A few stories from last week on the property market: new Savills research shows coastal homes cost more, comparethemarket.com says lenders still charge clients for shopping around for insurance, the Equity Release Council warns one tenth of older homeowners miss a meal each week.
Savills: Homes near the sea cost 12.4 per cent more on average
Across Great Britain, homes within 100 metres of the sea are worth 12.4 per cent more on average than property up to 1 km away, international real estate adviser, Savills, said in a new study, in which it maps coastal premiums for the first time.
The coastal premium is highest in England (18.7 per cent), followed by Wales (16.6 per cent). Premiums in Scotland are just 1.2 per cent, as there the coastline is vast and complex.
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Home buyers faced with £1.7M “shop around taxes”
Thirteen UK building societies are still punishing their clients for getting their home insurance for another provider, comparethemarket.com says in a new study.
The average charges are around £25 per person.
The research shows that customers who shop around could save more than £100.
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One in ten older homeowners miss a meal per week due to money shortfalls
Homeowners over the age of 55 are routinely skipping meals, leaving bills unpaid and struggling through the final days before their next pay-check or pension payment, new research from the Equity Release Council (ERC) shows.
And this is despite them having an average of £241,000 in housing wealth that they could potentially draw on.
One in ten overall (10 per cent) have gone without a meal every week for financial reasons in the last year, rising to 12 per cent among 65-69-year olds.
Almost one in five (19 per cent) have skipped a meal at least once a month, rising to 21 per cent among those aged 65-69 and 80+.
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ARLA: Almost a third of rents grow in price in February
Nearly a third (31 per cent) of members of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) saw an increase in the cost of monthly rent for tenants from January to February 2015, according to ARLA’s monthly Private Rented Sector Report.
An increase in rents may be down to the fierce competition for rental property. ARLA Licensed agents reported an average of 40 prospective tenants per branch in February, up from 38 in January.
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New insurance product provides alternative for homes at high flood risk
An insurance provider has launched a new product tailored for homeowners and landlords whose properties are located in high-risk flood areas.
Such property owners are often forced to pay a high insurance excess in the event of flood damage to their property.
The new Flood Excess Insurance offers homeowners and Landlords the opportunity to insure the excess that applies to a flood claim on their main policy, either online or via a broker. Premiums start from as little as £39.78 for a £1,000 with exact costs dependent upon location of the property.
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— Market comments —
Myhomemove on property market stats for February 2015
Commenting on the HMRC transaction figures for February published on 24 March, Dev Malle, group sales director at conveyancing services provider myhomemove, said:
“The housing market has been rife with speculation about whether the general election will cause a big slowdown in the property market, and February’s figures reflect the further tapering of activity by buyers and sellers alike as uncertainty looms. However, the year-on-year comparison between this year and last makes for more encouraging viewing than many anticipated; a seasonally adjusted fall of 7.9% compared to last year certainly doesn’t suggest that the life has been sucked out of the market. We expect the number of housing transactions to continue their long-term recovery once greater certainty is in place after the election.
“Aside from the political uncertainty caused by the general election, our view is that this year looks set to be a very favourable time for buyers and sellers alike. We expect housing market activity to improve as consumer confidence continues on a positive trend, fuelled by 0% inflation, falling unemployment levels and improving real wages. Easier access to capital combined with low Bank of England interest rates mean that lenders are likely to continue with aggressive mortgage pricing.
“Overall the outlook for housing transactions is positive and sustainable, particularly as the political parties have made new build and housing supply a key part of their election campaigns so far.”
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ARLA on the new reforms debated today in Parliament to end the so-called ‘tenants tax’
Commenting on the reform David Cox, managing director of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), 
said:
“ARLA welcomes the new proposals, set to be debated later today in Parliament, to tackle the so-called ‘tenants tax’. It’s important that rogue landlords are prevented from exploiting vulnerable tenants but ARLA believes that only targeted, intelligence-led enforcement, rather than blanket licensing, will remove rogue landlords from the private rented sector.
“Too many councils have created large scale landlord licensing schemes that have failed to achieve their laudable aims. This is because budgets are spent on the huge administrative task of licensing 10,000s of properties. The result is that rogue landlords who operate substandard properties, the very people the schemes are designed to tackle, are left to continue operating under the radar, as resources are not available for effective enforcement.
“Of the 50+ licensing schemes that are already in place, only the scheme in Newham has been successful and that is due to Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, committing a huge amount of local resources to enforcement.
“That is why ARLA has argued that rather than licensing schemes, as local authority enforcement teams are so overstretched and so under resourced, prosecutions must be simpler. Rather than court action, Fixed Penalty Notices will reverse the burden of proof and expedite enforcement. And being able to keep the fines they levy will make enforcement teams revenue generators rather than budget drains; allowing more Enforcement Officers, more prosecutions and a more professional industry”.
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Want to learn more about some of the stories above?
Drop me an email at vanya.damyanova@metropolis.co.uk
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