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Archive for the ‘Rightmove’ Category
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Seven out of 11 regions register first-time buyer levels below 20%
Seven out of the 11 UK regions are now “first-time buyer blackspots” as demand from new entrants trying to get on the property ladder slumps in the face of rising living costs and financial uncertainty, according to a new report.
The survey of 14,125 potential property buyers, undertaken by Rightmove, the online estate agent, found that of all respondents who intended to purchase property in the next 12 months, only 23% were doing so for the first time. This is down from 26.2% in the previous quarter and well under the pre credit-crunch norm of 40%, which is seen as an indicator of a “healthy” property market.
Rightmove’s commercial director, Miles Shipdale, said that the figures had “serious implications”, with the regional spread of the results causing even greater concern. Seven regions (Yorkshire and Humberside, the south-east, the east Midlands, East Anglia, Wales, the south-west and Scotland) all register first-time buyer levels of below 20%, taking them into “blackspot” territory.
Only the capital has retained its vitality, with 41.2% of those intending to buy in London doing so for the first time, illustrating how the London housing market continues to buck the national trend. The figure is such an exception to the rest of the market that without it the national average falls below 20% for the first time in the survey’s history.
Shipside said that such poor regional figures had wider effects “not just for those who are unable to buy for the first time, but also for local housing markets in each of those regions”.
He added: “First-time buyers perform an essential function at the start of the housing chain that help others in the area move as well… [The results] are particularly bad news for first-time sellers, for example.”he said
The survey identified difficulties over raising a deposit, concerns over financial security and property being “overpriced” as the three key issues.
Among first-time buyers, 42% said that raising a deposit was their single biggest property market challenge, making this the concern most frequently expressed. This is surprising as the number of mortgage products that specifically target those buying for the first time has increased 11-fold since July 2009. Over the same period, first-time buyer levels have dropped from 30.8% to 23.0%.
This, said Shipdale, showed that deposit requirements remained a “major hurdle” and suggested that further government action was necessary.
Deposit-assistance initiatives such as the government-backed FirstBuy scheme help make deposits more affordable for first-time buyers but, with the current scheme limited to only 10, 000 mortgages and restricted to new property, Rightmove said that more assistance was required.
Posted in Business, Communities, Economic growth (GDP), Economics, First-time buyers, House News, Housing, Housing market, London, Money, News, Property, Rightmove, Scotland, Society, The Guardian, UK news, Wales | Comments Closed
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
Harry Hill’s venture, In-Deed Online, becomes the first property-linked legal company on the Alternative Investment Market
An online conveyancing service set up by Rightmove founder Harry Hill will become the first property-linked legal company to list on Aim today. In-Deed Online allows people buying or selling a home to track the legal process from instruction to completion. The website was launched by Hill, the former chief of estate agents Countrywide, and Peter Gordon, a former partner at private equity group 3i. Former Nationwide chief executive Philip Williamson and former Wall Street trader Boris Zhilin are non-executive directors.
The firm which has raised £2.9m in a pre-IPO placement is raising £1.6m by selling up to 3.7m shares at 42p to institutional and other investors. The business is set to join Aim with a market value of £8.6m.
Hill and Gordon will keep a stake of 10% each and are locked in to their investment for a number of years. Other investors include Octopus Investments and fund manager Henderson, as well as Andrew Black, the co-founder of Betfair. He invested in the pre-IPO round in May at 42p and owns nearly 3% of the company.
The firm has signed up law firms O’Neill Patient and Breeze and Wyles to do the conveyancing work, which will operate under the In-Deed Online brand, and hopes to sign up another two. Gordon said InDeed might take stakes in these legal firms, providing them with capital to support their expansion so they can handle more cases.
“As far as customer service is concerned, conveyancing is still in the dark ages,” he said. “We’re not setting out to be cheap and cheerful – this is a high-quality service at a very fair price.” A quick quote reveals the website charges £450 in legal costs, plus £90 VAT and £716 in other costs for a freehold purchase of £250,000.
In-Deed’s ambitious goal is to become a market leader in the highly fragmented £1bn conveyancing market within three years. At present, no single firm controls more than 3% of the market. Its service features a price guarantee, a no completion – no fee promise and a team of regional property lawyers who commit to updating homebuyers every two days.
“I’m not very good at being second or third,” said Hill. “Together with a team I built Countrywide from a small estate agency group to the largest of its type in the UK, and developed Rightmove which,valued at upwards of £1bn, is best in class.”
Posted in Business, Financial sector, House News, Housing market, Investing, Law, Money, News, Property, Real estate, Rightmove, The Guardian | Comments Closed
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Rising rents are luring an increasing number of maiden buy-to-let investors.
Tenants expect further rent increases in coming months as demand for rented accommodation continues to go up.
Landlords are expected to cheer the survey findings by property website Rightmove that give them a green light to jack up rents despite falling real incomes and persistently high unemployment.
Many aspiring first-time buyers rent while they are saving up for the big deposits now required by banks. Search requests for rental property have risen by nearly two-thirds over the last two years while available rental property advertised on Rightmove’s site is down by nearly a quarter over the same period.
Half of tenants (49%) surveyed by the company last month predict rents will be higher 12 months from now, with one in seven expecting prices to go up by more than 10%. Two years ago, just 27% of tenants were forecasting higher rents. Landlords’ pricing power has increased amid a shortage of good-quality rental property and the ongoing restrictions on mortgage lending, which have decimated the number of people able to buy their own homes.
“Tenant competition in many locations is hot, partly as many tenants are staying in their current rented accommodation for longer, whilst less new stock becomes available,” says Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove.
“Further rent rises appear to be looming for many, putting additional upwards pressure on the cost of living for tenants in these inflationary times. With such fierce competition for a dwindling stock of properties, those tenants that can play the trump cards of offering the highest rent and quality references will be best-placed to win the hand and secure the keys to the home they want.”
Rising rents are luring an increasing number of buy-to-let investors. Of those who expect to buy a property to rent out in the next 12 months, 46% said they will be doing so for the first time. When asked for their reasons for investing in property, 43% said they were mainly attracted by yields, while almost a third stated it was because of the relatively poor performance of other investments such as shares.
Shipside said: “In locations where low capital values and good rental returns coincide rental property is hard to ignore as an investment option at the moment. With uncertainty about less tangible assets held in people’s pension pots, bricks and mortar once again look a more solid investment as part of your retirement planning.”
Posted in Business, Buying to let, House News, House prices, Housing market, Money, Mortgages, News, Property, Real estate, Renting property, Rightmove, The Guardian | Comments Closed
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