“Political uncertainty has distracted us from the underlying issue of housing supply”
Search Acumen comments on the latest DCLG Green Belt Statistics, England – 2015/16 “[The] data shows a minimal change in England’s Green Belt area over the past year, no doubt coming as good news to those seeking to protect our countryside and strive for urban regeneration. However the year-on-year drop in the number of local […]
Stamp duty aftershock triggers rollercoaster ride for conveyancers ahead of Brexit vote
Search Acumen Conveyancing Market Tracker – Q2 2016 edition
Property market activity sees sharpest decline on record
The residential market activity is still declining, but it’s predicted this will change in the near future, according to the RICS UK Residential Market Survey for July 2016. Dwindling buyer enquiries, completed transactions and new instructions are all being put down to the ongoing Brexit uncertainties, as well as recent tax changes. However, updated yearly […]
Slough and Manchester top for foreign property investment outside London
Slough and Manchester have the highest density of foreign property investors according to research by Search Acumen. Land Registry lists nearly 100,000 (99,345) freehold or leasehold titles across England and Wales as being owned by foreign-registered businesses, including 675 within Slough’s ‘SL’ postcode area. Search Acumen’s analysis compares this to the number of addresses within […]
Brexit vote cools new buyer inquiries – RICS
New inquiries are down according for the majority of Surveyors with a net balance of 36 saying inquiries have dropped. Southern regions saw the biggest drop with that number rising to 58%. Anecdotal evidence has put it down to an increase in uncertainty caused by the EU referendum, according to RICS. Supply has also fallen, […]
Number of transactions rebounds from sluggish April but could be feeling pre-referendum chill
There were 84,300 transactions for homes worth more than £40,000 in May according to HMRC, up by just short of 10,000 from April. The number of transactions is still significantly behind last May, which some are blaming on the upcoming EU membership referendum. However the effect of the referendum may be less than is evident […]
Buyer demand dropping at fastest rate since 2008
The demand from buyers for homes dropped for a second consecutive month, with another 33% of property professionals saying demand is falling compared with last month. According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, demand is now falling aster than any point since the 2008 recession. RICS’s Residential market Survey for May also says that […]
More than 100,000 fewer transactions in April
The number of transactions in April plummetted by over 100,000 compared with March according to statistics released by HMRC. In total, HMRC say there were 70,690 residential transactions for over £40,000 in April, down from 173,430 in March. April saw the lowest number of transactions in three years. Compared to April in 2015, the number […]
Q1 conveyancing breaks pre-MMR record as buyers rush to beat stamp duty deadline
Search Acumen Conveyancing Market Tracker – Q1 2016 edition Q1 transactions were 10% higher than the pre-Mortgage Market Review (MMR) surge of Q1 2014 and also up 15% year-on-year Challenger firms ranking 11 to 50 experienced the biggest annual growth The top five firms’ combined market share fell from 8% in Q1 2014 to 5% […]
Average House Prices stall in March according to Land Registry
Just two regions in England and Wales experienced house price rises in March according to price paid data released by Land Registry, with the average price down half of one percent. Whilst London and the East of the region experienced 0.2% increases, all other regions experienced slight decreases, from a 0.1% drop in the North […]
Number of residential transactions leaps 77% in March – HMRC
The number of transactions over £40,000 leapt a huge 77% compared with March last year as a result of the looming increase in stamp duty on second homes. The number of transactions was also 74.8% higher than February. In total there were 161,990 transactions for residential property in March across the UK. To compare, the […]
RICS predicts more subdued sales growth over coming months due to SDLT reforms
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says the previously expected increase in house sales for the coming months will be dampened by the recent rush caused by Stamp Duty reforms. According to the monthly residential market survey conducted by RICS over March suggests the SDLT reforms caused planned sales to be brought forward rather than […]
62% rise in new homes business for average conveyancing firm since 2010/11
Rise in planning approvals means new build searches look set to increase
Number of transactions for February up 21% on twelve months ago.
94,590 transactions over £40,000 took place in February, up 20.9% on the year before according to HMRC. This is also 10.9% higher than in January. Seasonally adjusted statistics also show a rise, with a 5.5% rise from January to February and a 16.1% rise from February 2015 to February 2016. Between January and February last […]
Growth in sales set to be “more modest” after Buy-to-Let surge – RICS
Just 17% of Chartered Surveyors think there will be an increase in property sales in the next three months according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. RICS say prices have been coming down since December as the market reached a peak due to the expected Buy to Let surge. In addition, while house price […]
House prices rocket in January on back of stock shortage
House prices have increased by 2.5% in January according to the latest figures from Land Registry. While building and planning permissions have all increased recently they are still yet to come close to government targets indicating prices rises due to shortages will continue for some time. Prices in London in particular have increased hugely, with […]
Number of transactions up 7.5% year on year for January 2016
The number of residential transactions for properties worth more than £40,000 in January was 83,590 according to figures released by HMRC, up 7.5% on January 2015. Seasonally adjusted figures also suggest a slight dip from the norm, going from 109,020 in December to 105,940 in January Andy Sommerville, director of Search Acumen, said: “Although residential […]
Pace of consolidation in conveyancing market trebles in 2015
Total number of conveyancing firms operating in the market declined at the fastest rate in three years during 2015, according to Search Acumen.
Increase in housing supply not enough to dampen price rises – RICS
Available housing stock has increased for only the third month of the last eighteen months according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Residential Market Survey. However 49% of Surveyors have reported price rises this month with current stock still significantly lower than at any other point in the last 15 years. The survey also […]
Shortage of stock driving commercial property rents ever higher, say RICS
A shortage of available commercial rental property is driving rents ever higher according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). 81% of central London respondents to RICS quarterly commercial property market survey for the last quarter of 2015 now believe the market is overpriced. The survey revealed that with businesses across the UK doing […]