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As we move into the traditionally slow summer holiday period, has the Basingstoke property market ground to a halt. In the past week, two large estate agency chains have reported dismal results. Countrywide reported a decline in profits for the first half of 2017 to £6.5m from £28.3m the year before. Foxtons similarly announced a 64% decline in profit for same period. There are many contributors to these results: • The rush to purchase properties before the changes in stamp duty came into force in April 2016 which are reflected in the 1H2016 figures • Continued uncertainty in the market due to the general election, Brexit and overall political uncertainty • This has resulted in a continued slowdown in the sales market month on month during the first half of 2017 In the case of Foxtons who are largely London based, whilst their lettings business remained largely resilient to these market conditions, their sale revenue declined 29% and their sales volume by 33%. By cont...

Brand New Apartments Open Day - YouTube Video

According to the Halifax House Price Index released in July, UK average house prices fell by 1.0% in June, with house prices in the three months to June down 0.1% compared to the previous quarter. This brings the average price of a house or flat down to £218,390. This is the third successive quarterly decline.   Measured on an annual basis, the average growth in house prices fell to 2.6% which is the lowest rate since May 2013.   Nationally, house prices are now 9% above their peak in August 2007, and 41% higher than their low point in April 2009.   The volume of house sales dropped by 3% between April and May, however, however sales in the three months to May were actually 1% higher than the preceding three months. We are likely to see a similar drop between May and June due to the general election.   Mortgage approvals between April and May edged up 0.2% suggesting that house sales are likely to remain steady over the coming months. ...

Further to our newsletter last week, please find attached a letter that was sent to a number of bodies representing the private residential sector following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London. The letter offers support to owners of private residential buildings in England to carry out tests on cladding. This is only relevant to you as a landlord or property owner, if you own a property in a building over 18m high which has, or appears to have cladding on the exterior. If you do, queries should be directed to your block management company. The government has confirmed it is offering: •                   In addition to the checks on residential blocks owned by social landlords, DCLG are offering private owners of residential buildings an opportunity to test cladding on blocks over 18 metres high through arrangements put in place with the Building Research Establishment (BRE). ...

  We have had a lot of enquiries over the past week from both landlords and tenants, following the awful fire at Grenfell Tower on June 14 th , to find out if their particular apartment block has a sprinkler system.   Although there is clear evidence to show that these systems can dramatically reduce the potential for damage to the property and potential loss of life or injury, regulations in England mean that only buildings constructed since 2007 and which are taller than 30m are required to have sprinklers fitted. This requirement wasn't applied retroactively so it does not apply to buildings that were built or modified before this date.   Whether a building is required to have these systems can also be influenced by when planning permission was submitted. So, if planning permission was submitted before April 2007 when the new regulations were introduced, but the building was not completed until afterwards, the building would not be subject to the...

The latest UK Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has provided some interesting insight into the Sales and Lettings markets in the lead up to the election and beyond. Sales Market In the sales market, there has been a continued decline in the number of properties coming to the market, the number of sales completing, and the number of people looking for properties to purchase. The number of buyers however, continues to far exceed the number of properties available. Anecdotal evidence would suggest these are two main contributors to this: ·          The snap election has caused a level of uncertainty in the market, although this should be less marked than in the past due to the short period before the election. ·          The second contributor is the changes to stamp duty starting to take effect, both in the buy-to-let market, but also for prop...

As the father of 27 and 25 year olds, I often worry about their ability to purchase a property, and am pretty sure a contribution will be required from the bank of Mum and Dad. I was also prompted by a response to one of our recent articles about new properties available in Basingstoke, that the prices simply were unaffordable for first-time buyers in Basingstoke. There can be no doubt that buy to let landlords have played their part in driving up property values in Basingstoke (and the UK) and from that, made housing a lot less affordable for the 20 and 30 somethings of Basingstoke. The BoE has a target for the annual inflation rate of the Consumer Prices Index of 2%, whilst it is also required to support the Government’s economic policy, including its objectives for growth and employment .   So, should BoE be charged with containing buy to let housing market, by possibly changing the rules on the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio’s? If we want to look at how affordable p...