Docklands News

House price increases in the wake of the COVID pandemic have outstripped stamp duty holiday savings almost 30 times over. In July 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak raised the nil-rate stamp duty band from £125,000 to £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland, meaning that buyers who completed sales by June 30 2021 saved a maximum of £15,000. After this date, the holiday tapered to £250,000 until Sept 30. However, the incentive to transact before the deadline helped to push house prices up far beyond the amount that buyers could save in tax. in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, average house prices rose 18% in the 12-month period after the stamp duty holiday was introduced. The average home is now worth £20,590 more than a year ago, the Office for National Statistics found. In two-thirds of English council areas, house price rises in the year to the end of July were at least triple the average stamp duty holiday savings in each area under the £500,000 nil-rate band. In 60 local authorities, price rises in the 12 months after the stamp duty holiday was introduced were more than 20 times the average stamp duty savings under the tapered £250,000 nil rate band. The areas where house price increases eclipsed stamp duty savings to the most extreme degree were concentrated in the North and Midlands. 

The Daily Telegraph (01/10/2021)  

The Land Registry with has been flooded with complaints as property buyers face losing thousands of pounds in stamp duty savings and seeing purchases collapse due to delays at the Government's record office. More than 1,000 complaints about the organisation were made in June alone this year - a 208% increase compared with June 2020 and a 253% rise compared with June 2019. Buyers who completed before June 30 could save a maximum of £15,000 in tax. Those buying between July and September could save up to £2,500. Tax bands returned to normal from October 1st. William Marriott of Charles Russell Speechlys, said: "It’s probable that if a title had not been registered, or if there were outstanding queries with Land Registry, that some transactions would have failed to complete before the deadline." 

The Daily Telegraph (06/10/2021)  

New planning laws have been promised that will block the development of “ugly” buildings as ministers reverse plans to limit the power of local residents to veto development. The new housing secretary, Michael Gove, is understood to have ordered a review of the planning reforms and has scrapped proposals to limit the power of local planning committees to block housebuilding. Mr Gove is also said to want to make housing companies pay more to local communities to improve amenities in areas where development takes place. Last month ministers signalled the start of a retreat from what had been billed as the biggest shake-up of planning law in 70 years, designed to help reach a target of 300,000 new homes a year. Government sources said the upcoming planning bill was likely to be much less radical than previously envisaged and could amount to little more than a "tidying up exercise" of the present rules. "There is always a danger with planning reforms that you actually slow down the pace of development because builders are waiting for the new rules to come into place," one said. 

The Times (04/10/2021)  

London remains the UK’s primary focus for property investors, according to research from FJP Investment. It found that 40% of those planning on purchasing a property in the next 12 months are considering investing in the capital. The West Midlands was the next most likely destination for buyers, with 32% citing it, while East of England ranked third, drawing the interest of 26% of potential investors. The study also reveals that 44% of UK property investors are now more inclined to consider investing in properties in rural areas than they were pre-pandemic. Of the 512 investors polled, 44% intend to expand their property portfolio in the coming year.

City A.M.  

House sellers in London are feeling increasingly confident as the number of sellers willing to drop their asking prices fell last month. There was a 51% decrease in the number of home-sellers being prepared to drop their asking prices in August, compared to July. Chesterstons said a return of seller confidence was likely to lead to London's property prices rising. August sales were up 54% on July, thanks to a growing demand from buyers, the agency said. Chestertons found that buyer enquiries were up 18.2% with viewings up 8.6% compared to the five-year average performance for the month of August. London boroughs that experienced high demand from buyers included Islington, Fulham, Canary Wharf and Battersea.

City A.M.  

Around £21.4bn is generated in rental income in London alone, which equates to some 4.3% of the city’s GDP, according to new research from Sequre Property Investment. It found that the capital topped the list as the region with the highest rents and the most privately rented homes. Across the UK, the average tenant pays £12,636 in rent each year, equating to total rental income in excess of £69.4bn across the 2.2m privately rented homes, worth 3.2% of the country’s total GDP. Since the third quarter of this year, London rents have begun to climb again and are back up to 2019 levels and in some areas, maybe slightly higher.

City A.M.