London Property Investors Head for Edinburgh

Edinburgh estate agents have recently reported a surge in London property investors flocking to Edinburgh to snap up city homes.

Letting Agent, Cullen Property, have witnessed a rise of 30% in investors interested in buying property in the Edinburgh area. They said that London investors are turning to Edinburgh because of the recent talk around the possibility that the London property market has peaked.

However, it has been reported that campaigners are not happy as this extra interest in the Edinburgh property market will drive up prices even further, making it more difficult for working locals to buy property.

The World's Tallest Buildings

The building that will become the world’s second tallest has been announced by Emaar Properties. It will be built by the same developer who built the world’s current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. The new $1 billion (£710 million) building will be located at the site of the building which went on fire on New Year’s Eve a few months ago.

The new building will exceed the height of the Burj Khalifa, but has not been given a name yet or announced how high, however it has been commented that it will stand a “notch higher”. It will be slender in design, with a needle-like tip, as shown below. It is designed by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls.

The building will have a luxury hotel, 18 – 20 floors of shops, and glass balconies that will rotate externally. Construction is set to begin at the end of June 2016 and complete in 2020.

House Price Slowdown

UK average house price growth slowed down in April 2016, after a record breaking surge in in the month of March 2016 – caused by the rush to snap up properties before the new and more expensive land tax rules were introduced. March 2016 saw house price growth of 5.7%, and May 2016 saw growth of 4.9%.

Nationwide said there were 165,000 transactions in April 2016, compared to 149,000 in January 2007 – data produced by HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs).

According to RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) the slowdown is thought to be caused by some key changes in the market:

1) New Landlord Regulation.

2) Combined with another recent survey which has suggested commercial property has recently decreased to a record low. They have said demand from foreign investors is the lowest it has been since 2013.

First time buyers need to earn £64,000 by 2020

A new study by the housing charity Shelter has predicted first time buyers in the UK will need to be earning a salary of £64,000 by the year 2020, which is more than double the average salary of today. If correct that also means that Londoners will need to earn at least £100,000.

The study is based on forecast figures for Santander, and was produced by Professor Paul Cheshire, of the London School of Economics.

The calculations are based on a cumulative rise of 23%, which is predicted by 2020. At this point the UK average house price will have risen to £270,000. This means a salary of £64,000 is required to get a mortgage, based on current average income multiples.

If the UK’s growth continues at 2%, the UK average salary will increase from £27,600 to £29,532.

How much is my house worth?

Stewart Property Buyers shed some light on how you can find out how much your house is worth. We have been asked several times how valuations can be made so here is some help with a few simple pointers and tools.

Looking at what your neighbours paid for their house is a great place to start and is arguably the most accurate way to answer the big question of ‘how much is my property worth?’. Websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla hold this information, and it is free. It is not instant – it can take a few weeks to show after a sale, however it will eventually show. You can simply type into google – Rightmove sold house prices, followed by your postcode.

Other great sites that provide sold prices are Nethouseprices or Mouseprice, and will also provide pictures of what the property was like at the time of sale, basically the old estate agent listings.

Another way great way to find out how much your house is worth is to ask your local estate agent to provide you a free valuation. They will do this in the hope of signing you up to sell your house. You can use more than one too, then take an average. You can do this whether you are looking to sell now or in the future. You are not asking for a Home Report or Home Information Pack, just a valuation.

Selling Your House – the facts and figures revealed!

When it comes to selling your biggest asset you have some decisions to make. You will most likely have some questions going on in your head like ‘what is my house worth’, ‘what esate agent should I use’, ‘how much will they charge’, ‘how long will it take to sell’, ‘how can I keep my costs down and get the biggest return’, ‘who can I trust’, ‘what’s the sell house fast market all about?’

Having a good idea of when you need to sell your house by is always a good starting point. If you can afford to wait and have all the time in the world, then congratulations - going to your local estate agent would be a logical option. However, if you need to sell your house by a certain time, and need a guaranteed sale with no hiccups on the way, then it might be worthwhile checking out the table below* to see how the numbers really stack up, and how it can make perfect sense to talk to a sell house fast company – just like Stewart Property Buyers.

8 Top Tips on Choosing an Estate Agency

Choosing an estate agency can be easy with these 8 tips:

1. Get a free valuation – Call up a local agent and ask them to come round and give you a free valuation. They will actually do this for free.
2. Cheapest estate agent not always the best – try get recommendations about them, consider track record, sell times, customer service – these are things our customers complain most about estate agents, and why they often come to us in the end, don’t’ let them sign you up and then sit back and do nothing. Being proactive is key in selling houses for clients.
3. Ask for a breakdown of fees – is it a flat fee or percentage of the sale price. Are there extra costs for advertising (upfront or backend), schedules, marketing, photos, solicitor.
4. Can you do anything yourself? – You can save money by doing your own phots, marketing etc.
5. Property portals – make sure they advertise in all the right areas online, including the big ones like Rightmove and Zoopla.
6. Stay local – going for a local estate agent is better as they should know the area, what is selling and what is not.
7. Opening hours – are they open weekends,? Most buyers are too busy during the week and like to do viewings at weekends.
8. Improvement – ask the estate agent what improvements to your home they recommend to increase your chances of selling your house quickly.

Scotland On The Rise

Detailed research conducted by JLL (Jones Lang LaSelle), the London based financial investment and professional firm, specialising in real estate and investment management, suggests Scotland is lined up for steady economic growth over the next 5 years. GDP is predicted to expand by 2% per annum, whilst at the same time, employment is expected to ramp up mostly through the financial and business services sectors, as well as transport, communications and construction sectors.

The number of households are also expected to increase, which is going to present some issues to the Government in terms of the supply meeting the demand.

So what are the details? Well, by the year 2020 the number of new households needing houses in Scotland is expected to rise by about 74,000, this equates to 15,000 new homes required in each year.

To break this down further – Edinburgh is expected to require an additional 15,100 households by 2020, whilst Glasgow requires an extra 10,400. It is Edinburgh and Glasgow that will demand the most new households, accounting for a combined 34.4% in Scotland.

The big question the Government faces right now is how to meet the demand, keeping in mind only 15,000 new homes are being built across the whole of Scotland right now. The Commission on Housing and Wellbeing has recommended 23,000 new homes are built each year until 2020.

Sell House Fast Scotland Update 2016

The property market in Scotland is on the move, which is a relief to many people in Scotland, especially for those who are thinking sell house fast Scotland. Over the last few months, since George Osborne announced his new plans for the property market in terms of taxation, we have witnessed a surge in property enquiries and purchases. The majority of these enquiries are coming from private house sellers and landlords (for both induvial houses and property portfolios). Both of these types of house sellers have one thing in common – the need to sell house fast Scotland. The reason for the surge in property enquiries is due to the 3% surcharge on Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, which comes into effect 1st April 2016, which many were looking to avoid, hence the many property transactions occurring before this date. The other reason is because of our excellent reputation of fulfilling our promise and buying properties very quickly, with no hassles or fuss.

Various House Surveys Explained

In the UK every month there are various surveys by independent parties that record UK house prices.

The Nationwide Building Society produces its own house price index, the results of which are released first every month. The house price index is based mortgage lending it provides to house buyers. It uses information such as size and location to get an average price. Nationwide accounts for 13% of the UK property market sales.

The Halifax uses its own home lending information to produce its own house price index. Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group, publishes its data a few days after Nationwide, and accounts for 20% of the UK market. It is the biggest mortgage lender in the UK.

The Land Registry produces its data much later in the month and is thought to be the most accurate of all surveys. It produces an average price from data on houses that have sold multiple times in England and Wales only, since 1995.

Register of Scotland produces its own index based on average house prices.

The Land and Property Services produces a quarterly house price index, and is assisted by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Scotland House Sales Increase

The Scottish property market just had its busiest January in 8 years. In Scotland there was an increase of 24% compared to January of 2015. Data from Your Move shows most property sales were in Midlothian, Scotland, where there was an increase of 38% in the sale of flats and terraced houses – it is these types of sales that have driven the growth in property sales in Scotland.

The price of the average house in Scotland increased in the same period by 0.8%, which now stands at £171,079. The area that saw the strongest growth in Scotland was Stirling – an increase of 13.5% in value of the same 12 months.

Property Sales Up in Scotland

According to figures published by Registers of Scotland (RoS) residential property sales have increased by 4.5% in 2015, compared to 2014. There were 97,701 houses sold in Scotland in 2015, which amounted to £16.5 billion - the highest number since 2008.

Edinburgh experienced the largest number of sales at 11,991. This was closely followed by Glasgow at 11,616.

The largest annual growth in property sales was experienced by East Renfrewshire at 1,861 property sales, up 13.1%

The largest decrease in property sales was experienced by Aberdeen at 11,108, down 11.8%.

London Will Be City of Renters by 2025

By the year 2025 London will be known as the city of renters. By that time only 40% of houses in London will be owned by their occupiers. This will be a turn around compared to the year 2000 when 60% owned their occupied home, which includes both owning outright and with a mortgage.

UK’s Biggest Buy to Let Couple to Sell Property Portfolio

The UK’s biggest buy to let couple are set to sell their entire property portfolio for £250 million. Fergus and Judith Wilson are selling the remainder of their property portfolio, which is made up of 900 houses, most of which are based in Kent. The couple are selling the houses to Arab investors. The sale of the property portfolio is due to complete within the first quarter of 2016. The 900 houses are being sold via quick house sale process whilst still selling at market value, with an additional £1 million bonus.

The couple already sold 100 houses of their property portfolio to Chinese and Indian investors in June 2015.

The entire property portfolio sale is being sold with tenants. The entire property portfolio generated an annual rental income of £12 million.

Fergus and Judith started investing 30 years ago. Both teachers at the time, managed to buy houses quickly when house prices were low. They were soon able to retire. At one point they were buying houses at the rate of one per day. The couple were positioned 34^th in the Sunday Times Rich List in 2009.

You can sell property portfolio fast with Stewart Property Buyers - we can help you today.

UK Average House Price Increase

According to the ONS (Office of National Statistics), house prices increased by 7.7% between January and November of 2015. This increase is three times the amount the average wage increased within the same period, which saw an increase of 2.4%.

In the UK the average house price is now at £288,000, where most of this increase is contributed to from the South East, and London.

One of the main reasons behind the increase in 2015 is due to supply and demand, where supply continues to outpace supply.

Scottish Site to be Developed

The former hospital site at Leverndale Crookston, Glasgow is to be developed by Taylor Wimpy. They have been granted permission to build 92 houses on the site, which will inlcued a mixture of three, four and five bedroom detached houses. Work at the 10.8 acre site is about to start and sales office expected to be open by the end of 2015.

London Snubbed in Property Race

On the back of our most recent post on the London property market, we thought this would be an interesting addition. It appears London is being snubbed on several occasions by wealthy overseas house buyers, or property investors, who see Scotland as a safe investment. As always, the evidence is in the numbers, where in the last year £1.32bn was spent by overseas property investors, whereas Scotland attracted £1.33bn in investment. This is largely due to the much talked about property bubble in London. However, Edinburgh is going through its 5 yearly wave in property sales surge and price growth.

Property In London is Most Overvalued

London property is the most overvalued according to Swiss Bank UBS. In fact they are warning London is creating the world’s largest property price bubble. It says this is caused by the ratio of house prices to income, and house prices to rental prices, which increasing all the time and setting all-time highs.

Increase in Mortgage Free Houses

In 2013-14 there were more properties with no mortgage against those that do in England. This is the first time the balance has tipped in such a direction. The figures have shown that of the 22.6 million households in England, 7.4 million had a mortgage free house, against 6.9 million who had a mortgage.

CML: 'UK Housing Market is Restrained'

The CML (Council for Mortgage Lending) has announced there was evidence of restraint in the UK housing market in November 2014, as both house buyers and house sellers eased off their activity.

There is usually a drop in activity around that time of year but the CML has said numbers were down 3.4% compared to the same time in November 2013.