Buy to let confidence returns
Web address: http://www.yourmortgage.co.uk/news/3626434
Confidence in the buy-to-let market is growing, and higher levels of professionalism are being practiced.
According to the latest quarterly survey carried out by buy-to-let mortgage lender CHL Mortgages, 81% of landlords now feel positive about buy to let, with many respondents indicating that the sector has shaken off its ‘get rich quick’ image and has once again become the preserve of sober professionals.
The survey asked landlords how they currently view the market, how they regard the future of buy to let, what their own intentions are and how they are coping with problems.
More than a third (38%) said they intended to buy more property in the near future. Only 13% said they have plans to sell a property, while the majority, 53 per cent, are content to sit tight with the properties they currently have.
The survey also recorded that for 71% of landlords the rental income from their properties is sufficient to cover all of their costs including the mortgage payments, management and maintenance fees, while 15% said the rent was only enough to cover the mortgage.
Only 6.1% said the rent was insufficient to cover their outgoings.
More than half (55%) had not experienced any rental voids in the last 12 months. But 28% have had a rental void in the last six months, and 17% in the last year.
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Rental prices set to rise in 2010
Demand for rental property is increasing with fewer properties available to rent in the UK.
With the current upward trend in the housing market this is having a considerable effect on the lettings market with many of the accidental landlords returning to the sales market to take advantage of the recent price increases. With the recent oversupply now reversing this is impacting on rental prices and tenants no longer have as strong a bargaining power as they did.
It is therefore widely expected that rental prices in the UK lettings market are set to increase in the New Year; the number of rental properties coming on to the market has fallen in the latter half of 2009.
The recent pick up in the property market has led to a drop off in the number of rental properties, particularly houses, being made available and as a result surveyor optimism has increased for the first time since July 2008.
According to the latest RICS Lettings survey around 22% more surveyors expect rents to rise rather than fall in the next three months - the drop off in supply being the main driver for this emerging confidence. A net balance of 11% of surveyors are seeing the number of new instructions coming onto the market falling rather than rising. This is in stark contrast to the levels seen late last year when the housing market was still suffering from falling prices and many would-be sellers were turning to the lettings market when their houses failed to sell.
Only 4% of chartered surveyors are still reporting falling rather than rising rents, for flats to rent in the UK, indicating that the downward pressure on rents is already starting to ease. Significantly London and the North are already seeing the majority of surveyors reporting price rises over the past three months, which supports this newfound confidence in the market.
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Beds bug infestations on the increase
Web address: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8255997.stm
There has been a massive increase in the number of bed bug infestations, according to a survey.
Cory Allen, BBC.co.uk – 14 Sept 2009
Statistics from councils in London and the Midlands show the rate increased three-fold in the last decade.
The figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Bed Bugs Limited, which says the insects “breed at a phenomenal rate”.
Bed bugs are insects that commonly hide in mattresses and carpets and in the crevices of furniture.
They are a reddish-brown colour, oval-shaped insect that can grow to a quarter of an inch long.
They cannot fly and survive by sucking blood from a host animal, mainly at night.
There are distinct hotspots in highly populated areas, with lots of multi-occupancy housing where the bugs can easily spread from one household to another.
Bed bugs spread on clothes, bags and in furniture when it is moved.
They do not choose a dirty home over a clean one – all they are interested in is your blood.
Microbiologist for Bed Bugs Limited, David Cain, said: “If exposed, anyone can bring them home and quickly have a problem, as they breed at a phenomenal rate.”
It is thought that one of the reasons for the rise is increased travelling.
There are corridors of infestations that radiate out from airports like Heathrow and Gatwick, which support the theory that bedbugs have been brought back to this country from countries where they have never been eradicated.
Experts say they are also spread on public transport and short of decontaminating passengers every time they get on a bus, train or plane it would be impossible to stop them spreading.
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Brighton & Hove House Prices
Web address: http://www.brightonbusiness.co.uk/secure/assets/ni20091001.151920_4ac480706dd9.pdf
Brighton & Hove house price update Q2 2009
While the average house in the city still costs 23% more than the UK average, the price in June 2009 (latest figures) declined to just under £188,800, down from a high of £239,939 in November 2007. The income required to purchase a first time buyer’s flat is now just over £36,400, down from more than £50,400 a year ago but a much higher deposit would be required.
The average 1 bedroom flat now costs slightly less than £157,800 and, assuming a deposit of 25% and a mortgager of 3.25 x salary would require an income of £36,415. Although this is edging closer to the median salary for workers in the city of about £25,000, the level of deposit has been increased to 25% (from 10% in previous updates) to reflect current reality.
Worthing and other area landlords - we haven't found comparative data for other areas but Brighton dominates the local scene with towns in the county generally tracking ups and downs.
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