If you’re a landlord – or indeed any kind of property owner – there’s invariably some news item likely to have an impact on the value of the asset. The trick lies in keeping abreast of what can frequently be a rapidly changing situation. With that in mind, therefore, let’s take a look at some of the latest property news.
House prices continue to rise
The latest house price index published by the Nationwide Building Society revealed that house prices have maintained their more or less stable rise.
The average price of a home in the UK rose by 3.9% in February – compared with a rise of 4.1% the previous month – and marking a current 0.4% rise on a month-by-month basis.
The figures suggest that the housing market has been robust in recent months – even though the overall economic climate poses affordability problems for many aspiring property owners. In fact, the final half of last year saw a 14% increase in the number of transactions compared with the same period in 2023.
Nevertheless, viewing last year as a whole, the volume of transactions in the housing market remained 6% lower than in the months before the pandemic all trading in 2019.
Stability in the rental market
On the 4th of March, the online listings website Zoopla highlighted some of the latest news relating to the private rental sector.
The previously runaway increases in rent levels seem to have stabilised and inflation in the rental market is currently at its lowest in the past three and a half years. During the past 12 months, rents rose by a relatively modest 3% – significantly lower than the 7.4% this time last year.
The gap between supply and demand is also narrowing thanks to an 11% increase in the number of homes to rent and a 17% fall in the demand for rental properties compared with 12 months ago. Although fewer prospective tenants are chasing the available properties to rent (some 42% fewer than the peak levels of 2022 to 2024), the numbers are still higher than they were before the pandemic. There are still an average of 12 candidates for every advertised rental opportunity.
In the year ahead, rents can be expected to rise by between 3% and 4%.
London borough steps up HMO controls
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) often get a bad press and seem to attract the worst of the “rogue landlords” in the buy to let market. Brent Council in North London intends to do something about it, according to a story by the BBC recently.
In a bid to root out an unacceptable number of “substandard and potentially dangerous” HMOs, the council is actively considering the reintroduction of tough new licensing requirements. Under previous arrangements, as many as 2,500 HMOs throughout the borough of Brent needed to be licensed.
Improved mortgage rules
Under recommendations from the mortgage industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) say consumers should benefit from a number of improvements and clarifications to the rules about sales of the product.
According to a report in Estate Agent Today on the 26th of March, the FCA proposes changes to the current mortgage rules so that:
- mortgage holders will more easily find a new lender for their remortgage;
- reduce the overall costs of borrowing by lowering the repayment terms; and
- discuss mortgage matters with firms other than those acting as regulated advisers.
The FCA intends to begin its consultations with stakeholders in May, with a view to publishing a discussion paper on the mortgage rules review in June of this year.
