UK Property sale hits record low

Residential property sales in the UK in April hit their lowest monthly level since comparable records began in 2005, new figures show.

There were 38,060 transactions in April, according to provisional numbers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

This was less than half the level seen in the same month last year.

Spring is usually a busy period for the property market, but the coronavirus lockdown halted activity.

The government lifted many of these restrictions on the sector in England in mid-May. The total number of UK property sales is slightly less than the previous low when the taps were turned off in the property market at the height of the financial crisis in January 2009.

Source: BBC News

Pls Comment, like and share

Thinking of buying a property?

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only

Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP

Two Rochdale roads in Greater Manchester painted with thank you message

Two roads in Rochdale have been painted with messages to thank key workers from medical staff to care workers, social workers, waste operatives and many more for the great work they are doing during this awful pandemic. The markings are now down at Whitehall Street at the approach to Rochdale Infirmary and outside Birch Hill Hospital.

Source: Rochdale News

Pls Comment, like and share

Thinking of buying a property?

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only

Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP

Make changes not excuses

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

UK Property market estimated to fall by 13%, Is it the right time to buy?

Economists and housing experts are forecasting UK-wide price falls of up to 13%, with “brutal” declines in some areas, as the property market struggles to rebuild during the coronavirus crisis.

The range of forecasts from the major researchers is markedly wider than usual. At one end is the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which predicts that 2020 prices will be down by 13% “as a lack of transactions, high uncertainty and falling incomes take their toll”. But the estate agent Savills said the hit to the market could be more like 5%, and a third of valuation surveyors are predicting that price falls may be limited to 4% or less.

The post-lockdown market will be a buyer’s market, said Jonathan Hopper of Garrington Property Finders, as he forecast falls of 10% nationally and 15% in some areas.

“Areas with a more resilient jobs market should see values hold up better, but elsewhere the price correction could be more brutal,” he said.

Knight Frank, in a revised forecast issued this week, said it anticipated a fall of 7% in 2020, more than its earlier forecast of 3%. Its analysis suggested prices had already fallen 5% since March, with a further downtick to come.

Source: The Guardian 

Pls Comment, like and share

Thinking of buying a property?

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only

Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP

UK Government COVID-19 updates

Here are some recent announcements from the government:

• The number of confirmed deaths from Covid-19 rose above 30,000, putting the UK at the highest official death toll in Europe.
• The 4,000-bed London NHS Nightingale hospital is to stop admitting new patients. It will be kept “in hibernation” in case there is a second wave of coronavirus patients.
• The four other Nightingales – located in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Harrogate – will also be wound down.
• The UK’s test, track and trace plans will begin with the trial of the NHS contact tracing app on the Isle of Wight.
• Cybercriminals, aided by hostile states, are seeking to exploit the coronavirus crisis, according to Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state.
• The UK is now “past the peak” of the coronavirus spread and the government will publish a plan for easing lockdown measures this week, prime minister Boris Johnson said.
• The NHS has started restoring other services, such as cancer care and mental health support, and will also restart fertility services.
• Business interruption loans for small firms have been extended from 80% to 100%.
• A support package is available for the transport industry, designed to keep the flow of goods and services running smoothly in and out of the UK – and around the country.
• A vaccine is needed before social distancing can end entirely, with Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, suggesting some restrictions would be necessary for a “long period of time”.
• Human trials of a potential vaccine for coronavirus created by an Oxford research team have begun.
• Loans totalling £250m have been made available to unlisted, high-growth companies and £750m of grants and loans are available for SMEs in research and development.
• The government is to pay 80% of most people’s salaries, up to £2,500 per month, in addition to a bailout package worth £350bn for businesses struggling due to the coronavirus. Self-employed people will be able to apply for a grant of up to £2,500 per month.

Pls Comment, like and share

Thinking of buying a property?

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only

Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP

UK House Price Index indicate falling house price

In England the February data shows, on average, house prices have fallen by 0.6% since January 2020. The annual price rise of 0.8% takes the average property value to £246,341.

The regional data for England indicates that:

• the South West experienced the greatest monthly price rise, up by 0.5%
• the East Midlands saw the most significant monthly price fall, down by 1%
• London experienced the greatest annual price rise, up by 2.3%
• the East of England saw the lowest annual price growth, down by 1%

UK house prices

UK house prices increased by 1.1% in the year to February 2020, down from 1.5% in January 2020. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK decreased by 0.6% between January 2020 and February 2020, compared with a fall of 0.3% during the same period a year earlier (January 2019 and February 2019).

The UK Property Transactions Statistics for February 2020 showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the estimated number of transactions of residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 103,870. This is 6% higher than a year ago. Between January 2020 and February 2020, transactions increased by 4.5%.

House price growth was strongest in Wales where prices increased by 3.4% over the year to February 2020, up from 2.5% in January 2020. The highest annual growth within the English regions was in London, where average house prices grew by 2.3%, this was due to a decrease in average house price between January 2019 and February 2019. The lowest, and only negative, annual growth was in the East of England, where prices decreased by 1% over the year to February 2020.

Source: GOV.UK

Pls Comment, like and share

Thinking of buying a property?

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only

Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP

Keep faith, Stay at home, work from home & stay safe

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

UK property market: Questions asked by buyers and seller

The coronavirus crisis is affecting buyers and sellers alike. An estate agent talks through the hurdles faced by both parties

Spring and summer are often cited as the best time to buy a property, with the warmer weather encouraging more people to put their homes up for sale. But with the Government having all but shut down the UK’s housing market, buying and selling is challenging during the lockdown – although not entirely impossible.

Here are the questions being asked by buyers and sellers:

Can I still complete?

The Government advises buyers and sellers to “where possible, delay moving to a new house while measures are in place to fight coronavirus”.

However, solicitors are not banned from continuing completions and the Government has accepted some may still have to take place. For those who need to move for reasons such as death, divorce or debt, and for those who want to move perhaps to be in a better school catchment area for their children, there are still some possibilities.

What if I’m looking to buy?

If you are looking to buy, things look great on the face of it. The Bank of England has slashed interest rates to a record low of 0.1 per cent in response to the crisis, meaning mortgages are more affordable than ever as repayments will, in theory, be lower.

However, many lenders have withdrawn tracker mortgages offering the best rates. Savings the banks are making are not being passed onto consumers. Larger deposits are also now required. Nationwide Building Society, one of the UK’s biggest lenders, recently withdrew mortgages with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio above 75 per cent from sale.

Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the Building Societies Association, says: “Lenders and borrowers are facing unprecedented conditions. The temporary move away from higher LTV products across the whole market reflects prevailing uncertainty and the fact that physical valuations are on hold. Lenders are focusing on supporting their existing borrowers that have been affected by Covid-19, often with fewer staff available to work.”

What if I need a mortgage?

A downside for buyers is that you have to have 100 per cent of the property’s value in cash to now be in with a chance of securing a property. Assuming you have seen a house you liked before the restrictions came into effect, estate agents are unlikely to put any offers forward where a mortgage is required.

Mortgage valuation surveys are unable to take place during the lockdown because mortgage companies cannot send a surveyor out in person to ensure a property has not been overvalued by an estate agent. This is good news if you are a cash buyer and puts you in an even stronger position with less competition from other buyers.

However, sellers should be aware that cash-rich investors often expect a price reduction, with some offering as much as 30 per cent below the asking price.

What if I’m selling?

If you are looking to sell, it may still be possible. Some agents are making the most of technology and offering virtual viewings and video valuations, with vendors taking their own photos to market their properties.

This sounds great, but it isn’t. Unless you are a professional photographer with a wide-angle lens camera, it’s unlikely you will be marketing your property to its full potential.

It is also doubtful the valuation will be as accurate without the agent having visited. Every property is unique. And while virtual viewings are great for the casual viewer at home who doesn’t have to leave the sofa, they are not so helpful for vendors deciding how keen and motivated a buyer really is.

If an acceptable offer is made, there is even less certainty than usual when it comes to trusting that someone will see the process through to conclusion from sale agreed (subject to contract) to exchange/completion, as they have yet to set foot inside the property.

Some estate agents, such as Purplebricks, charge a fixed fee whether the property sells or not. It is worth noting that according to research firm TwentyCi, Purplebricks received an estimated £18m from 21,380 vendors whose properties were withdrawn having failed to sell in 2019. With actual viewings currently impossible, who knows what their figure for 2020 will be.

Property prices: Where next?

House prices were flat in March, the first time they did not rise in five months, according to the latest data on the UK property market.

Halifax, who compiled the figures, said the housing market began March in recovery mode as political uncertainty about Brexit had passed. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election victory had also boosted confidence in the market.

But by the end of the month, the UK was in different territory as coronavirus swept across the country and the property market ground to a halt as the UK was put into lockdown.

Halifax said it was too early to accurately assess the long-term impact of the virus on the UK housing market.

When will the market recover?

Problems with physical viewings and mortgages will make moving house difficult in the short term.

But once the coronavirus crisis has blown over, and the barriers on movement have been lifted, the market should bounce back fairly quickly. After the lockdown is finished, the artificial restrictions on the free market will be released, causing a flood of supply and demand from sellers and buyers.

If furloughed employees are able to return to their place of work on their full salary, consumer confidence will likely be restored. Pent-up demand will hopefully encourage lenders to increase supply of affordable mortgages.

The property market may return to normal sooner than many currently envisage.

 

By Rupert Gray – an estate agent working in the Greater London area

Source: inews

Pls Comment, like and share

Thinking of buying a property?

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only

Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP

5G can never cause coronavirus

As a biochemist graduate I can confidently say there is no relationship between coronavirus and 5G.

 

Coronavirus is a biological virus that causes respiratory diseases that can affect the lungs and airways with Symptoms including cough, a high temperature and shortness of breath.

 

5G acute radiation can result in radiation Sickness caused by exposure to high dose of ionising radiation with Symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and drop in the blood cell counts.

 

Coronavirus is transmitted via molecular droplets (microbiology) while radiation from 5G is transmitted via radiowave (radiophysics).

 

5G radiowave radiation can never transmit molecular virus and as such can never cause coronavirus.

 

Pls Comment, like and share

Thinking of buying a property?

Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me

Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only

Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP

Real service

Pls Comment, like and share
Thinking of buying a property?
Need help with residential and commercial property purchase/finance in the UK from start to finish, Please Contact me
Selling or renting your property in Greater Manchester? Get same day EPC for £45 only
Dennis Bebo – MSC, BSC, DEA, CeMAP