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May 21st –25th is Walk to School Week. Every day nearly 4.7 million primary school children undertake the school run of which close to 2.5 million walk. Across England and Wales properties sold within a 10 minute walk of an outstanding primary school attract a 17.8% price premium compared to the average price of a property, the equivalent of £51,688. The premium is highest across the East of England and South East, where properties sell for as much as £70,000 more. Premiums across the North East and Wales are the lowest of all the regions, but even here a short, walkable school run can boost sales prices by several thousands. 

As part of the new government housing bill, one of the items under discussion, is capping the size of a deposit to a maximum of 4 or 6 weeks rent. For many landlords, the current average deposit of 6 weeks can seem inadequate if your tenant causes significant damage in the property or has failed to pay their rent. For many tenants, the cost of moving into a new rental property can be substantial, on average around £2,000 for their first months’ rent and deposit. On top of this, if they are moving from an existing rented property, they are unlikely to receive their deposit back from their previous tenancy, before having to pay the deposit for their new tenancy. As a result, a number of schemes have started to emerge that offer tenants a deposit free option to renting a property... But this is a good thing for either the landlord or the tenant? There are a few schemes that have emerged: 1. Tenants Pay an Insurance Rather Than a Deposit In this instance, the tenan...

  The government has announced that it’s launching a review into the requirement for carbon monoxide alarms in homes across England. The review will address whether alarms should be required for all methods of heating, including gas and oil, the cost of alarms and new research on deaths caused by carbon monoxide. There has already been a recent formal government consultation specifically into smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the private rental sector - that process has ended although it appears unlikely that it will trigger any change in the current regulations. As they stand, regulations require landlords - or agents acting on their behalf - to have at least one smoke alarm installed on every storey of their properties on which there is a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room wholly or partly used as living accommodation containing a solid fuel burning appliance. This latest consultation - which will ...

It’s a boy! Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their new arrival, the fifth in line to the throne. While we await a name, in property terms which are the most valuable, or familiar of the bookmakers favourites? Over the last year properties sold on streets bearing all the names with the exception of Frederick exceed the UK average house price of £225,047. Properties sold on streets bearing Albert, Elizabeth and Mary attracting the highest price premiums. Victoria is the most popular girls street name, Albert for a boy, over 3300 and 1300 sales respectively taking place on streets bearing these names, compared to less than 40 for Alice and just 130 for Philip. And what of George and Charlotte? Properties sold on streets including George, sold on average for over twice the UK average at over £483,000, while Charlotte attracts a premium of over £70k compared to the UK average.

The National Housing Federation recently published their report “Home Truths 2017/18” which offers an interesting insight into the property market across the country. Although the data is based on figures from 2017, and is therefore 6 to 9 months in arrears, there were some interesting figures for the Basingstoke and Deane market. The report highlighted the following concerns for the Basingstoke housing market   ·          Between 2012 and 2016 there was a short fall of over 2,343 homes – the second highest in Hampshire after the New Forest. 
 ·          At over £326,000, the average home in the region now costs over 10 times the average salary. 
 ·          A family seeking to buy the average home in Basingstoke now requires an income of more than £74,000 
 to afford a mortgage, making home ownership unattainable for many. 
 ·  ...

Over half (55%) of owner occupiers across England own their homes outright. Meanwhile, house price growth means that homeowners have amassed significant amounts of equity in their homes. Many, having climbed the housing ladder, are now realising the potential of this huge wealth tied up in property by downsizing from their existing large properties. The Annual Retirement Confidence Index from McCarthy & Stone in 2017 revealed that 38% of over 65s would consider downsizing now, equating to around 4.5 million pensioners. We calculate that, if owners moved from their existing 4-bedroom detached home to a 2-bedroom flat, they could release, on average just under a quarter of a million pounds. The amount varies by region from £155,000 in Wales to £466,750 in the South East and £815,000 in London. While freeing up under occupied homes to help ease some of the housing stock issues in the market, downsizers will reduce their ongoing running costs and also be left with a large pot of...