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The amount of loan-to-value mortgage lending with ratios above 90% is approaching pre-crisis highs, but the Bank of England’s executive director for financial stability has said the regulator isn’t concerned. Speaking at the University of Warwick, Alex Brazier continued to say that, although banks have a real appetite to lend, households don’t have the appetite to borrow. He said credit conditions in the mortgage market are “easy” and mortgage pricing is competitive.
Mortgage Introducer (14/06/2019)
Homebuyers in London are prepared to pay an average of £43,000 more for properties within a five-minute walk of a Tube or railway station, research has revealed. An analysis by Nationwide compared prices of homes within 500 metres of a station — equivalent to a five-minute brisk walk — with those of a similar property nearly a mile away. On average buyers were prepared to pay 9.4% more for easy access to public transport, equivalent to a £42,900 premium.
Homes & Property (12/06/2019)
UK house prices grew at their fastest rate for two years in May with an increase of 5.2% year on year, according to new data released by Halifax. The value of the average UK home rose by 0.5% from April to £237,837 last month, and by 2.5% over the past three months compared with the quarter before, the House Price Index revealed. Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said the overall housing market was stable, and the lender expects stability to continue as employment remains high and interests are low. However, experts cautioned that Halifax’s index had been an “outlier” in recent months and that other house price measures have consistently pointed to a slowdown, particularly in London and the southeast of England.
The Times (07/06/2019) Daily Mail (07/06/2019)
New research indicates that new housing developments criticised by local residents for harming their house prices could actually be a boon for local property values. Online property lender Blend Network found that 17 of the top 20 areas for new homes built between 2011 and 2017 enjoyed house growth higher than the national average. Yann Murciano, of Blend, said: “Many homeowners assume large housing developments in their home towns will have a negative effect on house prices. But in many instances we found the opposite was true.” Simon Rubinsohn of Rics commented: “It is fundamentally about whether enough homes are built in an area compared to the number of people that want to live in an area.”
The Daily Telegraph (09/06/2019)
The value of new mortgage commitments rose 4.5% on a year earlier to £63.8bn in the first quarter, according to the Bank of England’s latest mortgage lenders data, which indicated that the outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans rose to £1.45bn - a 3.4% rise on last year. Despite the Prudential Regulation Authority airing concerns over “risky lending,” mortgage loans with a loan to value (LTV) ratio of more than 90% increased to 4.5%, compared with 3.3% the previous year.
City AM (11/06/2019)
Weston Homes and the Estates and Agency Group have received planning permission to regenerate the six-acre Abbey Retail Park in Barking into a new £350m, 1.2m sq ft urban village. In total, 1,089 new homes will be created, including 37 private-sale one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses, and 352 properties classed as affordable housing, all spread across 13 residential blocks split across three buildings. The project also includes 22,281 sq ft of commercial/leisure space, including a pub/restaurant on the banks of the Roding, a 6,857 sq ft Max Whitlock MBE athletes training centre/gym, 5,059 sq ft of community space, and a community-hub/reception for accepting/meeting deliveries/visitors for residents.
Property Week (04/06/2019)