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Em Morley

Zoopla Forced to Defend its Valuation Method

Published On: August 12, 2015 at 4:46 pm

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Categories: Finance News

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Zoopla Forced to Defend its Valuation Method

Zoopla Forced to Defend its Valuation Method

Zoopla has been forced to defend its valuation method after it emerged that asking prices in many parts of the country were up to 20% higher than the portal’s estimated average figure.

Last week, the Coventry Telegraph stated that the average asking price in the city is currently £210,000, but Zoopla’s pricing tool found the average property price in the area to be £173,000.

A Zoopla spokesperson explains: “Zoopla valuation estimates are our assessment of the market value at any given time, calculated using a proprietary algorithm that continuously analyses millions of data points relating to property sales and home characteristics.

“It is misleading to compare average asking prices to our estimate of average property values in a given area since only a small fraction of homes in any area, typically less than 5%, are on the market at any given time.

“Therefore, average asking prices can easily be skewed, whereas our estimated average values takes into consideration all homes in the area.”1 

In Birmingham, asking prices were 19% higher than the average Zoopla value and in Smethwick, they were 18% higher.

This trend continues to London. In Kensington, the average asking price is £2.379m, but the Zoopla value is £2.158m.

In Glasgow, the average asking price is £148,000, but Zoopla’s average value is £164,000.

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/zoopla-defends-pricing-tool/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New web portal makes good start

Published On: August 12, 2015 at 4:14 pm

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Categories: Landlord News

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Less than six months six its official launch date, a web portal which changes the way investors browse for their next property has already signed up 5,000 agents.

Taking two years to develop, Pring.co.uk has already gained interest from estate agents across Britain, who have uploaded in excess of 30,000 properties onto the site.

Success

Pring.co.uk was founded and developed by entrepreneur Stephen Moss, who began his career in an estate agency before co-founding a number of other businesses, including Legal 4 Landlords, based in Warrington.

For the first-time, Pring.co.uk allows its users to browse for investment properties which meet their requirements by using a range of different selection criteria. These includes:

  • location
  • purchase price
  • rental value
  • mortgage cost
  • potential yield
  • return on investment
New web portal makes good start

New web portal makes good start

More than 5,000 agents from across Briton have uploaded their properties and the site is getting more than 100,000 visits per month. The site has been launched at a particularly good time for the buy-to-let sector, with one in five British homes now owned by private landlords.

Gap in the market

Mr Moss commented that, ‘there was a clear gap in the market for a search portal dedicated to investment properties. I was hearing the same issues from property investors time and time again. There was nowhere they could go to search for suitable investment properties in one place without spending hours and hours going through each property in a given location and working out the figures. Pring brings together all the figures an investor needs before deciding whether a house is worth viewing,’[1]

‘We’ve developed the site to make sure it provides everything the property investor needs. They can look for properties in a specific area that give a particular return on investment and see immediately what the mortgage cost will be,’ Moss added.[1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/business/new-property-investment-portal-attracts-5000-agents.html

 

 

 

Living on a Lane Drives Up House Price

Published On: August 12, 2015 at 3:44 pm

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Categories: Property News

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Homes that have an address with the word lane in it are worth a fifth more than the average house price, according to new research.

Properties on lanes have an average price of £245,906. This is 22% (£44,660) more than the average UK house price.

Living on a Lane Drives Up House Price

Living on a Lane Drives Up House Price

Homes with an address containing the word way are the next most valuable, with an average price of £218,742. This is followed by properties with the word road in their address, which are generally worth £212,717.

Property market experts Hometrack conducted the study for Barclays.

The research also revealed that homes with drive or street in their address have the lowest prices, at £191,675 and £142,374 respectively.

Naturally, there are exceptions to the rule, depending on where in the country the property is. For example, in London, a house on a lane is worth £414,122 on average, whereas a property on a street is worth significantly more at £566,406.

In Scotland, homes on a close are the most valuable, at an average of £161,869.

In Wales, properties on a lane are worth the most, at £190,039 on average.

Addresses with the word road in command the highest prices in Northern Ireland, at an average of £148,519.

The average house price on a lane has doubled from around £123,000 in 2001, but property prices in all categories have risen substantially in the past 15 years, Barclays Mortgages states.

Director of Mortgages at Barclays, Craig Calder, says: “While this data paints a clear picture of victory for lanes in the competition between properties, it’s interesting to see the varying statistics from around the country and a huge growth in value overall.”1

The following are the average prices of homes with these words in their address:

  1. Lane – £245,906
  2. Way – £218,742
  3. Road – £212,717
  4. Close – £204,964
  5. Avenue – £192,344
  6. Drive – £191,675
  7. Street – £142,374

1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11797736/It-pays-to-live-on-a-lane-but-a-street-drives-down-values.html

Zoopla reveals encouraging results in Q2

Published On: August 12, 2015 at 3:09 pm

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Categories: Finance News

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Zoopla has experienced a good second quarter of 2015, with its latest trading update revealing that it has recorded a net growth of 213 estate agency branches during the period.

These additions take the total UK agency membership of the group to 12,556 branches. More significantly, the rises are the first recorded since the emergence of challenger website OnTheMarket.

Encouragement

A statement released by Zoopla said, ‘management is encouraged by the reduction in churn and return to growth of the UK Agency business, combined with the strong performance of its members who continue to grow their listings. The Zoopla Property Group had 2,672 new home development members, 684 overseas members and 219 commercial members taking the total number of members at the end of the period to 16,131.’[1]

In addition, the inventory has grown by 7% from 828,000 to 882,000 properties over the same period. What’s more, traffic to the site is strong, with Zoopla reporting 45.6m monthly visits on average, between April 1st and July 31st. [1]

Zoopla reveals encouraging results in Q2

Zoopla reveals encouraging results in Q2

Pleased

Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla Property Group, today announced the figures, to the approval of many shareholders. Chesterman said, ‘We are very pleased that over the past few months of trading we have returned to growth in our number of UK agency members. Our huge audience of property-interested consumers remains loyal and engaged and our members are enjoying strong performance and a competitive advantage in terms of both brand exposure and leads generated via our platform.’

‘With the acquisition of [price comparison website] uSwitch now complete and the business performing well, we are focused on developing our combined services to provide consumers with a single resource for all their property needs which will serve to further enhance our user engagement and create a greater competitive advantage for our advertisers.’[1]

[1] https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2015/8/zoopla-reveals-latest-figures-for-agent-membership

 

 

Homeowners Remortgage to Avoid Interest Rate Rises

Published On: August 12, 2015 at 2:53 pm

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Categories: Finance News

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Homeowners Remortgage to Avoid Interest Rate Rises

Homeowners Remortgage to Avoid Interest Rate Rises

The amount of homeowners remortgaging in June rose by a third, as they hope to avoid imminent interest rate rises.

Around 31,600 loans worth £5.1 billion were granted in June, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Additionally, 28,300 first time buyers had mortgages worth a total of £4.2 billion approved in June. This is a 22% increase on May.

Director General of the CML, Paul Smee, says: “It is likely people are now beginning to feel a rate rise is a realistic prospect and not just a distant theoretical possibility.”1

1 Binns, D. (2015) ‘Re-mortgages soar to beat interest rate rise’, Metro, 12 August, p.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murder Investigation Regarding Missing Landlord Continues

Published On: August 12, 2015 at 1:53 pm

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Categories: Landlord News

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A landlord in Swansea has gone missing, causing a murder investigation to begin.

Alec Warburton, 59, has not been seen since 31st July.

South Wales Police has appealed to his lodger, David Craig Ellis, who they believe has information about Warburton’s disappearance.

Yesterday, Det Supt Paul Hurley directly appealed for Ellis to get in touch.

Warburton was reported missing from his home in Vivian Road, Sketty, just after midday on 2nd August.

Officers have been searching in the property, where Ellis also lived, and in its surrounding area. A police tent has been erected on the street.

Police are also looking for a green Peugeot 205 with the number plate M805 HFJ. They hope that someone has seen it.

Det Supt Hurley says: “This car was driven to north Wales on Saturday 1st August and we want to hear from anyone who may have seen it or David Ellis at any time between 2pm and midnight that day between Caersws and Betws-y-Coed.

“The car was returned to Swansea during the following morning. We know it was used in the Swansea area until 4th August and it has not been located since.”

To Ellis, he adds: “We want to find out what has happened to Alec Warburton. I believe that you have valuable information which will help us in our inquiries.”1

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-33877537