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Archive for the ‘Scotland’ 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
Monday, June 13th, 2011
Uninhabited island made famous by the BBC reality series is in ‘safe hands’ after being sold to a family on neighbouring Harris
The uninhabited Hebridean island of Taransay, made famous by the reality television series Castaway, has been sold to a local family only a fortnight after going on the market for £2m.
Taransay, with its herds of sheep and wild deer, as well as cottages and a bunkhouse, was put up for sale late last month by owners Angus and Norman MacKay, brothers who live on the neighbouring island of Harris.
Taransay is one of the largest islands in Scotland left wholly in private hands. It was made famous by the BBC series Castaway in 2000, and has lochs “teeming” with trout, “first-class” coastal and sea angling and abundant deer stalking.
The island, one of the least spoilt and most beautiful places in the Western Isles, appeared to be a perfect purchase for a rich buyer interested in country pursuits. But instead it has been snapped up by another family on Harris. They are friends of the MacKays and already have “a long association with Taransay”.
John Bound, from the selling agents CKD Galbraith, said the new owners – who have not been named – had no plans to change Taransay’s current use, mainly for self-catering holidaymakers and sheep farming.
“Given its exceptional beauty and outstanding setting, it was no surprise that Taransay attracted so much interest and been sold in less than two weeks. The existing owners know the purchaser and all involved are delighted with the outcome and the island passes into safe hands,” Bound said. “There will no doubt be a number of disappointed parties who would have liked to bid, but it is fitting that Taransay is now in the new ownership of somebody closely acquainted to the area who will preserve the current management of the island.”
The best-known castaway, the television presenter Ben Fogle, said on Twitter he was “gutted” by the sale of Taransay. Fogle, who has already tried but failed to buy Hebridean islands, had been fund-raising to buy Taransay and said he had reached £1.5m.
In his Twitter feed, Fogle said: “Gutted. It feels a little like being dumped. I was up to £1.5m too and working with the West Harris Community Trust. My thanks to you all.” And: “Taransay Isle sold to private landowner. Bitterly disappointed and sad as I hoped to help buy it for the local community. At least I tried.”
The island, which is effectively two smaller islands connected by a sandy isthmus on the edge of the Atlantic, comprises about 3,445 acres. Unusually, every part of the island and building is owned solely by the new buyers, including a recently upgraded farmhouse, the old school chalet and a bothy for holiday use.
The BBC series transformed Taransay from a little-known holiday destination to one of the most recognised names in the Hebrides. Up to 9 million viewers watched for a year as an initial group of 36 “castaways”, including families with children, tried to survive unaided in the harsh landscape and grow their own food.
The film-makers refurbished derelict buildings, allowing the MacKays to turn the properties into holiday lets after the series ended. Their father, John MacKay, bought Taransay in 1967 for £11,000. It was once home to hundreds of islanders and three townships but has been uninhabited for decades.
Posted in House News, Money, News, Property, Reality TV, Scotland, Television, The Guardian, UK news | Comments Closed
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
Be a castaway every day of the year – Taransay island was the setting for the original BBC series and is on the market for £2m
In pictures: Taransay island
A beautiful Hebridean island, made famous by the reality television series Castaway, is being put up for sale complete with spectacular white beaches, a private herd of deer, wild otters, trout and seals.
The uninhabited island of Taransay in the Western Isles has seen pagan Celtic settlers, a massacre involving warring medieval clans and in 2000, a group of 36 city dwellers and a large television film crew trying to survive unaided on the edge of the Atlantic.
That BBC series, which made a star of one equally rugged young castaway, Ben Fogle, but upset others who took part, transformed the island from a secluded spot for the hardiest and best informed travellers into one of the Hebrides’ most famous private islands.
Made up of two treeless, cliff-fringed and wind-battered islands connected by a wide, sandy isthmus, Taransay is being sold by its owners, Angus and Norman MacKay, two locally-raised brothers who live on the neighbouring island of Harris, for offers in excess of £2m.
With a history of habitation stretching back to at least 300AD, Taransay was bought by their father John MacKay in 1967 for £11,000. It once had three villages but the last family left the island in 1974, leaving the properties derelict and a place mainly for sheep grazing, and intrepid travellers.
When it was selected for Castaway, several houses were upgraded, leaving three – the farmhouse, the old school chalet and a more basic bothy with beds for 10 – for the MacKays to rent out as self-catering holiday homes.
They have only rudimentary services, but some of the most spectacular sunsets over the Atlantic and sunrises over the sharp-peaked mountains of Harris immediately to the east.
The island, thought to be the largest uninhabited island in Scotland, is being sold in its entirety with a working sheep farm – currently at 680 breeding ewes – and with 200 red deer, its holiday homes and an offer from the MacKay’s to sell a landing point on the beach on South Harris for its new owner to pull up and store the boat required to visit their property.
John Bound from estate agent CKD Galbraith, which is selling Taransay, said the sale was quite rare. At 3,445 acres Taransay is unusually large to be sold in its entirety. And the MacKays – one a farmer, the other a business man – are selling up for pragmatic reasons, he said.
“The sale is purely a business decision; it suits both families now, the timing and everything,” Bound said. “It’s quite unusual to get an island of this size where everything is owned. Usually something has been sold off or is crofted. Anyone can now buy it in its entirety.”
The firm said the island had the potential to continue as a holiday letting business, but also for its country sports, deer stalking and its fishing. Taransay offered “the country sportsman an abundance of activity whilst protecting the biodiversity of the island, with hill lochs teeming with brown trout, first-class coastal and sea fishing, as well as a herd of around 200 head of red deer providing some enjoyable and sustainable stalking.”
The temporary Castaway islanders, watched by 9m viewers at its peak, lived in “pods” in the deserted village of Paible, where they raised their own pigs, cattle and chickens, and grew their own vegetables. They enjoyed electricity, supplied by a wind turbine and a small hydro-electric scheme, and a water supply. Of the original 36 castaways, 29 stayed on the island for the full year. Most returned to their normal lives; Fogle went on to become a television presenter, including for the BBC nature and farming series Countryfile.
Posted in guardian.co.uk, House News, Money, News, Property, Scotland, UK news | Comments Closed
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
When Black Sheep House featured on the popular architectural programme it was a case of triumph over adversity. Now it is on the market for a fraction of the rebuilding price
In pictures: Black Sheep House
Black Sheep House on the Island of Harris won the Grand Designs home of the year in 2008. Kevin McCloud said what he loved about it was that it was almost as if the owners had gone up the mountain, collected bits of it and brought them back down and built their house out of them.
Irregular shaped stone walls are topped with a flower strewn turf roof; inside, the one-and-a-half-storey kitchen and living space have a venerable feel, the bay windows offering heavenly views over the Hebridean mountains and shoreline.
Winning the popular television competition was a high point for self-builders Christine and Pete Hope – but it hasn’t been a passport to capital gain. The unique two-bed house is on the market for offers in excess of £225,000 – about half the current rebuilding cost of £440,000.
From the outset Black Sheep House has been a financial rollercoaster. The Hopes left Yorkshire for the island in 2003, armed with a budget of £50,000 and spade loads of determination.
They set their sights on a ruined traditional black house which, latterly, had served as a sheep shed. As an experienced dry stone waller, Pete was able to carry out the bulk of the work himself, while former social worker Christine trawled the internet to source building supplies at bargain prices.
Despite a considerable degree of cooperation and goodwill from local tradesmen and architect Stuart Bagshaw, the project required Herculean effort. Pete says: “If I had assessed that I’d have even half the amount of hard physical labour ahead of me that this project demanded, I would have refused to begin. But having started we were determined to see it through.”
Building costs escalated to £130,000, which necessitated the property being let out to holidaymakers in a bid to recoup costs. During peak season visitors pay £1,280 a week.
So why is it on the market at such a modest price? A desultory housing market and the property’s far flung location are two obvious factors. However, a rather unimaginative home evaluation report (required in Scotland) fails to acknowledge the mezzanine sleeping space and describes the house as a one-bed bungalow worth £180,000.
Posted in Blogposts, Culture, guardian.co.uk, Home improvements, House News, House prices, Money, Property, Scotland, Television, Television & radio | Comments Closed
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