Written By Em

Em

Em Morley

Flat with Unnerving Past Put on the Market

Published On: June 8, 2015 at 3:53 pm

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Categories: Landlord News

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The flat where serial killer Dennis Nilsen murdered young men and hid their bodies under the floorboards has been put on the market.

The property – located in Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill, North London – became infamous when police were called in 1983 as victims’ remains were found blocking the drains.

The one-bedroom flat has since been refurbished and is described by estate agent Paul Simon as “well presented.”

On its website, the agent warns prospective purchasers: “Buyers are kindly asked to research the history of this property or enquire with the marketing agent prior to viewings.”1

The property was last sold in August 2013 for £250,000 when the then agents did not mention its history.

Take a look inside here: http://www.paulsimonsales.com/Property/Residential/for-sale/London/Muswell-Hill/Cranley-Gardens/PSAPSR150147.aspx

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/flat-with-grim-past-is-put-up-for-sale/

 

 

Peer-to-Peer Lender Introduces First Loan

Published On: June 8, 2015 at 2:56 pm

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Categories: Finance News

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A new peer-to-peer lender has introduced its first loan product, hoping to change the way people invest.

Crowdstacker will allegedly be one of the first peer-to-peer platforms to provide retail investors the chance to lend money to non-listed yet established, mid-sized and financially stable companies.

Peer-to-Peer Lender Introduces First Loan

Peer-to-Peer Lender Introduces First Loan

Crowdstacker will fill the gap for larger ticket funding of up to £50m, which is sought by businesses with strong trading track records and a proven ability to provide a strong return on investment (ROI), but which find it difficult to secure lending due to stricter terms by banks after the global financial crisis.

Its first product, The Quanta Loans, has been created for Quanta Group, a nationwide property investment firm that buys run down homes, renovates and resells them. Quanta has bought and sold over 500 properties in the UK and plans to use the target £3m to purchase some of the five to ten high quality properties that they currently have to turn down every month.

Investors can lend anything from £700 and are offered a 6.8% return per year over the three-year term of the product. Interest is paid in quarterly instalments. Houses and flats bought with the money will be refurbished and quickly sold, in an attempt to ensure changes in the buy-to-let market do not affect the investment.

CEO of Crowdstacker, Karteek Patel, says: “We see Crowdstacker as the democratisation of higher calibre investment options.

“We know from our research that the average man or woman on the street isn’t yet engaging with investment opportunities such as crowdfunding because they don’t know what it is, or they are put off by not knowing exactly where their money will be spent.”

Patel continues: “The average consumer investor is also put off other sophisticated and less risky investments such as bonds or equities, outside of their standard pensions or managed ISA funds, because they don’t understand how they work or they don’t have the higher sums of money typically required.

“Crowdstacker aims to bridge this gap. We’re offering crowdfunding style simplicity combined with quality investment opportunities; we’ll only work with businesses that have passed our stringent due diligence tests.

“Quanta was deemed eligible to be one of the select products we will be offering because of its solid track record in its industry, plus the ability to provide further protection for lenders by using the properties purchased as collateral against the loaned capital.”1 

1 http://www.financialreporter.co.uk/specialist-lending/new-peer-to-peer-lender-launches.html?utm_content=buffer8c573&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

Fix a Mortgage Before Rates Rise

Published On: June 8, 2015 at 1:52 pm

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In the late 1980s, mortgage rates were in double digits. But as of last week, home loans can be secured for under 1%.

Chelsea Building Society introduced a 0.98% deal for borrowers with large deposits or equity worth 35% of the property’s value. A fee of £1,545 also applies.

Fix a Mortgage Before Rates Rise

Fix a Mortgage Before Rates Rise

Currently, every week is seeing lower and lower rates from competing lenders. Most of this action has been in the fixed rate market, with Yorkshire Building Society offering a 1.07% fix over two years for the same level of deposit and a £1,369 fee.

But don’t take these rates at face value – Chelsea’s loan is a tracker rate. This means that repayments will decrease or increase in line with the Bank of England’s (BoE) base rate, plus 0.48%.

Tracker loans can be cheaper when the base rate is low, as it is at present, but will become more expensive when the rate rises in the future.

The base rate has been at a record low of 0.5% for six years, which could attract borrowers to trackers. But despite inflation also being extremely low, it is unlikely that the base rate will drop further.

It is expected that the base rate will increase in 2016. Ten-year bond rates, which indicate interest rate sentiment, have grown from 1.3% in late January to 2.1% last week. This suggests that markets are becoming concerned about inflation and a solution would be to raise interest rates.

Additionally, if wages begin to push higher, interest rate increases will likely follow.

For borrowers looking for security, a low-cost fixed rate mortgage is the best choice.

Higher interest rates will please the savers who have earned very little in the last six years. Inflation has been low for a long time and annually, this has reduced savers’ returns in real terms.

A recent report from Henderson Global Investors reveals that Britain’s savers earned a total interest of £26 billion in the past five years. However, due to inflation, they have lost £116 billion in real terms, leaving a net loss of £80 billion. This is £3,000 per household.

Henderson suggests that savers place more cash into the inflation-defying stock market instead. The report found that UK equities returned a total of 122% over five years, compared to only 2.2% for instant access savings accounts.

But cash is still necessary. The investment groups recommends keeping at least three months’ income for emergencies and a £2,500 rainy day fund.

Housing Associations Should Understand Changes

Published On: June 8, 2015 at 12:51 pm

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As the new Government looks set to make changes to the property industry, housing associations should be aware and understand all of the policies and regulations.

The sector will be keen to influence the Right to Buy plan, which will see housing association tenants given the opportunity to buy their homes. This policy may even be campaigned against.

Association board members or senior executives should be aware of the potential impacts on business. Ask yourself how many tenants will use the discounts? What will the cost of replacing the homes be? What effect will it have on funds? How will it influence your future investments?

Housing Associations Should Understand Changes

Housing Associations Should Understand Changes

Alongside Right to Buy is the welfare reform set to cause problems for many on benefits. It is believed that £12 billion will be cut and the cap will be reduced from £26,000 per year to £23,000. Automatic housing benefit entitlement for 18-21-year-olds will also be removed. This will dramatically affect tenancy support and income.

Regions

A Devolution Bill will aim to create a northern powerhouse, giving more power to big cities. London already has a separate investment identity and could seek more power.

For associations with strong connections to local authority partners, this regional revival could be beneficial. But for associations working in the Midlands, especially rural parts, being overlooked is likely, as politicians focus on the North and South.

In Scotland, Wales and Ireland, further devolved powers will affect associations who work across borders.

Right to Build and the new starter homes scheme aim to provide an extra 200,000 homes at a discount of 20% to first time buyers under 40. This will reduce affordable homes schemes that are offered through the planning system.

For those dependent on section 106 planning agreements, new approaches will be needed for delivering affordable housing.

Funding

Funding new developments is also an area that needs consideration, as the cut to public sector resources will not return to previous levels of public subsidy. Associations should prepare for a lack of Government grants.

Associations must also ask who they can home. Will properties only be given to those who can afford them without huge amounts of benefits? Immigration is also an area of concern.

Housing associations now have the task of answering these questions and understanding the changes that will inevitably affect their practice.

‘Second steppers’ getting market encouragement

Published On: June 8, 2015 at 12:25 pm

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New research has suggested that a number of so-called ‘second steppers’ in the UK housing market are now in a comfortable financial position.

A survey from Lloyds Bank indicates that a number of people looking to make the next step up the property ladder are being boosted by rising property prices and a steady increase in first-time buyers. The positive report comes despite the fact that additional figures suggest that many second steppers face a rise of £128,000 to move up the housing scale.[1]

Positivity

Lloyds’ report shows that 33% of second steppers believe that it will be easier to sell their property during the coming year. 37% said that they want to move soon to take advantage of the buoyant housing market.[1]

Undoubtedly, first time sellers are in a stronger position than they were five years ago. The rise in house prices have seen the equity of those living in their first homes, with 71% of respondents to the survey saying that they felt their position had improved in the last twelve months.

With prices at their lowest in 2009, many current second steppers would have purchased their homes in this troubled period. The average price of a first time buyer home is now 31% than it was in 2009. This means that the average second stepper has an average equity level of £87,096, which equates to 29% of the typical price of a second step home value of £304,963.[1]

The average estimated equity level has increased by in excess of £36,000 during the last year from £50,655, due to a rise in prices paid for first time buyer properties.[1]

'Second steppers' getting market encouragement

‘Second steppers’ getting market encouragement

Affordable

The research from Lloyds also shows that the average cost of a standard second stepper home is more affordable than one year ago, in comparison with earnings. Housing affordability has grown substantially in the last year from 7.1% times the UK gross annual average earnings in 2014 compared with 6.4% in 2015.[1]

Despite growing house prices giving equity levels a boost, findings from the report also show that people living in their first property must find an average of £128,390 to fill the gap between the sale price of their home and the cost of their next desired property. This desired property was found to commonly be a detached home. The monetary gap drops to just £17,864 if the second-stepper wishes to move to a semi-detached house.[1]

 

[1] http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/uk-second-step-property-2015060810599.html

 

British Adults Prefer Conventionally-Designed Homes

Published On: June 8, 2015 at 11:58 am

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Over four to one Britons support the building of new homes on brownfield land in their local area, but the design of these properties highlighted contrasting preference.

The research was conducted by Ipsos MORI for Create Streets, a social enterprise encouraging more urban homes in conventional, terraced streets rather than complex multi-storey buildings.

The survey, undertaken last month, asked 1,000 British adults if they support the building of new homes on local brownfield land. 64% said they either strongly or tend to support this, with

British Adults Prefer Conventionally-Designed Homes

British Adults Prefer Conventionally-Designed Homes

14% opposing.

Respondents were then shown five photographs of different housing types and asked if they would support or oppose the building of ten similar style homes in their local area. Some properties, especially those in the most conventional form with conservative style and building materials, gained strong support. Others were less popular.

The study also revealed differences in tastes. Those living in London and renters prefer less traditional developments. However, these do not gain as much support from older age groups and owner-occupiers.

Director of Create Streets, Nicholas Boys Smith, says: “The poll shows that a strong majority of the British public like the type of conventional home that a child would draw, but which too many in the design and planning establishment condemn.

“The findings also demonstrate that design does matter in winning support for new buildings. There is over three times as much support for popular homes as for the least popular. And half of those who oppose new building in principle change their mind when presented with the most popular option.

“The question is not: How do we build more homes? But: How do we make new homes more popular?”1

Research Director at Ipsos MORI, Ben Marshall, comments: “This survey adds to consistent evidence, which shows that design matters. When it comes to addressing Britain’s housing supply shortage in the years ahead, what? is more important as well as, how many?

“New builds have something of an image problem, but the evidence here is that this doesn’t have to be the case. And while there is likely to be a more acceptable face of new housing supply, we should also recognise that opinions vary geographically and demographically.”1 

1 http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2015-06-08-Poll-shows-preference-for-conventionally-designed-homes-that-a-child-would-draw