Housing Associations Eye Bulk Sales Of Shared Ownership Stock

Housing associations are looking to offload shared ownership stock to private bidders in a move to free up cash. Rising costs linked to fire safety works and net zero carbon targets are leading housing associations to consider large-scale disposals of their shared ownership stock. Affordable housing is seen as an attractive option for investors who are mindful of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. These investors also find shared ownership attractive because it offers both retail price index-linked (RPI) rent increases as well as some exposure to house price growth. Read more on Inside Housing.

Inside Housing - News - Housing associations eye bulk sales of shared ownership stock to private investors to boost cash

Social Housing ESG Reporting Standard Receives Backing

A new sustainability reporting standard for environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in the UK social housing sector has been backed by 61 organisations, including housing associations, banks and investors. ESG refers to range of criteria that may be considered by investors as they look to invest ethically in business and organisations that provide social value. The new standard aims to provide a uniform approach to how housing associations show private investors that by investing in them, their money can have a positive social impact. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/social-housing-esg-reporting-standard-receives-backing-from-dozens-of-landlords-and-investors-68509 

Rent Costs Hit Record High

The private rented sector has seen sharp rent increases due to the tenant fees ban, an outflow of landlords from the market, and Brexit uncertainty. The supply of rental accommodation increased in 2019, from 187 on average per branch in 2018, to 197 this year. As landlords continued to feel the pinch, the number of buy-to-let investors selling their properties remained high, at an average of four in 2019. In April, the figure spiked to five per branch. The number of tenants experiencing rent hikes hit a record high this year, rising from an average of 26 per cent each month in 2018, to 46 per cent on average this year. Read more on the ARLA website.

https://www.arla.co.uk/news/december-2019/prs-2019-trends/

New Guidance Launched To Help Unlock Land For Homes

A guide on how investors and developers can secure a share of a multi-million-pound fund to help unlock land for homes and jobs is due to be launched by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). Building the Future – a guide to the combined authority’s Single Commissioning Framework sets out what developers can do to win funding earmarked by the WMCA to re-commence stalled developments across the region. The guide is aimed at making the process for securing finance clearer and easier and will see the WMCA working with developers to find ways for the schemes to support the authority’s “key economic and social goals”. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/new-guidance-launched-to-help-unlock-land-for-homes/

Thousands Of Buy To Let Homes Are Dangerous

A compliance company has accused “thousands” of buy to let investors of failing to address major household hazards which render properties dangerous. In the past 12 months VeriSmart has conducted over 60,000 property inspections and reports on rental properties with 4,521 resulting in at least one Housing Health & Safety Rating Assessment (HHSRS) per inspection - some involved three or more. Read more on the Letting Agent Today website.

https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2019/5/thousands-of-dangerous-buy-to-let-homes-exist-claims-compliance-firm?source=newsticker

Housing Costs: Five Surprises Explained

The UK's housing market is changing. People are renting for longer and buying their first home later. Some buy-to-let investors are pulling out, blaming a greater burden of tax, while some potential home movers are staying put amid an uncertain economic and political climate. It means some assumptions about housing costs may no longer be true. Here are five things you may not know about.

1.       First-time buyers are the most likely to buy a home

2.       There's no place like home (with your parents)

3.       Rent to a private landlord is more affordable

4.       We know exactly where we want to live

5.       New homes are not always brand new

Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47293697

Weaker Buy-To-Let Market Gives Hope To First-Time Buyers

Further evidence that the crackdown on buy-to-let investors has had the desired effect, thus giving hope to first-time buyers, has come from two surveys. Rightmove, the UK’s biggest property website, said a less active buy-to-let market had led properties with two bedrooms or fewer to drop 0.1% in price last month. Subdued prices provide first-time buyers with an “opportunity this autumn”, it said. First-time buyers are now paying an average of £190,000 for their home, compared with £307,000 across the whole market, it said Meanwhile, the upmarket estate agents Hampton International produced figures showing that money spent on buy-to-let purchases across the UK is currently 30% below what it was in 2015.Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/15/weaker-buy-to-let-market-hope-first-time-buyers-landlord-survey

Housing Market Registers Slowest September Growth Since 2010

The UK property market has recorded its slowest September growth for eight years.  House prices traditionally rise at this time of year as the number of properties on the market falls, but new figures show an increase of just 1 per cent for the month – the lowest since 2010. Homes with two bedrooms or fewer dragged the average down with a 0.1 per cent fall for the month, partly due to a reduced number of sales to buy-to-let investors. Read more on the Independent website.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-property-prices-housing-market-slowest-september-buy-to-let-taxes-a8583481.html

Number Of Buy-To-Let Landlords Reaches Record High Despite Tax Hike

The number of buy-to-let investors in the UK rose to a record high of 2.5 million in the latest tax year, new research shows. The increase of 5 per cent on the previous year comes despite the introduction of a host of extra taxes and regulations on the sector. In recent years, the government has brought in a 3 per cent Stamp Duty levy, new stress tests for home loans, and ended mortgage interest tax relief. The number of landlords has increased 27 per cent in the past five years, up from 1.97 million in 2011-12. Read more on the Independent website.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/housing-market-buytolet-landlords-investors-record-high-despite-tax-hike-stamp-duty-a8292146.html

Analysis Shows Foreign Buyers Do Push Up Prices

Foreign property investors have contributed to the increase in house prices in the UK over the last 15 years, sending values soaring by around 20%, according to a new piece of academic research. While foreign buyers have mostly affected price growth in London and the South East, other major cities such as Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester have also seen the effect, says the research from the School of Management and Business at King’s College London. Using figures recorded by the Land Registry, the analysis shows that the average price is around £215,000 but would have been about £174,000 without the investment from overseas. Read more on Property Wire.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/uk/analysis-shows-foreign-buyers-push-prices-not-just-london/

Leaseholders Urged To Claim Share Of £500m 'Unfair Ground Rent'

Solicitors and developers caught up in the leasehold ground rent scandal may be forced to pay out as much as half a billion pounds, it is claimed. In recent years some of Britain’s largest housebuilders sold leasehold homes, where owners were locked into contracts which obliged them to pay rapidly increasing ground rents to freeholders. Investors – including pension funds or other specialist firms – purchased the freehold on the houses, attracted by this guaranteed rising income. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/leaseholders-urged-claim-share-500m-unfair-ground-rent/

Most Empty Homes Are In The North

We are used to seeing stories about empty homes in London, particularly empty homes bought by wealthy investors who leave them unoccupied. But these sorts of empty properties are not the biggest issue. Research by the Empty Homes campaigning charity shows that London actually has the lowest proportion of in England with 0.56% of homes in the capital officially described as empty. That’s not to say there isn’t a problem with empty homes in the capital, but we need to be careful not to allow a London lens to distort the bigger picture. Download a copy of the research from the Empty Homes website.

http://www.emptyhomes.com/assets/ehe_2017_final.pdf

Landlord Numbers Down But Portfolio Sizes Are Up

The number of landlords has fallen over the last two years despite a rise in supply of homes available to rent, meaning the typical buy to let investor now has a larger portfolio than ever before.  Countrywide estimates that the number of landlords peaked at 3.72m in 2015 when there were some 171,000 fewer rented homes than today.  In 2017 there are just over 154,000 fewer landlords (3.56m in total) but the number of rented homes has increased from 4.9m in 2015 to 5.1m today.   Fewer landlords and more rental properties means the size of the average landlord’s portfolio is the biggest since Countrywide first recorded such information in 2005.  Read more on Letting Agent Today.

New Report Forecasts Challenging Times For Buy To Let

The buy to let market in the UK will continue to provide good investment opportunities looking ahead but there are challenges, according to a new analysis, the first since major changes to the sector. Landlords will need to adjust and while rents will rise, yields will fall says a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).  It indicates that tax changes have had some effect on investor behaviour but the market remains a viable one for lenders and investors. The report indicates that yields for landlords are set to decrease over the next 10 years, declining from an average of 5% in 2016 to around 3.5% by 2027 but house price growth remain robust. Read more on Property Wire.

UK House Price Growth At Slowest Rate In Four Years

Asking prices in Britain’s housing market rose at the slowest annual rate in almost four years in February as buyers become wary about paying too much, according to the latest survey from Rightmove. Annual price growth fell from 3.2% in January to 2.3%, the weakest since April 2013. On a monthly basis, average asking prices rose 2% t0 £306,213, the slowest rate of growth in the month of February in eight years. Rightmove said the housing market was boosted in early 2016 by “frenzied” buy-to-let investors who rushed to complete transactions before new stamp duty rules were introduced in April, making this year look subdued by comparison. Read more on the Guardian website.

'Buy-To-Let Is Dead', Say Landlords

The number of buy-to-let investors moving to commercial property has tripled in the past three years, experts say. Investors are fleeing traditional residential property and turning instead to shops, restaurants and offices as alternatives. There are now less than three months until mortgaged buy-to-let properties become subject to a new, tougher tax regime which will see thousands of landlords in danger of falling into loss-making territory. More than 100,000 landlords bought properties within limited companies last year - but many are now concerned that the Government might move to make these subject to tougher taxes too. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Buy-To-Let Transactions Crash

Estate agent haart said it has seen the number of buy-to-let investors purchasing properties crash amid what it calls the government's "war on landlords". Using data from over 100 of its branches across England and Wales, haart said buy-to-let transactions fell 40% over the year to November. There was also a 47.7% drop in the number of new landlords registering to buy. In London, where house prices are most expensive, the falls are even more pronounced, with buy-to-let transactions down 67.7% and new landlord registrations falling by 59.2%. Read more on the IBT website.

Send The Build-To-Rent Sector 'Into Overdrive'

Government must boost the build-to-rent sector by exempting investors from a stamp-duty hike targeted at landlords and relaxing planning rules. That is the view of the British Property Federation (BPF), a trade association, in its submission to the Treasury ahead of Chancellor Philip Hammond's autumn statement. As of April 2016, purchases of additional properties are subject to a 3% levy on top of the basic stamp-duty rates, to cool buy-to-let demand and reduce competition in the market for first-time buyers. But the BPF said this "sent out a negative message to almost £50bn of investment capital that is interested in build-to-rent opportunities in the UK. There is a strong argument that exempting investors that contribute towards the delivery of new homes would have a positive impact on that delivery," said the BPF's submission. Read more on the IBT website.

Buy-To-Let Investors Bounce Back After Stamp Duty Hike

There was a spike in activity from potential buy-to-let investors during the third quarter, suggesting the effect on demand of a hike in stamp duty for buyers of additional properties is wearing off. Rightmove reported a 30% rise in the number of enquiries from buy-to-let investors between the second and third quarters. There was also a 6% increase in the number of new rental listings than a year before, though the average asking rent was 3.2% higher at £779 per month. From April 2016, purchases of additional properties are subject to a 3% surcharge on top of basic stamp duty rates. The government wants to cool demand in the market from investors, reducing competition for first-time buyers. Read more on the IBT website.

UK Faces Shortfall Of 1.8m Rental Homes, Warns Housing Body

The UK is facing a shortfall of 1.8m rental properties unless the government acts fast to slow a sharp drop in the number of available homes, according to a leading housing industry body. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) called on the government to drop reverse stamp duty changes on second homes and consider incentives for build-to-rent schemes, after it found a drop in property investors’ appetite to add to their buy-to-let portfolios. The private sector has taken over from councils and housing associations as the biggest provider of rented homes, but Rics found that sales had slowed over the summer, after changes to the stamp duty rules. Read more on the Rics website.