Docklands News

House prices fell by 5.3% in the year to August, according to Nationwide, the fastest annual drop in 14 years. The bigger-than-expected drop brings the average house price down £14,600 to £259,153 compared with a year ago. “The softening is not surprising given the extent of the rise in borrowing costs in recent months, which has resulted in activity in the housing market running well below pre-pandemic levels,” said Robert Gardner, the chief economist at Nationwide. The number of completions of house sales was down 20% in the first half of the year compared with 2019, and about 40% down on 2021. While the proportion of people buying with cash has remained strong, the number of completions by those requiring a mortgage has plummeted. There was also a 25% drop in first-time buyers in the first half of 2023 when compared with 2019, Nationwide said, while buyers turned their attention from detached homes to smaller, less expensive properties. 

Financial Times (02/09/2023)   The Daily Telegraph (02/09/2023)   The Guardian (02/09/2023)   The Times (02/09/2023)  

New research reveals that 19 of the 20 postcodes with the most “risky” mortgages - defined by the Bank of England as those where the loan is at least 4.5 times the borrower's earnings - were in London. The analysis by Mazars found that Wandsworth had the most risky mortgages, worth a total of £232m, while Battersea was second with £198m and Wimbledon was third, followed by Fulham and Tooting. The only postcode outside of London in the top 20 was Maidenhead, still within the London commuter belt. Mazars partner Paul Rouse said: “Areas like Wandsworth, Wimbledon and Battersea should be attractive to homebuyers even in the worst market conditions. Lenders believe that makes houses there a good risk for them to take.” 

Evening Standard (03/09/2023)  

The number of property sales taking place in July was 16% lower than it was in the same month last year, as reduced lending rates failed to allay prospective buyers’ hesitancy. Some 86,510 sales on properties were completed in the UK throughout the month, up 1% when compared to June, new figures from HMRC show. ’There is some hesitancy as to whether now is a good time to buy while there is uncertainty as to where interest rates will peak and what will happen with property values,” Gareth Lewis, managing director of property lender MT Finance, said.  ‘As we’ve been saying for a while now, we need some stability in order to give buyers and sellers confidence. The volatility of the past few months, combined with soaring living costs, are extremely unhelpful to the smooth functioning of the market.’

City AM  

Almost a third of first-time homebuyers in Britain received financial help from family, with support from siblings doubling in the past six years. Brothers and sisters assisted in a record 11% of family-funded first-time purchases, according to research from Skipton Building Society. The decline in homeownership rates among parents has led first-time buyers to rely more on other family members for deposits. Family support allows buyers to put down larger deposits and purchase homes at a younger age. While support from parents and grandparents is slowing, parents remain the most generous, with 72% of first-time buyers who had help receiving it from their parents, providing an average gift of £15,250. This was down from 80% in 2018. Some 8% were given money by grandparents, 4% aunts or uncles and 1% a son or daughter.

The Daily Telegraph (30/08/2023)   The Guardian (30/08/2023)   The Times (30/08/2023)  

Long delays in registering properties with the Land Registry across Great Britain are causing frustration among homeowners and buyers. Latest figures from His Majesty's Land Registry (HMLR) show that it is taking almost two years for some applications to make changes to the register to be completed. Emma Jones, managing director of mortgage brokers When The Bank Says No, said one of her clients who bought their property through the right to buy scheme in December 2021 is still not registered as owner. The Property Litigation Association told the Observer: "In some cases, parties are having to spend time and money dealing with issues on properties they sold many months before. In others, properties are being sold with hundreds of outstanding Land Registry applications against them which then have to be investigated".

The Observer (27/08/2023)