House Prices Surge As High Demand Meets Record Shortage Of Homes For Sale

 A frenzy of activity has driven UK property prices to a record high this month, just as the government launches a mortgage guarantee scheme to help people with small deposits on to the housing ladder. Online property portal Rightmove said the average asking price jumped by 2.1% in April to a new all-time high of £327,797, an increase of £6,733 from March. The surge was driven by a shortage of houses on the market, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is driving many families to search for more spacious properties away from the cities, following the shift to working from home. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/19/uk-house-prices-surge-as-high-demand-meets-record-shortage-of-homes-for-sale

House Prices Soar As Market Recovery Continues

The latest data and analysis from Home.co.uk has revealed that the UK property market has stepped up a gear and sent house prices soaring, fuelled by pent-up demand and delayed sales. However, despite surging supply, the overall stock count remains 9.1% lower than in August 2019, as suppressed demand devours the new listings. According to recent figures, estate agents had a phenomenally busy month in July, taking on vast amounts of new instructions at the same time as properties were being snapped up. Moreover, new listings are being placed on the market with markedly higher asking prices. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/house-prices-soar-as-market-recovery-continues.html

Soaring House Prices Force Workers Into Longer Commutes

The number of people spending more than two hours travelling to and from work every day has jumped by 72% over the past decade to over three million. Women have suffered most from the increase in long commuting, with a 131% rise in those travelling three hours or more since 2004, said the TUC. The biggest increases in long commutes have been in the South East, South West, East Midlands and Wales. The union organisation said soaring rents and high house prices, coupled with the UK's "creaking" infrastructure had led to people having to spend longer getting to work. More low paid workers are facing longer and costlier commutes just to get to work, said the TUC. Read more on the Express & Star website.

London and South-East Grab the Lion’s Share of Help to Buy

London and the south-east grabbed the largest share of Help to Buy loans, according to the latest figures showing more than 48,000 homebuyers have used the government scheme aimed at homebuyers with small deposits.  Adding to concerns that subsidies have triggered a surge in house prices, 7,501 buyers in the south-east and 2,837 in London have taken out either an interest-free loan on a new build home or used the mortgage guarantee that allows them to buy a home with only a 5% deposit. The popularity of the scheme in the south-east pushed the north-west into second place, where 6,180 buyers have completed a purchase. Read more on the Guardian website.

Help to Buy Scheme Could Net Government £4.5BILLION

The Help to Buy scheme could net the government £4.5billion because of a house price boom - even though the boom has partly been blamed on the scheme itself. The Treasury is on track to receive a vast windfall because of a clause allowing it to share the cash from homes which are sold on at a profit. Help to Buy hands buyers 20 per cent of a home's value - and when the house is sold with the loan still active, the government takes 20 per cent of any increase over the years. Because of the explosion in British house prices, the government will make a 59 per cent return on its loans over the scheme's lifetime, research by the Financial Times has claimed. That means by 2020, when the scheme is due to end, the Treasury will have handed out enough loans to net itself £4.5billion. Read more on the Daily Mail website.