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Market Watch: Builders break through property market gloom

February 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
home improvements

UPDATES from key players in the housebuilding and insurance sectors will form part of another significant week for corporate results. Two of the UK's biggest housebuilders, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon, are due to shrug off the gloom surrounding the property market when they report significant increases in profits. Both housebuilders have provided bullish trading updates in recent months and are expected to report strong performances in the second half of 2010 despite the UK government's comprehensive spending review in the autumn, which deterred buyers, and the snow in December, which … [Read more...]

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A helping hand for next-time buyers

February 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
SP - golden handshake

Banks and building societies are belatedly recognising the plight of 'mortgage prisoners' - homeowners who are trapped because falling house prices have wiped out their deposit. They are experimenting with ways to help them escape the trap and kickstart the sluggish housing market. New mortgage lending was a record low in 2010, says the Bank of England. Average house prices are down 1.1% over the past year, according to Nationwide Building Society, and 13% lower than the peak in autumn 2007. The fall has hit the 'nexttime buyers', most of whom bought their first home between 2006 … [Read more...]

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Barratt Developments moves away from first-time buyer housing

February 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Barratt Homes

Britain's biggest housebuilder has warned first-time buyers that they are going to find it even harder to get onto the property ladder. Mark Clare, chief executive of Barratt Developments, said the company was "moving away from [building homes for] first-time buyers" because young people are finding it too difficult to get mortgages. Mr Clare said less than 30pc of Barratt's new homes outside of London are designed for first-time buyers, compared with 72pc two years ago. "First-time buyers will have to look at second-hand rather than new, it is going to … [Read more...]

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Property website Rightmove defies market to hit new records

February 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Rightmove

Rightmove yesterday announced an astonishing year, in which it saw a 26% rise in revenues for 2010, record pre-tax profits and a 2% rise in membership. Turnover stood at £81.6m, compared with £64.5m in 2009, with a pre-tax profit of £52.2m. The portal also told shareholders that its market share among the top four in the UK portal market now stands at 82% in terms of pages viewed. Releasing its full year results for the 12 months ended December 31, 2010, Rightmove said its results show strong performance across all key metrics. Rightmove had a record-breaking year of … [Read more...]

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Consumer giant slams sale and rent back firms

February 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Glasgow Tenement

Advise given to property sellers from sale and rent back firms is woefully inadequate and regulated firms are not doing enough to give people sufficient choice, it is claimed. According to an investigation by consumer giant Which? Money the advice given by these firms is ‘shoddy’ and it has reported two to the Financial Services Authority, the UK’s financiual watchdog. Out of 17 advisers across nine firms contacted by Which? Money researchers about SRB, which is when a company buys your home and rents it back to you, just two offered acceptable advice. Seven advisers failed to … [Read more...]

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UK farmland prices reached all time high in second half of 2010, reports shows

February 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Midas Property Consultants Land, Development

Farmland prices in the UK reached an all time high in the last half of 2010, as demand for commercial farmland grew strongly against continued shortage of available land, according to the latest report from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Chartered surveyors indicated commercial farmers remain keen to expand production to capitalise on elevated commodity prices. This, combined with falling land availability, saw farmland prices rise to all time highs during the last six months of 2010. The transaction based measure of prices, which includes residential land, stood at just … [Read more...]

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Unrealistic house prices damaging housing market

February 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
worth their weight in gold

The housing market will remain slow until sellers accept that prices have dropped and reduce their asking prices, says Rightmove. Homeowners reluctance to reduce the asking prices on their homes is contributing towards a stagnant market, says property website Rightmove.co.uk. The average asking price in February is £230,030, up by 3.1% from January's average of £223,121. In contrast, the average selling price is £165,000 for properties in England and Wales, according to the Land Registry. In 2010 1.3 million properties were on the market against only 530,000 available mortgages. Lenders … [Read more...]

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Investment in Canadian real estate market rebounds

February 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
new build apart

Investment in Canadian commercial real estate bounced back last year with the strongest performance in three years, at 11.1%, as measured by the rebranded REALpac/IPD Canada Annual Property Index. The annual total return, a marked turnaround from 2009's negative return, at -0.3%, and 3.7% in 2008, is underpinned by a 4% capital growth and a 6.5% income return. The REALpac/IPD Canada Annual Property Index measured CA $97 billion of directly held commercial real estate as at the end of 2010. ‘A rebound in property values was entirely responsible for boosting the total return back into … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Real Estate News

RoomBug Matching Students On Facebook

February 22, 2011 By 3 Comments
roombug

While some portals are looking to social media to promote their brand, US company RoomBug is going a step further by building a service for house hunters that incorporates Facebook profile information. RoomBug focuses on roommate matching, and has just signed up student housing company The Collier Companies as its latest client. The service allows residents to select their own roommates using Facebook profiles, incorporating lifestyle preferences and an advanced profile search feature. Now, RoomBug has created its first white-label app for The Collier Companies, which it says is the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Midas Property Marketing

Collapse in number of planning consents for new homes

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
home improvements

The number of new homes in the pipeline has continued to plummet, with planning permissions being granted at less than half the rate of four years ago. The latest Housing Pipeline report from the House Builders Federation released today reveals the third successive quarterly fall. The HBF says that just 33,000 UK homes were approved for construction in the last three months of 2010 – 9% down on the previous quarter and 22% down on a year ago. Social housing was hardest hit with only 5,500 approvals – a matter of particular concern with five million people already on local … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Midas New Homes
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