affordability improvement
Renting in London is still the most expensive in England, but the capital has also seen the biggest improvement in rental affordability over the last five years, according to a new analysis.
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Call for winter rent freeze and eviction ban as cost-of-living crisis bites
Rents should be frozen and evictions banned this winter as the cost-of-living crisis puts the squeeze on tenants, causing an increase in homelessness, the Senedd heard.
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Rents are still rising but could reach their limit by 2025 – is buy-to-let still worth it?
Landlords have been hit with higher taxes and rising mortgage rates but your buy-to-let could still benefit from rental growth of almost 10%, research suggests.
The perks of property investing have been drastically reduced in recent years with extra stamp duty charges for landlords…
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Private tenants in Scotland must not pay the price of UK government climate u-turns
A decision by the UK Government to scrap minimum energy standards for private tenancies could cost households £8 billion more in higher energy bills over the next decade, according to expert research.
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Monthly UK rents fall, but are up 9% year-on-year
Rents in many regions dropped in November compared with October, new figures show, and yet many tenants are now paying out hundreds of pounds more each month compared to this time last year, and an average of more than £200 than in 2021.
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Labour wants to ban tenant bidding wars – landlord explains why that won’t work
The Labour Party says it wants the UK to outlaw tenant bidding wars for rented homes, adopting a New Zealand policy, the Party’s Shadow Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, says.
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The big rent squeeze in England forecast to continue for two years
The cost of renting a home from a private landlord in the UK has surged at its fastest pace for 50 years.
But while general inflation has eased significantly in the last few months, rent inflation may be set to remain at a painfully high level.
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London rents will cool next year – but tenants won’t be out of the woods yet
Rents will continue to rise in London next year but at a much slower pace than what has been seen over the past 12 months.
London landlords are expected to raise their prices by two per cent in 2024, a substantial decrease when compared to the nine per cent hike which was recorded by property portal Zoopla at the start of autumn.
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Asking price discounts hit a five-year high – is now the time to buy a property?
While house prices have been sliding, homebuyers are securing an average of £18,000 off the asking price of a property as discounts hit a five-year high, research reveals.
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How to evict a tenant in England
Evicting a tenant is never an easy decision and usually, it’s the last choice any landlord wants to make.
With piles of paperwork to complete, it’s a decision that should not be made lightly.
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How first-time buyers can get on the property ladder in a cost of living crisis
The past 12 months have been a tumultuous time in the property market, with mortgage rates skyrocketing and lenders tightening up on their affordability criteria. First-time buyers have been especially affected as many have seen their dreams of home ownership, via the traditional mortgage route at least, pushed out of reach.
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How to prepare your finances before buying a property in the UK?
Buying a property is a significant milestone, and for those considering homeownership in the United Kingdom, meticulous financial preparation is key to a successful venture.
The UK real estate market has its unique dynamics, and understanding the intricacies involved is crucial for a smooth and financially sound property acquisition.
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How renting out 1.74% of empty bedrooms could lower rents by 22%
According to data from SpareRoom, there are now 5.36 renters competing for every room available, up from 2.4 in 2017.
As a result, the average UK room rent has increased by 22%, from £635 in 2017 to £774 in 2023.
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Property fraud risk is higher in some UK regions
A new study has revealed that some regions of the UK may be more prone to property fraud than others, due to the higher proportion of mortgage-free properties in those areas.
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26% of UK Buy-to-Let Landlords Confident to Increase Property Portfolios
As we head towards the end of 2023, it is clear that the market has performed admirably, given the awful hand it dealt. Following the pandemic, the Ukraine war and the Liz Truss mini-budget fiasco, inflation and interest rates went soaring. Many forecasters assumed the worst for the UK property market.
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1 in 4 landlords will sell their properties in 2024, new survey reveals
Between complications like the Renters Reform Bill and the country’s volatile inflation rates, 2023 will be remembered as a year of uncertainty, inconsistency and turmoil for plenty of UK landlords. But what position will landlords be in as we head into 2024?
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Landlords exiting rental market due to ‘hostile political environment’ in Scotland
The size of the rental market is “shrinking”, which in turn is “propelling” rent prices. Ministers previously introduced a 3 per cent cap on rent increases for sitting tenants, which is in place until March.
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