5 Fact Friday 8 March – Great news

5FF 8 March 2024 Jan 2024 Transactions fall 10% on year earlier, 20% on December.  https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-property-transactions-completed-in-the-uk-with-value-40000-or-above/uk-monthly-property-transactions-commentary 2023 Mortgage Lending lowest in 50 years – UK Finance https://ukfinance-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/affordability-pressures-push-down-mortgage-lending-and-savings-in-2023 UK Spring Budget 2024 – CGT Cut from 28 to 24%, Stamp Duty holiday ends, Holiday Lets tax break ends https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html#:~:text=a%20timely%20manner.-,6.6%20Housing,-Barking%20%E2%80%93%20The OBR: 2026 before house prices rise https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/house-prices/falling-interest-rates-to-drive-house-price-recovery… Continue reading 5 Fact Friday 8 March – Great news

2024 Spring Budget Boost for Affordable Housing

Charlie Lamdin thinks the budget was great news for the housing market

The lack of help for first time buyers or other government stimulus is the best thing that could have happened. What goes up, must come down. Except house prices, it would seem. The chances of buying a home have continued to escape more and more would-be home buyers. The average age of a first time… Continue reading 2024 Spring Budget Boost for Affordable Housing

If we fix housing first, we will be better placed to fix everything else.

Why today’s budget won’t fix the housing crisis (and what will). Today is budget day. An opportunity to help the housing crisis. The housing crisis is a social crisis. It started with selling off social housing, then not replacing that social housing. So now we don’t have enough social housing. As a result, we the… Continue reading If we fix housing first, we will be better placed to fix everything else.

The Week in Housing: Up, 99, Up, Nothing, Boom.

5FF Feb 23 2024 Rightmove’s “Asking Price” Index Up: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/content/uploads/2024/02/Rightmove-HPI-19th-February-Final-.pdf Hunt mulling 99% taxpayer-guaranteed mortgage lending https://www.ft.com/content/ce643bfa-d4a9-4d85-b28c-6cc0fceba62f Lenders Raise Rates https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68374500 Bank of England nothing burger makes big headlines https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/bank-englands-bailey-sees-signs-uk-economy-upturn-2024-02-20/ BestAgent “People’s” open source House Price Index targets overvaluing culprits and beats hackers https://bestagent.property/hpi

The Week It All Changed.

5 Fact Friday – 16 Feb 2024 ONS December House Price Index continues to be confuseless.  https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-house-price-index-for-december-2023/uk-house-price-index-summary-december-2023 January Inflation Unchanged Again at 4.2%: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/january2024 GDP – We’re officially in Recession: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpfirstquarterlyestimateuk/octobertodecember2023 GDP Per Capita – We’ve been in recession for 2 years already: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpfirstquarterlyestimateuk/octobertodecember2023#:~:text=%2D0.2-,Source%3A%20GDP%20first%20quarterly%20estimate%20from%20the%20Office%20for%20National%20Statistics,-Notes Commercial Property Debt Time-bomb close to detonating: https://www.businessinsider.nl/commercial-real-estate-is-in-big-trouble-and-the-problems-may-have-major-financial-fallout/ Bonus fact, for… Continue reading The Week It All Changed.

What hope for housing?

The highly-deserved undoing of the Conservatives won’t be Labour. It will be their own shambolic incompetence. A government can only function well if the team running it actually behaves like a team, not like a bunch of posturing glory-seekers. There is a time for individual jostling in politics, a bit like transfer season. Maybe for… Continue reading What hope for housing?

Festive Final Five Fact Friday of 2023

5FF 1 Dec 2023 Fact 1: Bank of England October Mortgage approvals up. (They couldn’t have got much lower).  https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/money-and-credit/2023/october-2023 Zoopla Nov HPI. – 6 year supply high. £18,000 average discounts from asking price. https://www.zoopla.co.uk/discover/property-news/house-price-index/ Used car market crashing 4.2% in one month  https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/used-car-price-crash-continues-with-trade-values-falling-4-2-again-in-november/293687 Government botches leasehold reform legislation.  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bill-to-ban-leaseholds-doesnt-ban-leaseholds-ministers-admit-g9mvh27dw New legislation for property listings announced … Continue reading Festive Final Five Fact Friday of 2023

2024 will bring about the end of estate agency as we know it, in a good way.

There’s one thing that’s not in dispute: A fall in transaction volumes is bad for everyone who needs or wants to move house. It’s also bad for the multi-layered industry that makes it’s living from these transactions. A painful but cathartic rebirth of the moving industry is underway. Whatever happens to house prices as 2024… Continue reading 2024 will bring about the end of estate agency as we know it, in a good way.

5 Fact Friday 10 Nov 2023 Mortgage Arrears jump 7% in Q3 2023

Halifax confirms it expects house prices to continue falling until 2025, despite the one month rise in it’s average house price index https://www.halifax.co.uk/assets/pdf/october-2023-house-price-index.pdf RICS survey for October shows buyer demand and sales activity in ‘deeply negative territory’ https://www.rics.org/content/dam/ricsglobal/documents/market-surveys/uk-residential-market-survey/10._WEB_October_2023_RICS_UK_Residential_Market_Survey_tp.pdf MHWC provides mathematical proof that house prices go down when the ‘average’ price goes up https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tm4EzSBXTifKIRjPAoTUGW7td62SrPKee4jELjUxgzk/edit?usp=sharing RICS… Continue reading 5 Fact Friday 10 Nov 2023 Mortgage Arrears jump 7% in Q3 2023