Cost Of Moving To Three-Bedroom Property Rockets

The amount needed to move from a two-bedroom flat to a three-bedroom house – the ‘trade up gap’ has widened considerably in the past year, shows data from Rightmove. The average cost of making such a move in Great Britain is now £67,761 outside of London, with the average two-bedroom flat costing £171,751 and the average three-bedroom home £239,512. This trade up gap has widened by £4,000 since this time last year, Rightmove says. Read more on the Mortgage Strategy website.

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news/cost-of-moving-to-three-bedroom-property-rockets-rightmove/ 

Two And Three-Bed Buy-To-Lets 'Will Become Unviable'

Two and three-bed buy-to-let properties will become more difficult to buy under lenders' plans to apply far tougher checks on landlords. Landlords with traditional 25pc deposits will be unable to buy property in 91pc of areas if all lenders go ahead with plans to increase the amount of rent which is required to cover their mortgage payments.  The analysis also suggests that more than half of landlords who bought three years ago with a 25pc deposit will be unable to remortgage under the new tougher conditions - forcing them to sell, pay down the debt or increase rents. Lenders have already tightened requirements for buy-to-let borrowers, motivated by the Bank of England's consultation in March, which made income checks more stringent. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Affordable Homes Facing Demolition Because Of Bedroom Tax

Three-bedroom homes are being condemned to demolition by housing associations because the coalition's bedroom tax has made them too expensive for tenants to live in. Despite a national property shortage, providers of affordable homes are unable to find people who can meet the cost of living in a home with an extra bedroom and are, in some cases, planning demolitions. In Liverpool, one housing provider, Magenta Living, has admitted that "with changes to welfare benefits there is very little prospect of letting upper three-bedroom maisonettes in the current climate". Magenta says one such block of flats will be "emptied with a view to subsequent demolition" because of the inability to let them out, sell them or keep up with the costs of keeping them unlived in. Read more on the Observer website.

Benefits Change Blamed For Slump in Demand of Three-Bedroom Homes

The county’s most popular size of social housing has now become the least desirable thanks to the proposed ‘bedroom tax’, a housing association claims. Riverside, Carlisle’s largest social landlord, has seen a U-turn in the attitude of people searching for new homes which it attributes to the proposed tax. Last week the housing association advertised two three-bedroom houses, but had just one applicant for each. Read more on the Carlisle News and Star website.