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eMoov Crowns I’m a Celebrity Winner Based on Property Values

Published On: November 14, 2016 at 10:21 am

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With I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here back on our screens, online estate agent eMoov.co.uk has completed its latest piece of topical research by crowning the winner based on property values.

The agent took the birthplace of each of the ten contestants (other than Polish-born Ola Jordan, who now lives in Maidstone) and ranked them based on the change in the average property values since the show aired last year. In the event of a tie, eMoov took into account which hometown offers the most affordable house price.

eMoov Crowns I'm a Celebrity Winner Based on Property Values

eMoov Crowns I’m a Celebrity Winner Based on Property Values

After analysing each of the contestants, eMoov crowned Jordan Banjo as the new King of the Jungle. The Diversity dance star may no longer be a household name, but his birthplace of Wickford, near Basildon, has experienced an increase of 21% in property values over the last 12 months – the greatest growth by far.

In second place, and Banjo’s Queen of the Jungle, is Carol Vorderman. Her birthplace of Bedford has seen a rise of 15% in property values over the last year, enough to tie her with the third and fourth place contestants, Lisa Snowden and Larry Lamb.

However, with an average house price of £264,257, Vorderman beats Lisa and Larry to the second spot with a more affordable property value.

Both Lisa, who was born in Welwyn Garden City, and Larry, who was born in Edmonton, Enfield, have the most expensive average house prices of all the contestants, at £381,280 and £396,630 respectively.

England football star Wayne Bridge came out in fifth, with the average house price in his birthplace of Southampton (£201,464) affordable enough to bat off Joel Dommet (South Gloucestershire, £258,689) and dancer Ola Jordan (Maidstone, £280,256) in a three-way tie, with each location enjoying a 12% increase in property values over the past year.

Actor Adam Thomas takes eighth place, with the average house price in his hometown of Manchester standing at £154,711 – up by 9% over the last 12 months.

Olympian Sam Quek narrowly missed out on last place, with her birthplace of the Wirral only experiencing an increase in property values of 4% in the last year.

Sadly, bookies favourite Scarlett Moffatt’s birthplace of Bishop Auckland in County Durham only saw house prices creep up by 2% over the past year, placing her last in the rankings.

Russell Quirk, the Founder and CEO of eMoov, says: “Although most of these celebrities will have long left their hometowns and moved on to more affluent parts of the UK property market, we thought it was important to rank them on where they came from, not where they’ve made it to.

“Historically, it seems to be the most genuine contestants that have the right recipe for I’m a Celeb royalty. Should this be the case, we could well see our table reversed when it comes to the real thing.”

He adds: “The property market in County Durham has taken a bit of a battering over the last year or two, so it would be great if Scarlett could bring home the crown and give the area something to cheer about.”

Who are you behind to win this year’s competition?

Year-on-year rental price growth slows

Published On: November 14, 2016 at 9:55 am

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The latest HomeLet Rental Index indicates that annual rental price growth slowed to 3% during October-the lowest rise seen so far this year.

Now, the typical UK rent stands at £902 per month. Despite being higher than October’s 2015 average of £875, this is £8 lower than September’s figures.

Falls

Rental price inflation has slipped from a high-point of 4.5% in March 2016, with the rate of increase dropping in each of the last four months.

These falls are a reflection of modest decreases in rent in a number of regions in the country, which could indicate that the market is nearing an affordability ceiling.

Slows in the pace of rental price inflation are most obvious in the regions of the country where rents had previously risen quickest.

In Greater London, rents on new tenancies increased by 2.5% during the year to October, having previously increased at more than 7% one year ago. In the South East, rents increased by 2.7% year-on-year to October, down from 4.3% at the same period in 2015.

Regions of the country where annual rental price inflation is at its highest also saw rents fall in the last month. In the West Midlands, where rents were 5.1% greater than in October and the North West, where rents were 4.4%, both saw falls in comparison to September.

Despite the slowdown in growth, investors should look to take out rent guarantee insurance, to protect themselves against arrears.

The table below indicates how rents have changed by month and by year:

Region Average rent in October 2016 Average rent in September 2016 Average rent in October 2015 Monthly variation Annual variation
West Midlands £663 £665 £631 -0.3% 5.1%
North West £676 £683 £648 -0.1% 4.4%
Wales £609 £609 £586 0.1% 3.9%
East of England £904 £904 £871 0.0% 3.7%
Northern Ireland £592 £594 £573 -0.4% 3.3%
East Midlands £601 £602 £583 -0.2% 3.1%
South East £999 £1020 £973 -2.1% 2.7%
Greater London £1542 £1555 £1504 -0.9% 2.5%
Yorkshire & Humberside £619 £621 £605 -0.3% 2.3%
South West £787 £799 £772 1.5% 1.9%
North East £525 £530 £519 -0.9% 1.3%
Scotland £606 £610 £608 -0.8% -0.4%
UK £902 £910 £875 -0.9% 3.0%
Notes: Based on new tenancies in October 2016 Based on new tenancies in September 2016 Based on new tenancies in October 2015 Comparison of average rent in October 2016 and September 2016 Comparison of average rent in October 2016 and October 2015
Year-on-year rental price growth slows

Year-on-year rental price growth slows

Finding a balance

Martin Totty, chief executive of Barbon Insurance Group, parent company of HomeLet, observed: ‘Landlords are aware of the need to find a balance between what tenants can afford and the returns they require on their investment. While many landlords are facing higher costs themselves, including the impact of higher stamp duty on their property purchases since April, our data suggests that they have so far been cautious against a more uncertain economic environment.’[1]

‘We know wage growth has lagged rental price inflation and it could be that we are approaching an affordability ceiling whereby landlords can’t attract tenants able to afford higher rents,’ he added.[1]

 

[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/11/annual-rental-price-growth-continues-to-slow

 

Number of Tenants with a Spare Bedroom Drops to Lowest Level on Record

Published On: November 14, 2016 at 9:38 am

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The number of tenants with a spare bedroom has dropped to the lowest level on record, according to the latest Lettings Index from Countrywide.

Just one in three tenants (35%) rented a home with a spare bedroom in 2016, down from a peak of 59% in 2010.

Number of Tenants with a Spare Bedroom Drops to Lowest Level on Record

Number of Tenants with a Spare Bedroom Drops to Lowest Level on Record

In London, where rent prices are highest in the whole country, only 26% of tenants were able and willing to pay for an extra bedroom this year, down slightly from last year.

As rising rent prices have pushed the cost of an extra bedroom to an average of £295 per month, tenants have increasingly shied way from paying for space that they don’t absolutely need.

Tenants in the capital are the least likely to have a spare bedroom, however, the figure is very similar in big cities across the south of England. Less than three in ten tenants in Oxford (28%), Cambridge (27%) and Bristol (24%) have a spare room.

But in cities further north, such as Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool (where the cost of an extra bedroom is much lower), tenants are almost twice as likely to have a spare bedroom.

Those living in city centre flats are a third more likely to have a spare room than their suburban counterparts, the research found.

Countrywide has also analysed the average rent prices across the country, finding that rents have risen by 1% in the past year – the slowest October increase since 2010.

London and the South East continue to bear the brunt of the slowdown, with rents in the capital up by just 0.2% in the last 12 months, while the South East saw a decline of 3%.

In October, the average London rent stood at £1,302 per month, compared to £1,300 last year.

In Great Britain as a whole, the average rent price for new lets is now £947 a month.

The Midlands, north of England and Scotland all experienced rent increases of more than 2% over the year since October 2015.

Johnny Morris, the Director of Research at Countrywide, comments on the findings: “As affordability pressures have risen, for many tenants, extra space has become a luxury. Sacrificing extra bedrooms and sharing has helped renters to absorb higher prices. But those living in the south are close to a point where there’s not much more room to squeeze, meaning rental growth is likely to be capped by tenants’  incomes for some time.

“The second half of 2016 has seen the rental market slowly swing towards the tenant. The pace of rental growth has slowed throughout the year. October was the first time in over two years the cost of renting a home didn’t rise faster than the rate of inflation.”

New £18m ‘Capacity Fund’ announced by Housing Minister

Published On: November 11, 2016 at 2:17 pm

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The Housing Minister has today announced a new £18m ‘capacity fund’ aimed at speeding up house building on large sites.

However, Gavin Barwell also admitted that the Government can do better in addressing the issue.

Capacity Fund

From today, councils can apply for a share of the capacity fund, which will aim to address planning issues causing delays to builders wanting to start work quickly.

It is hoped that this money will accelerate delivery of 800,000 homes across larger sites in England.

Primarily, this will aimed at larger sites of 1,500 units or more, alongside Housing Zones. In addition, developers will be able to apply to funding from the Home Building Zone, which is making £3bn available to housing builders.

Measures announced include creating six new Housing Zones to assist the development of 10,000 properties on brownfield land.

New £18m 'Capacity Fund' announced by Housing Minister

New £18m ‘Capacity Fund’ announced by Housing Minister

Potential

Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said: ‘We want to turbo-charge house building on large sites to get the homes built in the places people want to live, so that this country works for everyone, not just the privileged few. These sites offer enormous potential to transform brownfield land into new homes and our £18m funding will help get them built much sooner. Furthermore, we are getting behind plans for a new Garden Town, which offers a unique opportunity to boost the local economy, jobs and provide new homes in Shepway, Kent.’[1]

Housebuilding targets have been missed on a regular basis, leading to soaring prices and a profound shortage of properties. Recent figures show that the Government is only building an average of 170,000 homes each year.

Barwell acknowledges that this is not good enough, saying: ‘We clearly need todo better. We inherited a position in 2010 where house building rates in this country were at their lowest since the 1920s. We’ve seen significant progress.’[1]

‘But absolutely we are still not at the rate that we need to be in order to meet our ambition to get this country building the homes that are so desperately needed.’[1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/housing-minister-announces-new-18m-capacity-fund.html

Large drop in repossession claims in the last two years

Published On: November 11, 2016 at 12:17 pm

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There has been a significant fall in the number of claims made by private landlords to repossess property during the last two years, according to new data.

Official figures provided by the Ministry of Justice show that the number of possession claims made to country courts in England and Wales by private landlords have dropped substantially during this period.

Fall in possessions

Data from the report shows that possessions made by landlords have fallen from a high of 6,486 during quarter one of 2014, to 5,129 in the third quarter of this year.

The news of improvements comes after an independent English Housing Survey discovered that in 2014-15, private rental tenants have lived in their current property for an average of four years.

Assessing the data, David Smith, policy director at the Residential Landlords Association, feels the results serve as a reminder that: ‘landlords do not seek to re-possess properties lightly.’[1]

‘With tenants also living an average of four years in private rented homes, the sector is stepping up to the demand for long term housing without the need for heavy handed legislation,’ he added.[1]

Large drop in repossession claims in the last two years

Large drop in repossession claims in the last two years

Orders 

The report also shows that during July and September 2016, landlords made 20,753 possession claims. 60% were from social landlords, with those in the private rental sector making up just 15%.

Landlord possession claims (34,414), possession orders (26,157), warrants of possession (18,450 and repossession claims (9,689) were down by 11%, 10%, 8% and 14% respectively, in comparison to the same period last year.

[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/11/significant-drop-in-landlord-possession-claims

 

HSE Proposes Changes to Gas Safety Checks for Landlords

Published On: November 11, 2016 at 11:32 am

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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has proposed changes to the timings of gas safety checks for landlords, which it believes will save time and money.

HSE Proposes Changes to Gas Safety Checks for Landlords

HSE Proposes Changes to Gas Safety Checks for Landlords

The organisation has launched a consultation on changing gas safety regulations, which currently state that landlords must carry out gas safety checks “at intervals of no more than 12 months since it was last checked for safety”.

The HSE is proposing adding a clause that requires landlords to conduct checks between 10-12 months of the previous check, but to be treated as if they were carried out on the expiry date.

Explaining the proposed changes, the consultation document says: “In order to ensure that checks are carried out at intervals of no more than 12 months, many landlords start the process for gaining access to properties at around 10.5 months after the last check, according to a survey carried out by CORGI Technical Services.

“However, since in about 75% of cases, landlords do gain access promptly, this leads to a shortening of the safety check cycle year-on-year.

“If landlords carry out a gas safety check every 10.5 months, this results in ten annual gas safety checks being completed over a nine-year period, instead of the statutory nine.”

The HSE recognises that there may be situations when there is a longer gap for a check, such as if a boiler was last checked on 1st December 2016 and a landlord makes a check ten months later in October 2017, but waits 12 months for the next one in December 2018, creating a 14-month gap.

The body estimates that its proposal would save landlords a total of £22m per year as a result of carrying out fewer gas safety checks over the appraisal period, as well as logistical savings.

The consultation document also clarifies that only gas safety defects should be recorded.

The consultation ends on 27th January 2017. You can respond via this online questionnaire: http://consultations.hse.gov.uk/consult.ti/cd280/answerQuestionnaire?qid=657699

To ensure that you stick to the law on gas safety, follow our guide: /landlords-guide-gas-safety/