Docklands News

Data from Nationwide shows that house prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in January. The price of the average property was £258,297 last month, with this down by 0.6% on December. Year-on-year price growth slowed to 1.1%, down from 2.8% in December. Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said the affordability of mortgages is set to "remain challenging" in the short term due to higher interest rates. “Affordability pressures remain particularly acute in London and the south of England, where mortgage servicing costs have risen sharply compared with a year ago,” Gardner said. “Scotland and the north continue to be the most affordable regions but, even there, mortgage payments as a share of take-home pay are at their highest level for over a decade.” 

BBC News (01/02/2023)   Financial Times (01/02/2023)   The Daily Telegraph (01/02/2023)   The Times (01/02/2023)  

Seven in 10 estate agents say home sellers are being unrealistic about what their properties are worth, according to estate agent membership body, Propertymark. Agents say sellers are overvaluing their homes, either because they think they have the best house on the street, or because they want to sell at a price which will enable their next move. Propertymark's latest figures show the number of prospective homebuyers registering with agents fell from 2.5 per available property in December 2021, to 1.4 per property in December 2022 - a 45% decline year-on-year. The average number of viewings per property fell by 71% between April and December 2022. Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark said: "The largest shift we have seen in the sales market is prices agreed, compared to normal asking prices. The year 2022 started as a seller's market, and ended the year back to normality as a buyer's market." 

Daily Mail (30/01/2023)  

Equity release lending to new customers increased 31% in 2022 compared to the year before, as £6.3bn of cash was tapped from properties. The number of equity release plans taken out over the year also increased 29% taking the total to 52,295, according to equity release broker Key. The typical customer released £106,806 of equity from the value of their home, 2% more than the £104,792 average in 2021. 

Daily Mail (30/01/2023)   Daily Telegraph (30/01/2023)  

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has called for the revival of Help to Buy as part of efforts to ignite the slowing housing market and avert a dramatic plunge in the supply of new homes. Britain's housebuilders are writing to Jeremy Hunt to ask him to reintroduce help for first-time buyers at the budget in March, as Help to Buy ends after ten years. Final purchases under Help to Buy must be completed by the end of March and the HBF said this marked the end of 25 years of "continuous government intervention" in the market in various guises. The HBF, in a submission to the Treasury ahead of the budget, will argue that "the average deposit of a first-time buyer in 2021-22 was £43,693, an amount that for many, is simply unachievable". The industry wants a "new, targeted home ownership scheme for first-time buyers".

The Sunday Times (29/01/2023)  

Developer Linkcity has been granted planning permission by the London Borough of Newham for Phase 4 of its Hallsville Quarter development masterplan in Canning Town. Phase 4 proposes a new mixed-use city block designed by architects PRP, which includes 377 purpose-built student accommodation rooms, a wide range of student amenity spaces including a first-floor garden and 7th-floor roof terrace and 487 square metres of new ground floor, flexible commercial floorspace and landscaped public realm. Ultimately, the Hallsville Quarter development will provide over 1,100 new homes, a new hotel, up to 30,000m2 of leisure, work and retail space with a new art-house style cinema, and community facilities including a new public health centre close to the Canning Town transport hub. 

Property Wire (23/01/2023)  

Knight Architects’ plans for a new bridge in Canary Wharf, east London, have been given the go ahead by Tower Hamlets council. The 70m-long footbridge crossing the South Dock will link Marsh Wall on the southern part of the Isle of Dogs financial district with Jubilee Park and Foster & Partners’ Canary Wharf tube station. It is intended to ease pressure on Wilkinson Eyre’s South Quay footbridge, which is currently the only north-south pedestrian link across the busy central part of the dock. Knight’s bridge is split into two sections either side of a single pier, with the northern side designed to lift up to allow small boats to pass underneath. Tower Hamlets’ strategic development committee said the scheme was a “high-quality and elegant design, considered appropriate to its contemporary surroundings” and would be a “…positive addition to the area and waterfront.”

Building Design (24/01/2023)