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Support from letting agents will be crucial for landlords affected by rent arrears

Landlords will need the support of letting agencies to ensure they have a comprehensive record of all arrears and communications with tenants, according to rental platform PayProp.

Four in five agencies have seen the share of tenants in arrears grow since March.

Following a big jump in April, the percentage of tenants in arrears has climbed to over 15%.

The average amount owed by tenants in arrears has also grown in relation to their monthly rent, although around a third of agencies actually saw arrears reduce as tenants began repaying the amount owed by them.

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Neil Cobbold, chief sales officer at PayProp, said: “After an initial surge in March when Covid-19 started to spread rapidly across the UK, heightened levels of rent arrears could persist for many months to come, despite many tenants settling some of their debt.

“Measures like the furlough scheme and Universal Credit increases have helped tenants to continue paying their rent, but payments are still less predictable than usual, and the furlough scheme is almost at an end.

“It’s therefore hugely important that letting agencies are on hand to help their landlords deal with rent arrears and associated issues.”

Digital record-keeping provided by letting agencies can help landlords to stay on top of rent arrears, allowing them to see how much is owed and by which tenants.

Agencies can also help landlords to create payment plans for tenants to pay back arrears over a manageable period of time.

BY RYAN BEMBRIDGE

Source: Property Wire

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Hereford sees a surge in buyer demand as housing market reopens

HEREFORD has been named as the city leading a bounce back in buyer demand following the reopening of England’s housing market, analysis has found.

Property website Rightmove based its findings on the volumes of house hunters phoning and emailing estate agents about properties for sale in the first two weeks of June, compared with before the lockdown in the first two weeks in March.

Across England generally, buyer demand was up by nearly a third (32%).

The housing market in England started to reopen from May 13, with serious buyers now able to undertake physical viewings once more.

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Hereford topped the list, with demand surging by 77% when comparing the first two weeks of March with the same period this month. The average asking price in June, according to RightMove, was £244,440.

It was followed by the North West towns of Wigan, with a 71% uplift and an average asking price of £165,448, and Rochdale, where the average asking price was £179,329, with a 66% increase.

Steven Thomas, Director of Watkins Thomas in Hereford, said: “Our market has been very busy since we were able to reopen in May.

“There’s been a shift in the type of buyer since before lockdown. We were dealing with a lot of first-time buyers with limited deposits in March, but now it’s families looking for more space.

“It’s a bit like what we see in January – families spend Christmas sitting down and talking about their next move and they get going in January. We’re now seeing people, having sat down during lockdown and reviewed what they’re looking for, jumping into action in June.

“June and July is often quieter for us because this group of buyers are usually away, so that’s why we’re seeing a surge of late spring buyers.

“There’s also a lot of real interest coming from the South East, from people in their 50s and 60s realising they can get a lot more for their money and can live in an area with acres of open countryside.”

By James Thomas

Source: Hereford Times

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Northern Ireland dealing with pent up demand after reopening

Northern Ireland dealing with pent up demand after reopening – The Northern Ireland housing market is dealing with a flurry of activity after reopening on Monday 15th June.

The Guild of Property Professionals said a significant number of enquiries usually occur at this time of year – and losing March to June to the lockdown is only exacerbating this process.

Art O’Hagan, managing director of CPS Property, said: “As expected from the enquiries we received over the past few months, we are currently dealing with the pent-up demand that has built up over the lockdown period.

“With demand for houses is currently at a premium, there is no time like the present for vendors to get their homes valued and get their home listed.”

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O’Hagan saw over 140 viewers booked in for the first week of trading as a result of the pent-up demand.

Similarly, Daniel Henry, partner at Bensons, said: “When we returned on the 15th we had to deal with a surge of pent up demand. There were a large number of viewings needing to be organised and a significant number of new listings to be measured and inspected.”

Henry added that the office has been adapted to facilitate social distancing, while access is currently by invitation only.

BY RYAN BEMBRIDGE

Source: Property Wire

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June lettings activity matching 2019 levels

The first fortnight in June has seen new and completed lettings applications surge above 2019 levels in some cases, research from Goodlord has found.

Demand for rental properties has steadily gained paced since 13th May, when restrictions on moving house were lifted.

The busiest day for new applications was 2nd June, when they hit 112% of the volumes recorded on the same day in 2019.

Meanwhile the busiest day for completed lets to date was the 10th June, when activity levels reached 124% of that recorded on the same day in 2019.

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Tom Mundy, chief operating officer at Goodlord, said: “It’s been an incredibly busy few weeks for letting agents, landlords and tenants.

“They’ve risen admirably to the dual challenges of a surge in demand coupled with a totally new way of working and doing business.

“We are starting to see some much needed stability and consistency in the market.

“Alongside this, we’re seeing agents embrace new tools, processes and strategies to ensure lettings can continue safely across the UK.”

Since 1st June, completed lets have been running at an average of 94% of 2019 levels.

On each day between 7th June and 13th June, completed lets have remained higher than the 2019 average.

BY RYAN BEMBRIDGE

Source: Property Wire

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UK house prices holding up as city folk flock to the country

The number of city-dwellers pursuing their dream of a rural idyll is on the rise. And despite the pandemic, UK house prices are holding up well, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

What do you want right now? Immediate freedom to go to the Italian lakes aside, I bet that near top of your list is a bigger garden. If it isn’t that, it will be a home office or two, or perhaps an intergenerational living annexe – so if lockdown ever comes again you won’t have to go three months without seeing your family.

Whatever is on the list, the odds are you want the house itself to be in the country. In an ideal world your new bigger garden comes with a pool, a tennis court and a teenage bunk house scattered around its many acres.

I don’t want to spend another lockdown in a city (I don’t actually want to spend another day in my city) and around the world, an awful lot of people seem to feel the same. The New York Post reported this week that “frantic” Manhattanites were spilling out of the city into the suburbs, snapping up houses real estate agents had begun to think they would never sell – sometimes sight unseen. Want a five-bedroom colonial style home in Connecticut for $1m? You’d better rush.

You can see the same feeling in the data in the UK. Listings of properties to let in London have surged. Estate agents working within a few hours of London are telling stories of buyers flooding to the countryside, willing to pay almost anything for big houses they wouldn’t mind getting stuck in (Cornwall has gone nuts too). Rightmove reports that searches for houses with gardens were up 42% last month compared with last May.

People who used to care for nothing but kitchen islands and central London postcodes are now obsessing over online photos of raised vegetable beds and croquet lawns. The interest in the market isn’t just anecdotal. Savills saw agreed deals rise 108% on the week last week and exchanges up 53%. Wider market data from TwentyCi shows a 54% increase in the number of properties marked “sold subject to contract” across the market in the past week – and a 99% increase over £1m. If you live in London now and thought that a Surrey Hills house was beyond you before, it almost certainly is now. The rich move fast.

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No real risk of a house price crash

And prices? You’d think that in the wake of a global pandemic you’d already be seeing a bit of a slump. It isn’t necessarily so. Nationwide reported prices down 1.7% in May. That’s a nasty number if you annualise it. But there were so few transactions last month that this number is all but meaningless. Of more interest should be the fact that prices now appear to be more or less flat on where they were a year ago.

So what next? In the short term at least, it seems clear that there is to be a rebalancing of city and non-city prices. What of UK house prices as a whole? Here, things are a little less obvious. House prices are about sentiment, of course. But they are more about the availability and the price of credit and would-be buyers’ incomes.

When prices fall properly it is usually when unemployment rises fast and those who can’t meet their mortgage payments become forced sellers.

Unemployment is likely to rise fast as the furlough scheme comes to an end: ask around and you will hear company after company reluctantly starting redundancy consultations. However, not only could the bounceback be stronger than expected, but a good many households are in considerably better shape than they were pre-lockdown.

Numbers from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the lack of spending opportunities should have allowed the average household to save £182 a week for the past nine weeks, while analysis from Wagestream suggests that 52.5% of those who still have jobs “feel better off than usual.” Demand for payday loans fell 61% in the first three months of this year and in March alone UK consumers paid down a whopping £3.8bn of debt.

Add to this the fact that the banks are keen to not be the baddies in this crisis. They have offered easy access to the mortgage holidays mandated by the government, taken up so far by 1.8 million people, says UK Finance. It’s a reasonably safe bet that they will be firmly encouraged to show exceptional forbearance to those who can’t pay in full when the holiday period is up, too.

At the same time, while rates on very high loan-to-value mortgages have crept up a tiny bit – and some lenders have pulled out of this part of the market – rates overall are low and likely to stay low for now (at some point the levels of stimulus we are seeing will cause inflation, but not quite yet). This week Skipton Building Society reintroduced 85% loan-to-value mortgages and cut rates on lots of products. How does a five-year fix at 1.35% sound to you? Sounds good to me. Skipton is also accepting mortgage applications from furloughed workers, which has to help.

We might also see new government schemes put in place to support prices (there’s a scheme for everything else). This is not the kind of environment in which forced sellers cause a crash.

But prices have become more affordable

The final point to note is that UK house prices aren’t as stupidly expensive as usual at the moment. They have been fairly flat in real terms for a couple of years now and have gradually become more affordable as a result. Those who think that this crisis will spell the end for prime London property (a mistake I often make) might also note that by the end of last year prime central London prices were already down more than 20% from their 2016-2017 peak. That’s not a place collapses usually begin from. They might also note that while 2020 is not 2008, prime central London prices rose an astounding 26% between March 2009 and January 2010.

You will think from all this that I am predicting rising house prices. Buy, buy, buy! I’m absolutely not (that would be out of character, for starters) and nor is anyone else. Savills sees prices down at least 5% this year and Capital Economics sees them down 4%.

There are lots of brakes on this market. The pent-up demand that is running our poor country agents off their feet will slow. The implosion of the buy-to-let sector will bump up supply. There may well be wealth taxes on the way (any liability added to a house cuts its value) and if inflation does kick off, interest rates will have to rise.

My best guess (and my hope) is that house prices will stay flattish in nominal terms and perhaps fall in real terms, a situation that will suit almost everyone. My only worry? That I am on the wrong side of the city-country trade.

By Merryn Somerset Webb

Source: Money Week

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Landlords who sold in 2019 made capital gains of £78,100

Landlords who sold properties in 2019 typically owned the home for 9.1 years and sold it for £78,100 more than they paid for it.

People selling in London made the biggest gains, with the average London landlord making £253,580, over 20 times that of a seller in the North East (£11,710).

Research from Hamptons International found that 84% of landlords who sold their buy-to-let property in England and Wales last year made a gross capital gain, with only 16% making a loss.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said: “The profitability of the buy-to-let market has been questioned in recent years and is one of the main reasons why some landlords have chosen to sell up.

“But one of the biggest bonuses from cashing in comes from the capital gain on a property. Over a third of landlords’ total return comes from capital growth rather than rental income in Great Britain.

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“Landlords in the South, where house prices are higher and historic price growth has been stronger, saw the greatest capital gains last year. In fact, the average London landlord gain was over 20 times that of a seller in the North East where landlords are more reliant on rental income.

“But with house price growth expected to stay lower than in the past, more landlords are having to switch their focus to maximise rental income, rather than rely on capital growth.

Last year an estimated 150,000 properties were sold by landlords in England and Wales.

Beveridge added: “The profitability of the buy-to-let market has been questioned in recent years and is one of the main reasons why some have chosen to sell up.

“But one of the biggest bonuses from cashing in comes from the capital gain on a property. Over a third of landlords’ total return comes from capital growth rather than rental income in Great Britain.”

BY RYAN BEMBRIDGE

Source: Property Wire

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We must be ready for further stimulus, says Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey

The Bank of England and other policymakers must be ready to take further action to help the UK’s economy because of the risk of the coronavirus shutdown causing long-term damage, governor Andrew Bailey has said.

“We are still very much in the midst of this,” Bailey told broadcasters today.

His comments come after new data showed the UK’s economic output tumbled over 20 per cent in April, suffering the largest drop since records began in 1997 as the coronavirus lockdown brought many sections of the economy virtually to a halt.

“We hope that will be as small as possible but we have to be ready and ready to take action, not just the Bank of England but more broadly, on what we can do to offset those longer term damaging effects,” Bailey said.

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While the fall in April – when the economy spent a full month under lockdown – was dramatic, the big question was how much long-term damage this would inflict on Britain’s economy, he said.

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Bailey said the record drop in GDP was close to the central bank’s expectation for the month, and reiterated his view that some early signs of economic recovery have emerged since then.

The Band of England is expected to announce an expansion of at least £100bn in its bond-buying firepower when its Monetary Policy Committee meets next week in order to limit the damage caused to the economy by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The central bank has already spent the bulk of the record £200bn expansion to its asset-buying programme, which was launched in March.

While the BoE has reduced interest rates to an all-time low of 0.1 per cent in a bid to mitigate the economic impact of the virus, it has not been willing to follow other central banks in setting negative rates.

This decision means that the Bank’s main tool for combatting the coronavirus-induced recession is its bond-buying programme.

Speaking earlier this week, Bailey said the recession triggered by the pandemic will be “different” to others.

“If there is any such thing as a normal recession… this one will be different. There will be elements of a faster recovery, because the first stage of the recovery is literally lifting restrictions and allowing people to go out,” Bailey said at a panel hosted by the World Economic Forum.

By Anna Menin

Source: City AM

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RICS: New buyers looking for green spaces as Scottish property market prepares to open

Following the reopening of the housing market in England May 13, the May 2020 RICS Residential Market Survey unsurprisingly saw a slight improvement in the outlook for sales over the coming twelve months across the UK as a whole.

As the housing market in England started to get going, the UK headline net balance for new buyer enquiries moved from a record low of -94% in April, to post a reading of -5% in May.

Activity metrics though did not see meaningful changes in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, where restrictions on estate agents were not removed in May.

In Scotland, the indicator for new buyer enquiries remained close to a record low of -81% and the indicator for newly agreed sales was at similarly low levels of -84%.

However, Scottish respondents were less pessimistic regarding the outlook, with a net balance of -10% recorded for sales expectations over the next three months, likely to be influenced by an expectation that restrictions on the market will be lifted. And 12-month sales expectations turned positive (moving from -18% to +10%) for the first time since February.

In an extra question included in the May survey, as housing markets either opened or prepared to, contributors were asked for their views and for information on what is coming up when speaking to buyers, regarding potential shifts in the desirability of certain features of properties over the next two years (owing to recent events).

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81% of respondents across the UK felt that there will be an increase in desire for properties with gardens or balconies; 74% predict an increase in demand towards homes located near green spaces; and 68% are of the opinion that properties with greater private and less communal space will become more desirable.

At the other end of the scale, 78% of respondents sense there will be a fall in the appeal of tower blocks and 58% feel properties located in highly urban areas will be less enticing. Interestingly, the majority expect no change in the desirability of homes located near transport hubs.

Hew Edgar, head of UK Government relations and city strategy, said: “As Scotland eyes up the highly anticipated reopening of the housing market, potentially next week, this month’s survey feedback provides valuable insight that can inform the Scottish Government and developers of new housing requirements. It is clear that post-lockdown buyers are beginning to reappraise high-density living and looking for more space.

“Space inside their future homes and outside. What is also clear is that the Scottish workforce is looking to spend more time at home, and this will inevitably increase bills for owner-occupiers, and tenants in both the private and social rented sectors. As such, the Government should look at ways to incentivise the repair, maintenance and improvement of existing properties as a means to ensure the health and wellbeing of individuals working from homes in Scotland, as well as restricting a possible increase in fuel poverty.”

Alex Inglis MRICS of Galbraith Group in the Scottish Borders, added: “Little sales activity has taken place during the lockdown but selling clients are generally still keen to get things under way when the lockdown is eased. Potential buyers are generally still hoping to move. There is particular demand for rural and village / small town properties.”

Looking at some of the other regular indicators in Scotland, the indicator for prices over the last three months moved from a net balance of -20% in April to -14% in May. And near-term price expectations moved from -68% to -60%. Instructions to sell remained firmly in negative territory, with 100% of Scottish respondents saying that the number of new instructions from vendors fell last month.

Commenting on the UK picture, Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, commented: “Following the reopening of the housing market in England, pre-Covid sales that were in the pipeline are now largely going through. This is encouraging but it remains to be seen how sustained this improvement will prove. Much will inevitably depend on the macro environment and, in particular, the resilience of the jobs market as the furlough scheme unwinds. For the time being respondents to the survey see the trend in transactions being broadly flat.

“Alongside this, there are already signs that those looking to buy a house are responding to the conditions created by the pandemic by seeking out properties with gardens or balconies and nearer green space. These and other similar features are likely to increasingly command a premium over higher density urban locations according to respondents to the survey.”

Source: Scottish Housing News

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RICS: Enquiries stabilise and desire for green space increases

New buyer enquiries posted a net reading of -5% in May, indicating that the market is stabilising after plummeting the month before, RICS UK Residential Market Survey has found.

Near term sales expectations are broadly neutral, with a net balance of -4%, while 12 month expectations are slightly positive, with a net 10% expecting sales to increase.

In terms of how RICS have perceived house price changes over the past three months, -32% saw them fall, down from -22% in April.

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, said: “There is no doubt that there has been some release of pent-up demand as buyers and sellers emerge from enforced confinement, with many realising their present properties are unsuitable and trying where possible to bag a bargain.

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“The reality is that many sellers are reluctant to reduce the price substantially as around four out of five tend to be buyers too. They will only consider price drops if they can secure a similarly good deal on their next property.

“Overall, first-time buyers in particular seem more nervous about employment prospects as the furlough support falls away. We are seeing more demand for smaller family houses where buyers are taking a longer-term view of market prospects.”

Some 81% of respondents feel there will be an increase in desire for properties with gardens or balconies.

At the same time, 74% feel there will be a shift in demand towards homes located near green spaces and 68% are of the opinion that properties with greater private and less communal space will become more desirable.

Tomer Aboody, director of property lender MT Finance, said: “Buyers are focusing on outside space and parks, which will in turn provide a resurgence in interest in the home counties as buyers feel they can get more bang for their buck the further out of the city centre they are prepared to go. This will also give them more indoors space to work from home in future, and perhaps make a second lockdown easier to deal with.

“Whereas this would be a natural human reaction to the current situation, there will still be those buyers who would rather be close to central London and avoid the commute in, which has always been an issue due to overcrowded trains. This could push up prices of London homes with gardens or other outside space.

“We are seeing some confidence among buyers. With very little stock on the market in the short term at least, transactions are completing.”

By RYAN BEMBRIDGE

Source: Property Wire

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New housing projects announced by North Lanarkshire Council

North Lanarkshire Council has added further sites for new build homes, awarded new contracts to take forward more developments and outlined housing plans for villages and town centres as it drives forward its plans to deliver 5,000 new council homes across the region.

The four towns for which proposals are being sought are Motherwell (including Ravenscraig), Bellshill, Airdrie and Coatbridge. Other suitable locations may be considered on a site by site basis. Developers are being asked to contact the council to part of its plans.

According to the local authority, the new contracts, combined with the Development Pathfinder scheme to purchase more properties from private housebuilders, are helping to support North Lanarkshire’s economic recovery and sustain jobs as the region emerges from the COVID-19 lockdown situation.

The council’s teams have continued to progress housing projects during lockdown, ensuring contracts continue to move forward, and to prepare purchases of homes through the Open Market Purchase Scheme which will see the purchase of former council homes restart once restrictions are lifted.

Continuing to identify sites is seen as “crucial” to ensuring its phased plans to demolish existing tower blocks and build new accessible homes are met.

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Some of the recently approved proposals include:

  • Potential sites for new homes identified at Glenacre Drive, Airdrie; Gibb Street, Chapelhall and Graham Street, Wishaw, which will be developed in conjunction with the redevelopment of the social work office at King Street to support the regeneration of our town centres.
  • Approval to award contracts to take forward new build homes on the sites of the former Belhaven House, Wishaw; the former Chiltern’s House, Chryston at the former council flats in Northburn Avenue, Airdrie; Burnhall Place, Waterloo and Caledonian Avenue, Bellshill.
  • Ambitious plans to convert the former Municipal Buildings, Kildonan Street, Coatbridge, into new affordable homes

Other town centre housing projects are also progressing and include plans for the redevelopment at: Kingshouse, King Street (Wishaw) for town centre residential use; the former Methodist Church site in Wishaw for new town centre flats; the vacant YMCA building on Windmillhill Street, Motherwell and the future regeneration of the fire damaged site on Main Street, Coatbridge.

Plans to address the derelict building at the former Sharks Mouth pub, Bank Street, Coatbridge have also taken a major step forward. Planning permission is granted and approval given to progress with the procurement of the work, including demolition of most of the building while retaining some of the façade of the pub.

Councillor Pat O’Rourke, acting convener of communities and housing, said: “Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, construction work, in line with Scottish Government guidelines, has come to a halt. However, we’ve continued to work behind the scenes to push forward our ambitious housing programme to ensure we deliver our target.

“This means we’re ready to support the construction industry at this difficult time as soon as it’s safe to be up and running again.

“The contracts we’ve awarded also include a range of community benefits for local areas including careers events for school children, grants to local groups, new jobs and apprenticeship opportunities. By creating local jobs and training we’ll be strengthening our local economy over a sustained period.

“Improving the lives of our tenants and regenerating our local communities and town centres are the drivers behind our long term ambition. It’s an exciting time for North Lanarkshire and we’re committed to delivering on our ambitions and aspirations for the area and our residents.”

Source: Scottish Housing News