A mixture of good news and missed opportunities inspired this past week’s headlines about the property market.
From first-time buyers making hay while the sun shines to a spotlight on some of the busiest markets. From developments in the relationship between landlords, their agents, and tenants to a failed scheme to make our homes greener … here is a brief round-up of the latest property news.
Over a third of FTBs have taken advantage of stamp duty holiday
The Chancellor’s introduction last July of a stamp duty holiday on the purchase of homes costing up to £500,000 was welcomed by all homebuyers, of course, but none more so, it seems, than first-time buyers.
According to a report in Property Wire earlier this week, 39% of all first-time buyers in the UK have already taken advantage of the tax-break to buy their home. And, a further 8% are renewing their plans to do so following the decision to extend the stamp duty holiday until the end of June – and continue the incentive until the end of September, but only on homes costing up to £250,000 via a tapered scheme.
The busiest property markets of 2020 revealed
Small towns, in parts of England and Wales previously shunned by many buyers, became the hottest residential property spots during 2020, according to the Daily Mail on the 26th of March.
Buyers have avoided the larger towns and cities, preferring to escape to quieter, more remote locations such as Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, Pontefract in West Yorkshire, and Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.
Smaller towns are in demand – other than Doncaster, each of the locations in the top ten has less than 100,000 inhabitants.
While turning away from the bustling pace of life in cities and the larger provincial towns, buyers have nevertheless sought out areas in which value for money could be found in affordably priced homes, revealed the survey.
Portsmouth, the Wirral and Luton all had the lowest property purchase rate in 2020.
PRS survey looks at landlord, agent, and tenant relationships
Earlier last month, Landlord News published the results of a survey investigating the nature of the relationship between landlords, their agents, and tenants:
- probably against the expectations of many, a full 95% of tenants said they had not fallen into rent arrears because of Covid;
- among those who have struggled, 58% praised the understanding of their landlord, with 31% of them offering temporarily to reduce the rent or grant a rent holiday;
- when asked to rate their landlord on a scale of 1 to 10, tenants gave them an average 7.4;
- landlord and letting agents, on the other hand, rated their tenants either 9/10 (30% of landlords) or 10/10 (29%);
- tenants were evenly split on the economics of renting – half of those surveyed said it offered value for money while the other half considered rent to be overpriced and more expensive than a mortgage;
- for 67% of tenants, homeownership is their long-term goal, while renting is the most affordable option for 51%;
- the majority of landlords surveyed (80%) have run their buy to let business for more than five years. Though two-thirds of them (65%) felt that the industry has grown steadily worse as a result of creeping legislation, regulation, and taxation.
Although 90% of landlords and their agents, therefore, feel unsupported by government, 79% are committed to their role as a landlord for at least the next five years.
Green plan to upgrade homes was ‘botched’, say MPs
Parliament’s environmental audit select committee has issued a damning indictment of the government’s Green Homes Grants scheme, according to a report by the BBC last week.
Under the scheme, homeowners stood to gain grants of up to £10,000 in energy efficient insulation measures for their homes.
Only 10% success has been achieved in realising an initial target to insulate at least 600,000 in the first six months of the scheme – leading to rumours that the Treasury was arguing for the termination of the scheme. Rather than termination, the select committee has called for reform of the scheme and has branded its current performance as “inept” – to the point of damaging the housebuilding sector.
