Docklands News

The Government has given its approval for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to add an additional £20 to benchmark Band D council tax bills from next April to help Transport for London balance its day-to-day budget. Mayor Khan announced last year that he planned to add a £20 a year levy to average council tax bills for three years. 

Evening Standard (13/12/2022)  

Economists at Credit Suisse say house prices are set to slump due to rising interest rates and a looming recession. Warning that the rising cost of mortgages will see the burden of payments hit the highest since 2009, Credit Suisse’s Peter Foley said: “We expect house prices to fall at least 10% next year in the US and UK.” Credit Suisse expects borrowers in the UK to be hit harder by rising interest rates than the US because the “overwhelming majority of US mortgages” are fixed for 30 years while most UK borrowers fix their interest rates for between two and five years. Elsewhere, the Office for Budget Responsibility believes prices will fall 9% over the next two years. Meanwhile, Karen Ward, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, has ruled out a “doom loop of construction activity contracting massively, people getting into negative equity and consumer behaviour really changing because of the housing market.” 

The Daily Telegraph (12/12/2022)  

The Sunday Telegraph looks at how middle-class borrowers face a new mortgage crackdown as lenders tighten their criteria and the cost of living crisis hammers credit scores. Analysis shows the number of middle-class borrowers - those with household incomes between £70,000 and £150,000 - with adverse credit searching for a mortgage has increased by two thirds since 2019. A survey by the lender of 7,000 adults found that more than a quarter of middle-class borrowers had been rejected for a mortgage in the past year because of a thin or impaired credit history. Each bank and building society has its own affordability benchmark that dictates how much it is willing to lend and the criteria borrowers must meet to secure a mortgage. Matthew Jackson of the mortgage broker Mint Financial Services said a growing number of applicants were being rejected as a result, especially when lenders used automated underwriting. He said: "This issue has been particularly rife among newly qualified professionals, who may have a great salary but not necessarily the bigger deposit to buy in cities or a particularly large credit file." 

The Sunday Telegraph (11/12/2022)  

A Hong Kong property billionaire has reportedly expressed an interest in resurrecting plans for a 35-acre site opposite London City Airport that was once championed by Boris Johnson and David Cameron. Beijing-based Advanced Business Park (ABP) was awarded a £1.7bn contract in 2013 to develop the site, with homes, offices, shops, and a snowdome all part of the original plans. However, construction was halted at the site two years ago which is now being called a “ghost town", and City Hall agreed a final termination with ABP in February this year. Now, the Telegraph is reporting that the site has attracted the attention of Ivan Ko, the tycoon behind the redevelopment of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Mr Ko is also chairman of the Recas Group, a property company that rebuilt part of Hong Kong Airport in 2017. According to the Recas website, the company also has a partnership with the Grand China Fund. Mr Ko is a member of the advisory committee of the Grand China Fund, which invests in property in mainland China.

The Daily Telegraph (04/12/2022)  

House prices saw the biggest monthly fall for more than two years in November, according to data from Nationwide. The 1.4% decline recorded last month is the largest month-on-month fall since June 2020 and marks the third consecutive month where values have declined. There was also a slowdown in year-on-year price growth, which came in at 4.4% in November compared to 7.2% in October. The average property price fell to £263,788 last month from £268,282 the month before, the report shows. Pointing to the impact of September’s mini-Budget, which drove up borrowing costs, Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said: “While financial market conditions have stabilised, interest rates for new mortgages remain elevated and the market has lost a significant degree of momentum.” He added that the market “looks set to remain subdued in the coming quarter,” noting that inflation “is set to remain high for some time” and interest rates are likely to rise further. 

BBC News (01/12/2022)   Financial Times (01/12/2022)   The Daily Telegraph (01/12/2022)   The Guardian (01/12/2022)  

The cost-of-living crisis has forced more than a million first-time buyers to put their plans on hold, a new survey by Aviva has found. One in five of those surveyed said that the cost-of-living crisis and inflation were making buying a house unaffordable. The survey, focused on under 45s, found that 46% were not currently looking to buy but intended to do so in future. The survey also suggested that hopeful buyers may be underestimating the cost of a mortgage; they expected to take out a mortgage of £196,700 on average, with a £25,210 deposit, expecting a monthly mortgage payment of £718.60. However, put into a high street building society online mortgage calculator, these figures showed buyers could be underestimating their mortgage costs by up to 54%. 

Daily Mail (02/12/2022)