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New builds will drive residential property market revival

As the residential property market reopens it will be new builds that drive the market and lead its revival.

Here are six reasons why:

Resi Revival 1 – off-plan take off
Many new build sales are agreed off-plan with buyers not always viewing the physical property they are buying, perhaps relying on a visit to a show home before the lockdown, online brochures, virtual models, computerised images and other technology.

Resi Revival 2 – phased release
New build developments are often highly anticipated, with interested buyers’ already having decided on their preferred scheme. They will have done their research early in the year on the area on pricing and house types and will be ready to go.

Resi Revival 3 – mortgage valuations
New build mortgage valuations are not necessarily based on the finished home as it will still be under construction, but on comparable homes and market data. This means buyers will have mortgage offers ready to go, speeding up the sale process.

Resi Revival 4 – move-in ready
Completion on a new build property has the added benefit that no one has lived at the property leaving less cause for concern on COVID-19 contamination and the need for deep cleaning, giving buyers, and particularly those with children, peace of mind.

Resi Revival 5 – rental investors
New build properties are attractive as rental units as they require little to zero finishing work before tenants can move in and are low maintenance to look after.

Overseas investors are likely to play a key role on driving sales and injecting cash into the property market.

Resi Revival 6 – Help to Buy mark 2.
The existing Help to Buy scheme is due to end in March 2021 and will be replaced with the new scheme available only to first-time buyers.

There is still time for deals to be agreed with Help to Buy finance under the current scheme, with FTBs secure that help will be there when it is needed.

By Beth Heley

Source: Mortgage Introducer

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Number of new builds registered in England and Wales up almost 8%

There was a 7.9% increase in new builds submitted with the Land Registry for registration in England and Wales in August this year compared to the same month in 2018, official data shows.

Of the 93,574 sales received for registration in August 2019 some 72,806 were freehold, a 4.5% decrease on August 2018, and 12,411 were newly built, a 7.9% increase on August 2018.

The number of detached properties registered reached 22,213, up from the 21,968 recorded in July and 18,523 in June. Semi-detached were the most popular with 25,283 registered in August, up from 24,848 in July and 21,623 in June.

But terraced homes were equally popular with 25,244 registered in August, up from 25,115 registered in July, but this was down on the 21,721 registered in June, the data also shows.

There were 15,565 flats and maisonettes registered in August, down from the 15,915 registered in July but up from the 14,393 registered in June.

The most expensive residential property sold in August was in the City of Westminster for £16.5 million while the cheapest residential property sold in August was in Sunderland for £18,500.

The most expensive commercial sale taking place in August 2019 was in Southwark for £129.3 million and the cheapest commercial sale was in St. Helens for £105.

There were 743 residential properties in England and Wales for £1 million and over registered, of which 410 were in Greater London, five in the West Midlands, six in Greater Manchester and one in Wales.

Source: Property Wire