The election is our only chance to fix housing, but we’re going to blow it – Charlie Lamdin

Vote for anyone but Starmer, or the housing crisis gets worse. Labour will not deliver on their promises, because they haven’t acknowledged the problems that have been standing in the way for decades. A Labour government means likely a decade more housing market deterioriation, whether you’re buying or renting. Therefore, to have any prospect of… Continue reading The election is our only chance to fix housing, but we’re going to blow it – Charlie Lamdin

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Final 5 Fact Friday before Election 2024

Final Five Fact Friday before the election 28 June 2024.  Register here if you want to appear on the 60 hour election livestream: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vpPLXWsD82-KpwrSVgeTauC94zsCH1aCgLV_ZGBMQnU/viewform?usp=drivesdk Zoopla’s house price index says everything is 8% overvalued Bank of England warns 3 million more mortgage holders to be hit by end of fixed rates.  Q1 GDP per capita revised up … Continue reading Final 5 Fact Friday before Election 2024

Rates not cut again. 5 Fact Friday 20 June 2024

Election fever hots up, but there’s little new information on housing manifestos. 5 Fact Friday – 20 June 2024 Rightmove Asking Price Index “Flat” (but actually they’re not) https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/content/uploads/2024/06/Rightmove-HPI-17th-June-Final.pdf ONS House Price and Rental Index for April 2024 Rent inflation eases as stock soars: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/june2024 https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property-listings-surge-by-36-in-londons-lettings-market-foxtons.html Construction Bond Provider exits market Bank of England holds… Continue reading Rates not cut again. 5 Fact Friday 20 June 2024

Housing Market News Overload.

5 Fact Friday 14th June 2024 Mortgage arrears total up 45% https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-13517137/Mortgage-arrears-surge-45-year-reality-rate-hikes-sets-in.html Construction output falls sharply https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/constructionindustry/bulletins/constructionoutputingreatbritain/april2024 Housing Market Activity Stalls in May – RICS https://www.rics.org/content/dam/ricsglobal/documents/market-surveys/5._WEB_May_2024_RICS_UK_Residential_Market_Survey_tp1.pdf GPD growth stalls – flat at 0% in April 2024  Gov Planning Application Statistics – Q1 2024 – All Metrics down approx 10% year on year   https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/planning-applications-in-england-january-to-march-2024 Reform… Continue reading Housing Market News Overload.

Five Fact Friday 7th June 2024. FFS.

Rents increase but not as much as ONS says and Zoopla says rental growth to fall to 5% https://www.goodlord.co/newsagent/goodlord-rental-index https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9rrx74vy5xo HMRC Housing Transaction Volumes fall 9% in April from March https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-property-transactions-completed-in-the-uk-with-value-40000-or-above/uk-monthly-property-transactions-commentary–2 Nigel Farage enters election, changing the likely shape of the future House of Commons https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jun/03/conservatives-equality-act-labour-general-election-campaign-uk-politics-live-3-june Labour announces FTB scheme. But it’s nothing new.  https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labour-party-homes-policy-how-we-will-keep-mortgage-rates-low-and-help-first-time-buyers-with-a-new-freedom-to-buy-scheme/… Continue reading Five Fact Friday 7th June 2024. FFS.

UK Political Parties Ranked on Housing Priority.

Political Parties Website 2024 Housing Manifestos – I have not compared policies, I’ve just looked at how much care and attention has been given by each party to the topic of housing. First Place: Lib Dem Housing Policy (last updated Sept 2023) https://www.libdems.org.uk/conference/motions/autumn-2023/f31 Second Place: Worker Party Manifesto contains the word ‘housing’ 19 times. https://workerspartybritain.org/manifesto-britain-deserves-better/… Continue reading UK Political Parties Ranked on Housing Priority.

Housing Politics is about who can deliver the least bad outcome.

We are in the housing mess we’re in for one reason bigger than all the others put together: Politics. NOTHING has a bigger impact on the housing market than politics. Nothing else comes close. Consider the shocking state of our housing industry, spiralling rents, mortgage payments and affordability nightmares. 100% of these situations are a… Continue reading Housing Politics is about who can deliver the least bad outcome.

Bring out the Stig.

5 Fact Friday 31 May 2024 Leasehold Reform Bill Passed https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2024/may/leasehold-and-freehold-reform-bill–completes-final-stages-and-becomes-law Nationwide HPI reports house price increase https://www.nationwidehousepriceindex.co.uk/resources/px24m-0qca4-6f5ur-t8ucc-hf0ou Zoopla House Price Index – Supply at 8 year high https://assets.ctfassets.net/02vwvgr6spsr/4sHzGQN1lF7UlfgJRxDBLt/f533e04da53ce7a53654714310b53e8e/HPI_April_2024_final.pdf Bank of England shows highest mortgage approvals since mini-budget https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/fromshowcolumns.asp?Travel=NIxSUx&FromSeries=1&ToSeries=50&DAT=RNG&FD=1&FM=Jan&FY=2020&TD=31&TM=Dec&TY=2024&FNY=&CSVF=TT&html.x=121&html.y=35&C=10Z&Filter=N Eurozone Inflation higher than forecast – doubts on rate cuts https://www.ft.com/content/566c85f0-8a76-421b-a9b1-a20471363cff https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/euro-zone-inflation-rises-just-ecb-prepares-cut-rates-2024-05-31 Leasehold Reform Summary: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/leasehold-reforms-become-law#:~:text=The%20Act%20%E2%80%93%20which%20has%20officially,more%20security%20in%20their%20home.

It’s General Election time! 5 Fact Friday

5 Fact Friday – 24th May 2024 Headline CPI Inflation down not as far as hoped to 2.3% but Owner Occupier Housing inflation up to 6.6% https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/april2024 BoE Rate Cut now not expected until September earliest.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-22/pound-rallies-traders-pare-bets-on-rate-cuts-after-uk-inflation Yearly change in Average UK “House Prices” [sic] turns positive in April 2024 for the first time since… Continue reading It’s General Election time! 5 Fact Friday

Wages up, mortgage rates down 🎉 (right?)

5 Fact Friday – 17th May 2024 – 5 Facts hitting UK housing hardest Real Wages rise again, but more slowly https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/may2024 Unemployment rises, job vacancies fall, again https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/may2024 Britain is officially the worlds worst in homelessness  Why Britain is the world’s worst on homelessness Agent Regulation Abandoned after 5 years 3 banks cut mortgage… Continue reading Wages up, mortgage rates down 🎉 (right?)