Weekly Property News Round Up – 29.01.23

Hello,

I hope you have had a relaxing week. This week at Track Capital, we have been busy launching our brand-new premium development in the heart of Leicester City.

Located just minutes away from DeMontfort University and the University of Leicester, this is a perfectly-positioned development. Reply to this article to register your interest.

Now, let’s take a look at all the headlines that caught our attention this week. I always try to summarise the links to save you from having to click through.

Episode 54: House Price Predictions For 2023 & End Of Year Review – The latest episode of the Pure Property Podcast is out now. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts and all other major platforms.

Remember, you can also listen to this week’s newsletter on the podcast as well.

We would really appreciate it if you could subscribe and leave feedback for our Podcast on Apple.

Property News This Week

• Where Are The UK’s Best & Most Affordable Property Markets? – By cross-referencing happiness ratings and house prices, estate agents Benham & Reeves have discovered that areas of lower house prices in the UK actually yield the most satisfied homebuyers. With the UK averaging 7.45 for homebuyer satisfaction overall, Pendle in Lancashire was revealed as the highest scorer at 8.1 and an average local house price of £141,069. By comparison, Colchester achieved the lowest score in the UK at 6.76 and a much higher average house price of £330,435.

• Growing Number of Major Lenders Cutting Mortgage Rates – Nationwide, The Mortgage Lender and Halifax have recently dropped rates on their mortgage products and now Santander and Barclays have followed suit. This will come as welcome news for thousands of hopeful mortgage applicants, specifically as further rate cuts are predicted regardless of the next base rate rise anticipated to come next week. With lenders increasingly competing for business, each is expected to fight to offer the best products to their customers.

• Does Spike in Property Sector AML Activity Foretell Strong Market? – As we await house price reports and mortgage data publications to pinpoint buyer activity, AML data may already be uncovering the true health of the UK property market. Analysis of this data shows that AML market activity rose by 52.4% between December 2021 and January 2022. Data collectors have predicted AML market activity to grow by 45.3% from December 2022 and continue to strengthen over the next six months. If this is true, experts who predicted a crash could be proven to have significantly missed the mark.

• UK Lettings Market Is Running Out of Homes to Rent – Customer insights and data agency TwentyCi has published worrying data that shows a reduction in new instructions within the lettings market of almost 8% year-to-date, and of over 25% since 2019. Increased taxes, regulations and cost environments have caused many private landlords to exit the business. Currently, all regions except inner London have between 1.5 and 3 months of rental homes available, which is a massive shortfall from the amount necessary to meet tenant demand.