Current property news reveals some more of the potential fault-lines in the UK housing market.
Inflation and the rising costs of living encourage would-be tenants to ask for tenancies with all bills paid. The house price index shows some signs of faltering, and more landlords threaten to sell up. While first-time buyers are priced out of their prospects for owning a home by the seaside.
“Bills included” becomes the most searched-for term by renters
When prospective tenants are searching for their likely new rented home, the feature they most want from the tenancy is “bills included”, according to a survey cited by Landlord Today on the 25th of August.
The priority given to tenancies with “bills included” may be a reflection of the rapidly increasing costs of energy on the eve of what is likely to be a fairly bleak winter for many. Whereas the inclusion of utility bills within a tenancy appeared in only sixth place in the order of tenants’ priorities a year ago – lower than “a garden”, “garage” or “pets allowed” – it has now leapt into first place.
A dearth of available homes to rent has also forced tenancy searchers to cast their nets over a much wider area. Four years ago, for example, tenants could concentrate their search into an area of roughly 70 sq. km. These days, the search area has expanded to cover an average of 137 sq. km.
Prices fall likely more due to holidays than rate rises says Rightmove
The house price index maintained by online listings website Rightmove showed a marginal fall in August – for the first time this year.
House prices fell by just 1.3% – the equivalent of £4,795 – during August to an average of £365,173.
However, Rightmove also points out that it is entirely usual for prices to fall during August in most years – when potential buyers are otherwise occupied enjoying their holidays – and a drop of just 1.3% is consistent with the movement there has been at this time of the year in the market during the past 10 years or so.
One in four landlords are prepared to sell up if the abolition of “no-fault” evictions goes ahead
A recent survey cited by IFA Magazine – the periodical for Independent Financial Advisers – on the 25th of August revealed that only 22% of landlords were in favour of the proposals contained in the government’s latest White Paper for a “Fairer Private Rented Sector”.
Objections were voiced to two of the main objectives set out in the White Paper – namely, the abolition of Section 21 of the Housing Act (which grants landlords the right of so-called “no-fault” evictions) and the creation of a national register of landlords.
The abolition of Section 21, in particular, would make more than half (56%) of the landlords surveyed more careful about the types of tenants they accepted while as many as 25% would even consider selling up some or all of their let properties if no-fault evictions no longer provided a way of ejecting troublesome tenants.
Rising coastal house prices have outpaced rises in first-time buyer salaries
There is one group of hopeful homebuyers who have seen their dreams of living by the seaside dashed by rising prices, reported the Mail Online in its edition on the 24th of August.
The newspaper spoke of the growing appeal of coastal locations for those who have been encouraged to move home during the recent pandemic. Those hopeful house hunters have included many first-time buyers who have now discovered that the cold reality of soaring prices has dashed their dreams.
Any salary increases first-time buyers might have recently enjoyed, explained the report, have been more than overtaken by the escalating prices of homes beside the seaside.
