Docklands News

Business leaders have warned that London needs a surge in house building in the suburbs and green belt if the city is to capitalise on a once-in-a-generation chance to transform post-COVID. A report by Business LDN found that the city's "acute housing shortage both blights Londoners' lives and constrains the capital's international competitiveness". While brownfield land should be prioritised for redevelopment, researchers said that this alone will not meet the scale of the city's housing need and building on "poor quality" green belt land should be considered. City Hall analysis shows London now requires around 66,000 new homes a year to provide enough housing for current and future Londoners, but only an average of around 36,000 a year are currently being built. 

Evening Standard (26/05/2023)  

First-time buyers are facing a tough market as they are up to £9,000 worse off compared to last year due to the end of Help to Buy and soaring mortgage rates. The average monthly repayments have increased by £354, equating to £4,252 extra per year for the average £250,000 home outside London. In London, where the average first-time buyer property is £450,000, repayments are £755 a month more, or £9,058 a year. The study, conducted by the Liberal Democrats, has sparked calls for a new scheme to replace Help to Buy. The calculations were based on a 5% deposit, repayments over 25 years, and a 2.79% five-year fixed-rate mortgage taken out in 2022 compared to a 5.01% rate now without Help To Buy. "There has never been a worse time to be a first-time buyer," said Lib Dem housing spokesman Helen Morgan.

Daily Mail (29/05/2023)  

Data from HMRC shows that the number of houses sold in the UK has fallen. Across the UK, 82,120 transactions were estimated to have taken place in April, marking a 25% drop compared with April 2022. At 67,220, residential property sales were also 8% lower in April 2023 than in the previous month. HMRC's report said the drop in sales between March and April “appears particularly large”. It said: “The number of transactions in March was high due to a combination of factors including a larger number of working days relative to April and the final month for purchases to be completed under the Government's Help To Buy equity loan scheme”. Andrew Montlake, managing director of the mortgage broker Coreco, said that while buyers have been “returning and getting used to the new mortgage rate environment", the fact that loan rates are starting to increase again “will undoubtedly have an effect on buyer affordability, mortgage choice, and therefore transaction levels going forward".

City AM (31/05/2023)   Daily Mail (31/05/2023)   The Daily Telegraph (31/05/2023)   The Independent (31/05/2023)  

Three unusual floating homes are up for sale in the Poplar Marina, near Canary Wharf, offering two bedrooms, a bathroom, a lounge area, a mini-kitchen and a deck with views of the waterfront for around £242,000. The average cost of a property sold in the same area in the last 12 months is £579,000. Ian Barr, managing director of Waterlodge, the company that makes the floating homes, said the aim was to create distinctive but affordable homes in prized locations. "They are more off-the-wall than your standard bricks-and-mortar property, but provide affordable waterfront luxury", he said. The waterproofing on the homes is good for 25 years, according to Waterlodge, which claims its homes are "virtually unsinkable".

Business Insider (21/05/2023)  

New research by Middleton Advisors shows that homebuyers should keep their property for at least nine years to avoid making a loss on their investment. However, Londoners can expect to make a return on their property investment in less time due to a greater number and higher turnover of homes in the capital. The data shows that people who buy flats and terraced properties, which make up the majority of London housing stock, own them for less time than those who are buying detached and semi-detached houses. On average, people are keeping their properties much longer, with the research indicating that private-sector buyers tend to retain their properties for 20.2 years. Over each of the possible 20-year periods since 1952, average UK housing has grown in value by an average of 8.7% a year, a higher median rate of growth than the FT All-Share Index, which averages 6.8% by the same measure.  

Evening Standard (25/05/2023)  

House prices rose by 4.1% annually, despite slower growth than a year ago, according to the UK house price index. The average property price fell by 1.2% in March to £285,009. However, the market is showing resilience, with confidence returning as inflation falls and the economic outlook brightens. The biggest annual increase in value was the 5.2% rise to £483,994 for detached houses. Prices in Wales have risen by 4.8% to £214,000 over the past year, and by 3% to £185,000 in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, they rose by an average of 5% to £172,000.

The Times (24/05/2023)