DATA: Rightmove reported 9.5% annual rise in asking prices in February
This was an increase on last month’s annual rate of 7.6% and is the highest growth rate since September 2014. They also reported “New property listings are up 11% compared to the same period last year” but potential buyer enquiries are up 16%.
DATA: HMRC reported 107,000 residential transactions in January
Comparing transactions with 2021 levels will lead to all sorts of strange results this year given the impact of stamp duty holidays last year. It’s more useful to compare to pre-pandemic trends, with transactions 8% higher in January 2022.
DATA: ONS reported a 63% annual rise in SDLT receipts during January
The stamp duty land & property tax receipts can be volatile, especially given the impact of the holiday last year. Despite the tax holiday, total receipts for the year to January 2022 were £14.8 billion, the highest rolling 12-month total ever.
DATA: DLUHC published autumn 2021 rough sleeping snapshot
The data for England found “There were 2,440 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2021. This is down by 250 people or 9% from last year and down 49% from the peak in 2017 but is up by 670 people or 38% since 2010”.
DATA: Home Office published immigration statistics for 2021
The release contains information on the number of visas issued by the Home Office. It shows visas numbers in 2021 were 59% lower than 2019 but 36% higher than 2020.
DATA: UK Finance published later life mortgage lending statistics
See Chart of the Week for more information.
DATA: HM Treasury published Mortgage Guarantee statistics
Actually published last week (we missed it!), the statistics show just 6,535 mortgages have been completed under the scheme. This figure is very low but not surprising as the primary focus of the Mortgage Guarantee scheme was signalling to lenders to return to the market.
DATA: DLUHC published Voluntary Right to Buy annual data release
The release is the second annual data release for the Voluntary Right to Buy pilot in the Midlands. It reported 1,839 completed sales and starts on 437 replacements.
NEWS: National Trading Standards announced required information for property listings
All listings must include the “council tax band or rate and the property price and tenure information (for sales)” by the end of May 2022. No more price on application listings?
REPORT: Crisis published The Homelessness Monitor: England 2022
The research found “282,000 single people, couples and families were judged as homeless or threatened with homelessness by local authorities in 2020/21, an 8% fall on 2019/20”.
REPORT: End Our Cladding Scandal published report on “How housing associations failed leaseholders trapped in the building safety crisis”
Their survey of leaseholders found “Poor communication from HAs was one of the prevailing themes” and a “lack of transparency about costs and accounting was a frequent complaint, along with poor customer service overall”.
REPORT(PDF): Create Streets released new report “Create Mews”
It has an interesting proposal to allow the development of mews housing in the unused space between existing blocks but requires wading through 17 pages of endorsements.
REPORT: Savills published report on UK Senior Living
The report looks at “investment volumes, penetration rates and growth forecasts”.
Chart of the Week
The latest UK Finance later life lending data shows there were 187,000 new mortgages to borrowers over the age of 55 in 2021, an 11% increase on 2020. The split of 2021 activity was 25% house purchase, 20% remortgage, 32% Buy-to-Let purchase or remortgage, and 23% Lifetime mortgage.
Perhaps the most interesting data in the release is on the age at which new homeowners’ mortgages are due to end. The data, as per the chart opposite, shows most (49%) mortgages will end when the homeowner is aged 65-74, with a slight increase in the proportion of this age group since 2019. This is likely to be older than for previous generations although directly comparable data doesn’t exist.
