DATA: Halifax reported UK house prices rose 3.0% in year to Jan 2025
This was slightly lower than the 3.4% reported(PDF) last month but prices hit a new record high of £299,138. They also report “Northern Ireland continues to have the strongest annual property annual price growth in the UK, though at +5.9% in January this eased considerably compared to December (+7.3%).”
DATA: BoE reported small increases in fixed rate mortgages in Jan 2025
The average quoted two-year fix at 75% loan-to-value increased to 4.65% compared to 4.60% in December. The revert-to-rate fell slightly to 7.49% (7.50% previously).
DATA: UKF published mortgage arrears and possessions for Q4 2024
The latest release shows a fall in the number and percent of both owner occupier and buy-to-let mortgages in arrears of over 2.5% of the balance. The number of homeowner possessions increased slightly but are relatively low compared to prior to the pandemic.
DATA: MHCLG published social housing sales and demolitions for 2023/24
They reported there were 17,504 sales of social housing dwellings and 3,625 demolitions in 2023/24. The related “Net supply of social housing for rent” publication shows a net increase of 25,830 social housing for rent.
DATA: ONS published Dataloft private rental affordability data
The latest release clearly shows affordability (rent as a percent of gross income) peaked in September 2024 at 30.0% and has fallen to 29.0% in January 2025.
DATA: BSA published Property Tracker market sentiment survey
They report “around two-thirds of people consider the biggest barriers to homeownership to be the affordability of monthly mortgage repayments and raising a deposit”.
DATA(PDF): IMLA published Mortgage Market Tracker for Q4 2024
See Chart of the Week for more detail.
DATA: Scottish Gov published Homelessness stats for Apr-Sep 2024
They report “There were 20,823 applications for homelessness assistance. This is an increase of 1% (295) compared with the same six-month period in 2023” and “There were 16,634 households and 10,360 children in temporary accommodation at 30 September 2024”. They also report “There were 7,545 instances of households not being offered temporary accommodation” with 6,320 of these in Glasgow.
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 3.86% on the 5th Feb compared to 4.03% on the 29th Jan.
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 212,998 for the week commencing 27th Jan, down from 213,498 the previous week.
POLICY: Gov launched consultation on PRS energy efficiency standards
They propose that “As of 2030 all private landlords will be required to meet a higher standard of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C or equivalent in their properties – up from the current level of EPC E”.
POLICY: MHCLG set timeframe for Awaab’s Law
“From October, social landlords will be forced to investigate and fix dangerous damp and mould in set time periods, as well as repair all emergency hazards within 24 hours”.
POLICY: BoE MPC reduced Bank Rate to 4.5%
They report “At its meeting ending on 5 February 2025, the MPC voted by a majority of 7–2 to reduce Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 4.5%. Two members preferred to reduce Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 4.25%”.
REPORT: BoE published Monetary Policy Report
They report “The reductions in Bank Rate since August, and the associated falls in market interest rates, have been feeding through to most household lending products as expected” but “Past increases in mortgage rates are expected to result in higher interest rates for some mortgagors rolling off existing fixed-rate mortgages” and “There are signs that housing market activity is picking up”.
REPORT: Nationwide Foundation reported on what we don’t know about the Private Rented Sector
The report “is a systematic review of research gaps in the PRS” and “discovered that there are numerous gaps in knowledge of how the PRS functions” It summarises these in eight subject areas and “provides suggested questions for researchers to explore”.
REPORT: Resolution Foundation reported on ethnic inequalities in housing
They find “On average, ethnic minority adults live in households that spend a larger share of their income on housing than their White British counterparts” and “The unexplained part of the housing affordability gap between ethnic minority and White British adults is not accounted for by ethnic minorities living in larger or better-quality homes”.
REPORT: Generation Rent reported on young minority ethnic renters
They report “minority ethnic renters under 30 were 18% more likely than white British and Irish respondents to have moved away from the area that they grew up in” and “18% of minority ethnic respondents had experienced racism or discrimination from a letting agent and 28% had experienced this from a landlord”.
REPORT: IPPR reported on housing policy to support families
They recommend that “local housing allowances are set to average local rents and the household benefit cap is removed”, “the UK government’s plans to address insecurity in the private rented sector should go further”, and the social rented sector should be expanded.
REPORT: IFS updated their work on local housing supply elasticities
REPORT: LGA reported on Insights from Marmot Places
The report “highlights the innovative and collaborative work of councils and their partners, who have embraced the Marmot principles and turned them into meaningful action”.
REPORT: Savills published development land index for Q4 2024
They report “the land market has become slightly more competitive and players are demonstrating greater commitment to land deals” and “This is evident in activity levels, with the number of sites sold nationally in 2024, 7% above the previous year, but still remaining -19% below the five-year average”.
REPORT(PDF): Savills reported on the potential of large sites
The report suggests “To successfully deliver large sites, we need to plan them in the right places, guarantee S106 affordable housing demand, and ensure they have long-term patient funding”.
REPORT(PDF): BPF reported on the Build-to-Rent market
They report “There are now over 123,000 completed units, an uplift of 17% nationally, year on year”, “Nationally, the number of units under construction fell by 18% in Q4 2024 compared to Q4 2023 as the number of starts has failed to keep pace with completions”, and “The total number of BtR homes in planning increased by 8% in the 12 months to Q4 2024, to over 109,800 homes”.
REPORT: Propertymark published Housing insight report for Dec 2024
CORPORATE: Crest Nicholson published Final Results
They report “FY24 open market sales rate at 0.48 (FY23: 0.52), average outlets in the year at 44 (FY23: 47)” and a “Pretax exceptional charge at £166.1m, including £131.7m related to additional fire remediation provision”.
CORPORATE: Grainger published Trading Update
They report total net rental income growth of 15%, with “PRS like-for-like rental growth YTD” of 4.4% and occupancy of 96%.
Chart of the Week
This week, the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association published their latest mortgage market tracker(PDF). It provides a useful view on what’s happening in the mortgage process between a borrower getting an initial Decision in Principle (DIP) and reaching completion. The latest data for Q4 2024 shows a big increase in the number of first-time buyers getting an initial DIP – presumably in a rush ahead of the stamp duty holiday ending. However, the increase in number of full applications and completions is slightly more muted relative to other borrower groups. While timing may play a part here, the data shows that many are getting accepted for a DIP but the proportion of first-time buyers then taking it through to a full mortgage application has fallen in recent quarters. It is not clear why this is the case.
