DATA: ONS reported CPI rose by 3.6% in year to Jun 2025
This was higher than the 3.4% reported last month. They report “Transport, particularly motor fuels, made the largest upward contribution to the monthly change in both CPIH and CPI annual rates”.
DATA: ONS published UK labour market statistics
They report “The early estimate of payrolled employees for June 2025 decreased by 178,000 (0.6%) on the year” and “In March to May 2025, annual growth in employees’ average earnings in Great Britain for both regular earnings (excluding bonuses) and total earnings (including bonuses) was 5.0%”.
DATA: ONS/HMLR reported UK house prices rose 3.9% in year to May 2025
They report this was slightly higher than last month’s figure of 3.6% and “Of the English regions, annual house price inflation was highest in the North East, where prices increased by 6.3% in the 12 months to May 2025. South West was the English region with the lowest annual inflation, where prices increased by 1.9% in the 12 months to May 2025”.
DATA: ONS reported UK private rents rose by 6.7% in year to Jun 2025
They report “In England, private rents annual inflation was highest in the North East (9.7%) and lowest in Yorkshire and The Humber (3.5%)”.
DATA: ONS published Dataloft rental affordability data for Feb 2025
The latest release shows the average rental spend as a percentage of gross income was 29.3% in June 2025. This was up from 29.1% the previous month but still lower than the peak of 30.0% recorded in September 2024.
DATA: ONS published London private rental market data
The data covers “the private rental market in London covering July 2024 to June 2025 by region, borough and postcode district” with “the count of rents, mean, median, lower quartile and upper quartile”.
DATA: Scottish Gov published Scottish Housing Market Review
They report “Registers of Scotland data recorded the fourth consecutive quarter of annual growth in residential transactions in Q1 2015 (7.0%), which meant that across financial year 2024-25 transactions grew by 7.1%”.
DATA: MHCLG published EWS1 data for Q4 2024
They report “9% of mortgage valuations for flats between October and December 2024 required an EWS1 form or equivalent, up from 8% in the previous quarter (July to September 2024)” and “47% of valuations for flats in buildings seven storeys and above required an EWS1 form, up from 46% in the previous quarter”.
DATA: HMRC published non-domiciled taxpayer data for 2023/24
They estimate “a combined total of at least 83,000 non-domiciled and deemed domiciled taxpayers as indicated in Self Assessment tax returns in the year ending 2024, with the overwhelming majority being non-domiciles, this represents a marginal decline (1%) from 83,900 taxpayers in the previous year”.
DATA: Financial Market Expectations For BoE’s Bank Rate
The chart provides a summary for the expected future level of Bank Rate based on daily data. The One Year figure was 3.46% on the 16th Jul compared to 3.47% on the 9th Jul.
DATA: New Build Energy Performance Certificates, England
This chart provides a summary of the number of EPCs on new build properties, a useful leading indicator for net additions. The 52-week rolling total was 208,013 for the week commencing 7th Jul, down slightly from 208,393 the previous week.
POLICY: Chancellor set out Leeds Reforms and Mansion House speech
The reforms will “tear down the barriers to attracting investment in the finance sector by reintroducing informed risk-taking into the system, cutting unnecessary red tape, driving more finance into public markets and actively helping international companies to set up in the UK”. Details of the 2024 Mortgage Guarantee Scheme were also published.
POLICY: MHCLG on removing unsafe cladding
They published the “Joint plan to accelerate remediation of social housing” and an update on the Remediation Acceleration Plan. The update includes revised estimates for the number of 11m+ residential buildings in need of cladding and not yet brought into a remediation programme of 500 to 3,400.
POLICY: HCLG committee on the affordability of home ownership inquiry
The inquiry “considers the challenges faced by first-time buyers and those on lower incomes to getting, and staying, on the housing ladder, as well as ways that interventions such as financial products and Government policies can help people overcome those challenges”.
POLICY: Government confirmed a whole-population census in 2031
REPORT: MHCLG published English Housing Survey reports
The reports include “drivers and impacts of housing quality”, “rented sectors”, and “understanding housing circumstances – a multivariate analysis”, along with fact sheets on the “leasehold experience” and “climate resilient homes” and updated data tables.
REPORT: CaCHE published The Value of Housing
The report “examines the ways in which housing can impact upon other areas of society and the economy” and “provides an overview of the diverse interconnections between housing and broader social and economic systems and then discusses in more depth a selection of the key connections”.
REPORT: Shelter reported on racism in the access to social housing
The research investigates “How racism and discrimination affect Black and Black Mixed heritage people’s access to social homes in England”. Further analysis looks at time spent in temporary accommodation and finds “Black and Black Mixed heritage (B/BMH)-headed households are more likely to be stuck in TA for a very long time than households as a whole”.
REPORT: IPPR reported on how regional inequality affects young people
They report that “While these challenges impact young people across the country, this is especially true in many areas of the north of England, where young people are often further disadvantaged by our country’s deep and persistent regional inequalities”.
REPORT: Policy Exchange on repairing the intergenerational contract
They report young peoples’ “primary concerns are material: homes they can afford, the cost of living, taxation, student loan repayments and the quality of public services”.
REPORT: IPPR on transport challenges for low-income households
The report “warns that the UK’s transport system is deepening poverty and social exclusion, leaving low-income households cut off from jobs, services and opportunity”.
REPORT: RSH reported on understanding social landlords’ stock condition
“Having a detailed and up to date knowledge of stock condition is the starting point in ensuring that tenants’ homes are safe and well maintained. Where this is lacking, tenants are at greater risk of living in unsafe conditions and landlords are at greater risk of increased costs through not having a strategic approach to planned investment in their homes.”
REPORT(PDF): IMLA published market briefing
They report “The recovery in buy-to-let lending has continued. Average monthly remortgage lending so far this year is 16% above the figure for 2024 while house purchase lending is ahead by 19%. But there was still a 26,000 fall in the number of buy-to-let mortgages in the year to April”.
REPORT(PDF): BPF published Build-to-Rent summary for Q2 2025
They report “Nationally, the number of units under construction fell by -11% in Q2 2025 compared to Q2 2024 as the number of starts has failed to keep pace with completions” and “The number of units under construction has fallen sharply across the country, albeit more sharply in London (-19%) than in the regions (-5%)”.
REPORT: SMC on “a local perspective on social mobility”
The report for the Social Mobility Commission by Public First found that “Traditional measures of upward social mobility – higher income and career advancement – were consistently ranked by participants in both areas as less important than stability, personal happiness, work–life balance and community connections”.
CORPORATE: Barratt Redrow published Trading Update
They report “Our net private reservation rate per active outlet per week in FY25 increased by 16.4% to 0.64 when compared with the aggregated performance of 0.55 for Barratt and Redrow in the comparable period” and “This included a contribution of 0.08 from reservations into the private rental sector and other multi-unit sales”. They also report “We experienced broadly flat build cost inflation in FY25, in line with our guidance at the start of the year and we currently estimate build cost inflation of between 1% and 2% in FY26”.
CORPORATE: M Winkworth published Trading Update
They report “While Q1 2025 sales benefited from an acceleration of activity prior to the reduction in the stamp duty exemption threshold for first time buyers as of April 2025, interest remained buoyant in Q2 2025” but “lettings activity was more subdued, with network management and letting revenue up by approximately 3% over the period”.
Chart of the Week
This week saw Homes England publish their Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25. It contains a useful table on Help to Buy Equity Loan repayments (page 86) showing the total original cost of all loans repaid was £8.33 billion and the receipts from repaid loans was £9.04 billion. While the overall scheme has delivered a profit, we know that there are a significant number of loans that were repaid at a loss. It’s been a while, but this week also saw a flurry of Requests for Information responses published, covering the last year. Amongst the more recent ones is RFI5206(PDF) which provides us with interesting data on the proportion of redemptions that were below the initial purchase price – as per the chart below – by property type. While the average difference between the redemption price and purchase price was +2.76% for flats (+13.25% for houses), it’s clear that large proportions of redemptions for flats have been for less than the purchase price: 45% of redemptions in 2024/25, with a further 5% at the same price as the initial purchase price. Meanwhile, just 3% of redemptions for houses in 2024/25 were for a loss. Don’t buy a new build flat!
