Posts with tag: London

The Cost of an Average Property for Each Mile of the London Marathon

Published On: April 21, 2016 at 9:30 am

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Buying the average property in London would cost you £20,243 for each mile of the London marathon, according to online estate agent eMoov.

On Sunday, around 38,000 people will take to the streets of the capital for the 26.2-mile race. And while the runners may be able to enjoy London’s iconic landmarks along the way, many will have no hope of ever getting onto the property ladder in the capital.

Based on the average London house price of £530,368, a buyer would have to raise £20,243 for every mile of the London marathon to get into the housing market. Failing that, each of the 38,000 participants could contribute £14 each to jointly own one London home.

eMoov has calculated the average property price per mile to work out how much it will cost a buyer for each mile they run. The race starts in Greenwich…

Greenwich 

The Cost of an Average Property for Each Mile of the London Marathon

The Cost of an Average Property for Each Mile of the London Marathon

Around the leafy start line of Greenwich Park, the price per mile has come down slightly from the London average, at £19,969 for the typical property, which costs £523,208.

Woolwich

Through the two to four mile mark, Woolwich will offer runners the cheapest price per mile of the whole route. At £290,915, the average home here will cost £11,103 per mile of the marathon.

Rotherhithe

As the runners push to the ten-mile mark, the property price per mile shoots up again to £19,401, as the average house price in Rotherhithe is £508,321.

Bermondsey

As the racers prepare to cross the Thames, the last area south of the river they pass through is Bermondsey. With an average house price of £546,974, a property here will cost £20,876 per mile.

Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs

North of the river, property isn’t any cheaper. In Canary Wharf, a typical property will cost a buyer £19,367 per mile. It does drop slightly in the Isle of Dogs, where buyers will face a price of £18,469 per mile at the 16-mile mark.

Monument

As the runners head into prime central London, the property price per mile picks up to £35,653, as the average house price in Monument is a huge £934,115.

St James’s Park

However, nowhere on the route costs more per mile than near the finish line at St James’s Park. A home here is a whopping £2,478,034, costing a runner almost £100,000 (£94,581) for each mile ran.

The CEO and founder of eMoov, Russell Quirk, comments on the findings: “Although the real obstacle of the day is the gruelling 26.2-mile slog across the capital, these figures paint a really clear picture of just how unobtainable a London property is for the majority of us.

“To think that for every mile of the route, each runner would need to raise close to the average UK salary just to get on the London ladder is a little sickening. I for one am glad the money raised is going to worthy causes and not to further fuelling the London property bubble.”

London Landlord Fined £16,000 for Category 1 Hazards

Published On: April 20, 2016 at 11:27 am

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A London landlord that rented out a hazardous property to a family for years has been prosecuted by Harrow Council and ordered to pay fines and costs of more than £16,000.

London Landlord Fined £16,000 for Category 1 Hazards

London Landlord Fined £16,000 for Category 1 Hazards

Following a complaint from the tenant, Harrow Council’s environmental protection officers inspected Kanagaratnam Kesavan’s rental property on Rayners Lane, finding the house in a poor and dangerous condition.

Officers discovered category 1 hazards relating to excess cold, electrical hazards, personal hygiene sanitation and drainage, fire and food safety.

The long list of risks to the tenants included broken windows, broken electrical sockets, exposed wiring, a broken cooker, damaged and missing doors to kitchen units, missing tiles and a constantly running tap.

Kesavan was served with two improvement notices under the Housing Act 2004, requiring remedial works to be conducted to address the category 1 hazards. A further two notices were then served under the Environmental Protection Act for a broken boiler and water penetration from the toilet into the kitchen. Kesavan did not appeal these notices, nor did he contact the council to discuss the notices or works.

During a formal interview, Kesavan admitted to the offences of not complying with the notices, but blamed the tenants’ lifestyle for the damage. Evidence was presented to Willesden Magistrates’ Court on 15th March, to which he pleaded guilty and was fined and ordered to pay costs totalling £16,120

The Portfolio Holder for Environment, Crime and Community Safety at Harrow Council, Councillor Graham Henson, says: “All Harrow residents should be able to live in good quality accommodation, and I am shocked that someone would rent their property out while it was in such dangerous and life-threatening disrepair. Mr. Kesavan showed no interest in the safety of his tenants, nor did he bother to discuss the notices issued to him by the council. It could have been worse had our officers not intervened.

“Thanks to the hard work of our officers, we have had a successful prosecution. I hope that this sends a strong message to others that this is unacceptable.”1

1 http://www.harrow.gov.uk/news/article/373/landlord_hit_with_£16k_penalty

Average Two-bed London Rental Property to Reach £2,000 Per Month by September

Published On: April 20, 2016 at 8:36 am

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The average price of a two-bedroom London rental property will reach £2,000 per month by the late summer, according to Portico, London estate agents.

The firm’s latest Q1 Rental Report found that the typical rent price on a two-bed property in the capital is currently £1,867. With rents rising rapidly, it is expected that tenants will be paying over £2,000 for the same property by September.

Portico believes that a rush of graduates seeking professional jobs and a new lifestyle in London around September time drives rent price growth. And it’s not just prices that rise – tenant demand surges by a huge 64% in September, as available rental stock drops by 10% when compared with average monthly growth.

Average Two-bed London Rental Property to Reach £2,000 Per Month by September

Average Two-bed London Rental Property to Reach £2,000 Per Month by September

Portico sees almost double the number of enquiries per property in September than it does in an average month, and four times the level of interest compared with the typical December.

The particularly high demand seen in the late summer causes tenants to compete more fiercely for properties. Portico reports that prices achieved for similar properties are generally 11% higher in September than in December.

Based on this data, the firm predicts that two-bed rents will hit £2,008 per month in September this year. Split between two tenants – £1,004 a month – this shared rent will eat up 46% of the average London monthly salary.

Confirming this belief, the Residential Landlords Association recently revealed that almost all landlords (84%) are considering increasing their rents to accommodate the higher taxes they now face.

Buy-to-let landlords are now charged an extra 3% in Stamp Duty when they purchase a rental property, while the amount of mortgage interest that landlords can offset against tax will be reduced from April next year. For more information on how these changes will affect you, see this advice from Paul Mahoney of Nova Financial: /contrary-to-popular-belief-buy-to-let-is-not-dead-insists-finance-firm/

However, if you’re a landlord in London, you’ll be pleased to learn that rents are rising between 1-7% in the majority of London boroughs.

Portico has found that properties in Ealing have seen the greatest increase in rents, at an average of 6.9% for a two-bed property, to £1,825 per month. Richmond-upon-Thames follows with a rise of 6% to £1,934 a month for a typical two-bed, while rents in Lambeth are up by 5.8% to £2,051.

However, average rents on two-bed properties have fallen in seven London boroughs, including two parts of prime central London. Rent prices in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea are down by 5.7% and 1.1% respectively. These figures reflect those reported recently, suggesting that the London property market is running out of steam.

During Q1, Bromley experienced the largest decrease in rents for all properties, with a drop of 6.3%, followed by Hillingdon at 4.4% and Kingston-upon-Thames at 4.1%.

If you are worried that you need to revise your rent prices, this advice will help you set the perfect rent for your property: https://www.justlandlords.co.uk/news/setting-perfect-rent-price-property/

“Rip-Off” Letting Agent Fees Cost Up to £780, Says Generation Rent

Published On: April 19, 2016 at 10:23 am

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Tenant lobby group Generation Rent has renewed its call for the Government to ban letting agent fees for tenants, after finding that some renters are charged up to £780.

"Rip-Off" Letting Agent Fees Cost Up to £780, Says Generation Rent

“Rip-Off” Letting Agent Fees Cost Up to £780, Says Generation Rent

Earlier this year, the group began researching more than 700 agents across the country. It found that fees vary massively for what it considers a standard service. It says that this shows how letting agents are charging disproportionate fees to those stuck in the private rental sector.

The website showcasing the fees, lettingfees.co.uk, shows that the average fee for a two-person household is £386, on top of rent, deposit and moving costs.

While four agents do not charge anything, the highest fee for two people is £780, charged by Skampi in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Since the Consumer Rights Act 2015 was introduced, letting agents have been required to publish their fees. However, the research found that 14% of agents do not comply with the law, and could be fined £5,000.

Working alongside technology firm Inkleby, Generation Rent and its volunteers have gathered fee figures from letting agents in eight London boroughs and across Manchester and York. The findings will serve as a guide for tenants in those areas, so that they can avoid sky-high fees.

The Director of Generation Rent, Betsy Dillner, comments: “Competition for homes is fierce, so tenants aren’t in a position to avoid paying letting agent fees, and agents often charge what they like. If tenant fees were banned, agents could start competing properly for business, and tenants wouldn’t have to dip into their savings to be able to move home.”1

A recent study by housing charity Shelter shows that first time buyers will need to earn £64,000 per year by 2020 if they wish to purchase a home.

With prices set to continue rising, demand in the private rental sector is expected to remain strong.

Meanwhile, we recently reported that those buying properties in London need deposits up to 170% higher than those required in the rest of the UK, highlighting the vast difference in the housing market around the country.

1 http://uk.businessinsider.com/letting-agent-fees-range-from-zero-to-780-for-no-apparent-reason-2016-4

Homebuyers in London Paying 170% More in Deposits than the Rest of the UK

Published On: April 19, 2016 at 8:59 am

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The average deposit for a property in Greater London is almost three times, or 170% more, than in the rest of the UK, according to new research.

Over the past three years, the average deposit in London has risen by almost £30,000, or 30%, reaching a huge £127,000, says the report from My Home Move.

However, the average deposit size as a proportion of purchase price for the UK as a whole has fallen by 1.8% since 2013, but home movers’ deposits remain high, as house prices continue to rise.

Homebuyers in London Paying 170% More in Deposits than the Rest of the UK

Homebuyers in London Paying 170% More in Deposits than the Rest of the UK

My Home Move’s data shows that nationally, the average property price in 2013 was £162,040, requiring a deposit of £44,690. In 2014, the average home cost £173,202 with a deposit of £45,534, rising to £182,293 and £46,976 in 2015.

Contrastingly, the average house price in Greater London was £377,855 in 2013 with a deposit of £99,375, up to £439,399 in 2014 and a deposit of £112,266, and a huge £482,512 in 2015, requiring a deposit of £127,141.

In the UK as a whole, the deposit needed in 2013 was 27.58% of the purchase price, falling to 26.29% in 2014, and dropping again to 25.77% in 2015. However, in the capital, a buyer needed a deposit of 26.3% of the purchase price in 2013, 25.55% in 2014 and up to 26.35% in 2015.

The CEO of My Home Move, Doug Crawford, states: “The London property market has always commanded greater prices than anywhere else in the UK, but our research has shown just how extreme the situation is becoming.”

He notes that London property prices have increased by 27% in the past three years, and while the rest of the UK has experienced a small decline in deposit size, those seeking a home in London are paying 170% more in deposits than other UK buyers.

“This situation is unsustainable and has been driven by rising house prices. For some, their deposit will come from the equity in the property they are selling. However, for many, they will still need to save tens of thousands of pounds to make the move onto and up the property ladder,” he says.

“Ultimately, it still begs the question: Who is going to help those looking to enter the capital’s housing market and those on the lower rungs of the ladder, first time buyers and second steppers?”1

He points out that earlier in the year, My Home Move predicted that 100,000 properties would be purchased in 2016 using gifted deposits from buyers’ parents. Based on these figures, it seems that a very large proportion of these could be based in Greater London.

However, recent research does suggest that the London property market is running out of steam.

1 http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/uk-buyers-deposit-research-2016041811807.html

 

Wealthy Londoners Turn to the Private Rental Sector

Published On: April 18, 2016 at 11:17 am

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The number of wealthy Londoners looking to rent their homes rather than buy has risen by a third in the past year, according to Knight Frank.

The estate agent reports that super-rich renters are flooding the private rental sector, as the number of tenants moving into homes worth more than £10m has soared over the last 12 months.

Higher Stamp Duty rates and a drop in house prices in the capital’s wealthiest areas have caused the jump, believes Knight Frank.

Wealthy Londoners Turn to the Private Rental Sector

Wealthy Londoners Turn to the Private Rental Sector

However, letting agents believe that concerns over the forthcoming EU referendum and the recent Panama offshore tax scandal are prompting the super-rich to rent rather than buy.

Indeed, we recently reported that the EU referendum and Stamp Duty changes could bring house prices and sales down.

Knight Frank conducted research on the prime central London market between March 2015 and March 2016. It found that sales of homes worth £10m or more have dropped by 33%.

Under Stamp Duty changes from 2014, buyers of a £15m property will be charged around £1.7m in the tax, which is around three years worth of rent for a similarly priced house.

Additionally, Stamp Duty is now even higher for those buying second homes or buy-to-let properties. As of 1st April, these buyers will be charged an extra 3% in Stamp Duty.

Property expert Henry Pryor says: “No one is predicting that homes at the top end will be worth 10% more in the near future and most people think they will be worth less.

“It is much easier to make a decision to rent and make sure that if you do buy, it’s something you really want.”

Knight Frank also reports that yields for landlords of properties costing £5,000 per week in rent can go above 4% in areas such as South Kensington, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Holland Park and Regent’s Park.

Pryor adds that the recent Panama Papers scandal means “no one can buy quietly”1 anymore, which is putting buyers off.

Knight Frank warns landlords of pricey homes to expect high-maintenance tenants moving into their properties.

1 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3544889/Rise-super-rich-renters-Number-lettings-homes-worth-10m-year-wealthiest-avoid-stamp-duty-increase-fears-grow-Brexit.html