Right To Buy Sales Drop By A Third In Past 12 Months

Right to Buy sales dropped by 35% in 2020/21 to the lowest yearly figure in eight years, according to newly published statistics. The government has put the decline, from 10,572 to 6,850, largely down to the restrictions introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.  A seven-week freeze on the housing market was introduced in March 2020 to stop the spread of coronavirus, effectively preventing most purchases and sales. This also stopped valuations, which make up a key part of the Right to Buy sales process. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/right-to-buy-sales-drop-by-a-third-in-past-12-months-73138

House Prices Forecast To Rise By Up To 3.5% A Year

A second wave of demand for more space will keep driving house prices across Great Britain higher, with values set to rise by up to 3.5% a year between 2022 and 2024, a forecast claims. The estate agent Hamptons also predicted that more homes will be sold in 2021 than in any year since 2007, after a record surge in activity this year as families sought larger homes after the pandemic. Hamptons believes that summer 2021 marked “peak house price growth”, and expects growth to slow over the next few months, so that this year would end with average prices in Great Britain 4.5% higher than at the end of 2020. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/sep/27/uk-house-prices-forecast-to-rise-by-up-to-35-a-year-between-2022-and-2024 

Changes To Notice Periods In England From 1 October

Following the pandemic and the introduction of the Coronavirus Act 2020, the UK Government initially increased all notices to six months for most grounds (including Section 21 notices), with exemptions for certain serious cases. Since 1 June 2021 until 30 September 2021 notice periods must be at least four months in most circumstances apart from exemptions for the most serious cases. Notice periods for cases where there are less than four months of unpaid rent, reduced to two months’ notice from 1 August. Moving forward, the UK Government intend to retain the power to implement any similar measures again in the future should the public health situation worsen. Read more on the Propertymark website.

https://www.propertymark.co.uk/resource/changes-to-notice-periods-in-england-from-1-october.html 

House Prices Hit Record High Despite Cut In Stamp Duty Break

The average UK house price reached a fresh record high in August while annual inflation cooled to a five-month low, after the partial end of the stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland. Halifax, one of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders, said the average cost of a property increased by 0.7%, or £1,789, to £262,954, topping the previous peak of £261,642 recorded in May. The annual rate of house price inflation slowed to 7.1%, the lowest since March and down from 7.6% in July. However, compared with June 2020, when the housing market began to reopen after the first Covid-19 lockdown, prices remain more than £23,600, or 9.9%, higher. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/sep/07/uk-house-prices-stamp-duty-august-halifax 

More Than 11,000 Properties Flipped To Holiday Homes Amid Staycation Boom

 More than 11,000 second-home owners in England have flipped their properties to become holiday lets since the start of the pandemic, to capitalise on soaring demand for staycations. New analysis of government figures shows that the number of holiday homes trading as businesses has jumped by more than a fifth since the pandemic hit. The data shows that there are now 67,578 homes in England classified as holiday homes which have been flipped to become commercial premises, compared with 56,102 properties in March last year. Read more on the ITV website.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-09-05/more-than-11000-properties-flipped-to-holiday-homes-amid-staycation-boom

Housebuilding Growth Rate ‘Slowest For 15 Months’

The rate of growth in housebuilding work fell to its lowest level last month since the height of the coronavirus pandemic in May 2020, as materials and labour shortages continue to bite. According to the latest construction purchasing managers’ index from IHS Markit and CIPS, the housebuilding industry recorded a score of 55 – still above the “50” mark that denotes growth – but the lowest level seen since the industry was effectively temporarily shut down in spring last year. This is also the first time that the housebuilding industry has recorded an index score of less than 60 since February this year. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/housebuilding-growth-rate-slowest-for-15-months/5113568.article 

Complaints To Housing Ombudsman Rise By 21%

Complaints and enquiries to the Housing Ombudsman increased 21% in the first three months of 2020/21, having already risen sharply last year. The complaints arbitration service revealed that it received 7,276 enquiries and complaints over the period, up from 6,010 in the previous three months. The number is also 230% higher than for between April and June 2020 – although that quarter saw a 41% drop compared with the previous year amid the first coronavirus lockdown. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/complaints-to-housing-ombudsman-rise-by-21-72385?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60 

UK Enjoys Property Sales Boom Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Hard-to-sell homes are being snapped up by the hundred as Britain’s booming property market maintains a year-long breakneck sales record. In areas of high demand, even the most knocked-about and idiosyncratic houses are spending just days on the market once buyers, desperate to grab something, see that predictions of a house price crash are proving off the mark. While the property merry-go-round screeched to a temporary halt during the first lockdown early last year, the pause did not last. With sales barely slowing over the summer, the data is clear: along with technology, real estate has emerged as one of the pandemic’s boom sectors. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/sep/03/uk-enjoys-property-sales-boom-amid-covid-19-pandemic 

Demand For Rental Housing At A Five Year High

The demand for private rented housing has reached a five year high according to new research released by the NRLA following the easing of COVID restrictions.  The survey of private landlords across England and Wales found that 39 per cent confirmed that demand for homes to rent had increased in the second quarter of 2021 – an eight per cent increase on the first quarter of the year. This data also reveals that demand has reached a five-year high, with demand only reaching a similar peak in in the first quarter of 2016. Demand has increased largely due to the relaxation of COVID restrictions and a more buoyant economic outlook. Read more on the NRLA website.

https://www.nrla.org.uk/news/demand-for-rental-housing-at-a-five-year-high

Demand For Flats And Apartments Remains High During Pandemic

 One of the most highly covered trends throughout the pandemic has been that buyer demand has shifted away from the cities with house-hunters clamouring for larger homes and bigger gardens in more rural areas. However, it seems that flats have far from fallen out of favour with homebuyers in England and Wales during the pandemic, accounting for a notable proportion of market activity. Warwick Estates analysed transaction records from the Land Registry since the start of the pandemic and found that since January of last year, 974,153 residential transactions have been recorded across England and Wales. 150,668 of these have been for flats, accounting for 15% of all market activity during the pandemic. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/demand-for-flats-and-apartments-remains-high-during-pandemic.html

Half Of Private Landlords Cut Rent In 2020

Almost half (46%) of landlords reduced monthly rent payments for their tenants because of the pandemic, according to research from Shawbrook Bank. In total, Shawbrook found that 28% of landlords gave their tenants a full rent payment holiday; a period of up to three months where tenants were not liable to pay any rent. Additionally, 18% offered a rent reduction; a period where tenants paid a lower level of rent as agreed with their landlord. Those landlords that gave their tenants a payment holiday estimated they lost £7,500 on average, while rent holidays cost landlords £6,500 on average. Read more on the Mortgage Introducer website.

https://www.mortgageintroducer.com/shawbrook-half-private-landlords-cut-rent-2020/ 

Covid Sharpens Inequalities In UK Housing Market

Figures from building society Nationwide show one in four private renters think the pandemic has made it more difficult for them to buy a home. Sharp rises in house prices over the last year, driven by demand being stoked by the stamp duty holiday and prospective homebuyers rushing to snap up larger properties with gardens, has reduced housing affordability for first-time-buyers. Research from property search site Rightmove shows house prices jumped 5.7 per cent annually in July to reach a record high. Read more on the City AM website.

https://www.cityam.com/covid-sharpens-inequalities-in-uk-housing-market/

Social Mobility Advisor Calls For Three Million New Social Homes Over Next 20 Years

 The body which advises ministers on social mobility policy has recommended that three million social homes be built in England over the next 20 years to improve life chances for the country’s poorest. The Social Mobility Commission said every critical measure of low social mobility, including access to stable housing, was poor in the UK in 2019, while the COVID-19 crisis threatens to make the situation worse. On the topic of housing, it recommends that three million social homes be built over the next 20 years, which would mean building an average of 150,000 social homes per year. The government currently plans to fund just 32,000 social homes over the next five years. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/government-social-mobility-advisor-calls-for-three-million-new-social-homes-over-next-20-years-71676?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Rents: Arrears – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mike Kane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication of the Household Resilience Study, Wave 2, what assessment he has made of the reasons that the proportion of private renters in arrears has increased during the covid-19 pandemic.

Eddie Hughes: The latest published data from the English Housing Survey Household Resilience Study from November – December 2020, suggests that 9% of private renters are in arrears, compared to 3% pre pandemic. Of the 9% (353,000 households) in arrears, two thirds are in arrears of less than 2 months, indicating the Government package of economic support measures have effectively prevented a widespread build-up of rent arrears

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2021-06-18/18528

Affordable Housing Starts Fall By A Fifth, Homes England Data Shows

 In the year to 31 March 2021, the number of affordable homes started through Homes England programmes fell from 35,809 to 28,191 due to pressure placed on the housing industry by the coronavirus pandemic, the agency said. Total housing starts also fell by 22% from 47,965 to 37,330, while completions fell 13% from 40,452 to 34,995. The figures represent an improvement on the number of housing starts recorded half way through the year, which were down 38% compared with the year before. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/affordable-housing-starts-fall-by-a-fifth-homes-england-data-shows-71250

Landlords Made Scapegoats For COVID Rent Debt Crisis

The Chancellor is making landlords the scapegoats for the COVID rent debt crisis as he turns his back on the support the sector needs. A new report published by the National Residential Landlords Association outlines the toll that COVID-19 has taken on the private rented sector. It warns that without financial support to tackle COVID-related rent arrears, the Chancellor is forcing landlords into a corner. They either have to accept continuing to receive no income or resort to repossessing their property with all the consequences this course of action entails for tenants. The NRLA is warning that the goodwill of landlords in the face of mounting rent debts cannot continue without support from the Treasury. Read more on the NRLA website.

https://www.nrla.org.uk/news/landlords-made-scapegoats-for-covid-rent-debt-crisis 

First-Time Buyer’s Plans Postponed By Pandemic

More than four out of ten aspiring first-time buyers delayed their plans to get onto the property ladder in 2020, research by Santander suggests. The lender found that 44% of first-time buyers put off their purchase during the pandemic. However, 63% of would-be buyers say that home ownership is even more important to them now than it was before Covid. The proportion of first-time buyers who say raising a deposit is the biggest barrier has risen from 30% in 2019 to 52% in 2021. Read more on the Mortgage Strategy website.

First-time buyer's plans postponed by pandemic | Mortgage Strategy 

Financial Support Package Needed Now To Address COVID-Related Arrears

Propertymark, alongside other organisations, has written to the Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Eddie Hughes MP, to emphasise the sector's ongoing concerns over COVID-related rent arrears and urging the UK Government to come forward with a package of emergency financial support. The organisations have provided a briefing to the Minister which explains why renters and landlords whose finances have been affected since the start of lockdown measures in March 2020 cannot keep tenancies going without additional financial support. Measures from the UK Government have provided some short-term relief but have not done enough to protect renters going forward. Read more on the ARLA website.

https://www.arla.co.uk/news/june-2021/financial-support-package-needed-now-to-address-covid-related-arrears/

At Least 130,000 Households In England Made Homeless In Pandemic

At least 130,000 households in England were made homeless during the first year of the pandemic, despite the government’s ban on evictions. With the ban now over, fears are rising that a surge of evictions may be imminent. But figures show that even while the ban was in place, households were being forced from their homes. Government homelessness statistics and figures collected under the Freedom of Information Act from around 70% of local authorities in England show that 132,362 households were assessed by councils as being owed the “relief duty”, where a household is deemed to already be homeless. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/13/at-least-130000-households-in-england-made-homeless-in-pandemic 

26 Towns In England To Receive £610m In Government Funding

Twenty-six English towns have received a portion of £610 million in government funding to help them rebuild their economies in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The money, which comes from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund unveiled in July 2019, is intended to kickstart urban regeneration and boost green transport infrastructure, tourism and jobs. It is also intended for education and vocational training courses, the MHCLG said. The cash was allocated through a series of “towns deals” which sets out how the money will be spent following proposals submitted by the local council. Read more on the ITV website.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-06-08/covid-26-towns-in-england-to-receive-610m-in-government-funding-to-rebuild-after-pandemic