15/01/2025
Rent in advance limit included in Renters' Rights Bill as it moves to House of Lords
Amendments from the Committee Stage were voted on in the House of Commons before the Bill completed its journey in the Commons on 14 January 2025. The Bill now moves on to the upper house for further scrutiny. Disappointingly, the UK Government has so far refused to reconsider the removal of fixed-term tenancies despite challenges from the sector. It has been confirmed that the Bill will not contain any regulations for minimum EPC standards, which will be separately consulted on by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in the coming months.
13/01/2025
Buyer demand levels rallied in the final quarter of 2024 after a post-Budget slump
GetAgent’s latest Hotspots Demand Index, which looks at the percentage of stock listed as sold subject to contract, suggested buyer interest stood at 45.9% as of the end of 2024.
This marks an increase of 2% on the previous quarter, with buyer appetites remaining 4.2% higher annually.
Colby Short, chief executive of GetAgent, said: “2024 proved to be a positive year for the property market, however, we simply didn’t see the reduction in interest rates expected and this meant that mortgage rates remained far higher than today’s buyers have become accustomed to in recent years.
“Whilst this will have certainly continued to restrict homebuyers financially, it certainly didn’t dampen their enthusiasm and we’ve seen the market rally in Q4, with an increase in demand levels pretty much across the board.
Source: https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2025/01/homebuyer-demand-on-the-rise-again-claim/
16/12/2024
The looming stamp duty deadline in England is a potential dampener for some buyers and sellers in 2025, warns Rightmove.
The portal’s real-time data is capturing the impact on different groups of movers and the latest snapshot identifies signs that sellers of smaller properties in higher-priced areas are trying to trade up or just sell before the April 2025 deadline to avoid the higher stamp duty charges, despite now needing to act very quickly.
Rightmove says there are positive signs for the 2025 market, and meaningful mortgage rate falls would be a big boost to consumer confidence and pockets, there is still caution over how next year may play out.
There is uncertainty over how rising stamp duty may affect activity later in 2025, as well as the level of wage growth.
“The stamp duty changes are a cloud over the market at the moment, with some groups much more impacted than others, and therefore keen to avoid the additional charges” explains Tim Bannister Rightmove’s Director of Property Science.
“After the important first three months of the year in 2025, a lot depends on how quickly normal activity is resumed with higher stamp duty in England. A Bank Rate cut and some mortgage rate falls early on in the year would help to settle the market and provide a boost to sentiment and consumer confidence.”
10/12/2024
In the past three years house prices have increased twice as quickly as household incomes in England, new government data reveals.
The average annual disposable household income was £35,000 during the financial year ending 2023 in England; the average house price was £298,000, which is the equivalent to a ratio of 8.6 years of household income.
The average house price to disposable household income ratios were 5.8 in Wales, 5.6 in Scotland and 5.0 in Northern Ireland in FYE 2023.
Daniel & Hulme Edit: Imagine having £35,000 a year disposable income!
09/12/2024
Average house prices continue to rise across all regions.
Northern Ireland posted the strongest property price growth of any nation or region in the UK for November with prices rising by 6.8% annually.
The North West of England recorded the highest growth of any region, up 5.9%, while typical values in the West Midlands were up 5.5%.
Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax, said many potential buyers and movers still face significant affordability challenges and buyer confidence may be tested against a changeable economic backdrop, adding: “As we move towards the end of the year and into 2025, positive employment figures and anticipated decreases in interest rates are expected to continue supporting demand.
25/11/2024
Following the rise in borrowing costs since the chancellor set out her economic plans, Knight Frank has revised down its forecast for house price growth over the next five years.
As a result of the more adverse rate environment, Knight Frank now expects average UK house price growth of 2.5% in 2025, 3% in 2026, and 3.5% in 2027 down from our August forecast of 3%, 4% and 5%. Over the five-year period, the estate agency expects cumulative growth of 19.3%, which compares to an equivalent figure of 20.5% three months ago.
Source: https://propertyindustryeye.com/what-is-going-to-happen-to-uk-house-prices-over-next-five-years/
21/11/2024
The Government doesn’t have annual housebuilding targets but is confident that it will provide 1.5m new homes over the next five years, the Housing Minister has revealed.
Speaking during his first appearance in front of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Matthew Pennycook said it will take the full five-year parliamentary term to reach the 1.5m housebuilding target promised in Labour’s General Election manifesto.
Committee chair Florence Eshalomi asked how the Government would monitor progress without annual targets, Pennycook said: “We deliberately didn’t pick an annual target as we knew we would inherit constrained supply.
11/11/2024
Hamptons forecast that house prices will rise by an average of 3% across Great Britain in 2025, followed by 3.5% in 2026 and 2.5% in 2027, as the affordability picture improves.
While the estate agency’s 2025 house price growth and transaction forecasts remain unchanged, they have downgraded longer-term growth due to high interest rates and taxes bearing down on the market.
The company projects that 2025 will mark the beginning of a new property market cycle, with London seat to start outperforming other regions for the first time since 2015 with 4% annual price growth in 2025.
Source: https://propertyindustryeye.com/what-is-going-to-happen-to-house-prices-and-rents-next-year-4/
07/11/2024
The Bank of England has announced a further cut to the base interest rate, now standing at 4.75%, as it aims to bolster economic stability amidst easing inflation rates. This follows a 0.25% reduction in August 2024 and comes as inflation drops to 1.7%, below the Bank’s 2% target, providing favourable conditions for the housing market.
Source: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-summary-and-minutes/2024/november-2024