According to the latest data and analysis from Hometrack, UK city house price growth is running at 5.3%.

Key Findings

• Eleven cities have a faster rate of growth than 12 months ago. Manchester is the fastest growing city at 8.4%.
• Other cities with above average growth include Leicester (7.7%), Birmingham (7.7%) and Nottingham (7.2%).
• The annual rate of house price growth in London was 3.5%.

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The fallout from Brexit has set in motion a number of political and economic shifts that are inevitably impacting the way the UK’s investors think and act

New research commissioned across over 1,100 nationwide investors by peer-to-peer lender Kuflink has revealed that traditional assets are providing much-needed investor comfort in a seismic year for British politics.

Nationwide the worlds largest Building Society major mortgage lender in the UK commissioned a report across over 1,100 nationwide investors by peer-to-peer lender Kuflink. It has revealed that traditional assets are providing much-needed investor comfort in a hetic year for British politics.

According to the research more than a third (34%) of the respondents – the equivalent of 10 million investors across the country – said that Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has drastically affected the way they manage their investment strategies.

Key Findings

• The view to leave the EU and changes their investment strategies and was particularly prominent among investors aged between 18 and 34 and those in London, where the figure jumped to 61% and 71% respectively.
• 38% of UK investors said that they would be waiting until after the upcoming election on 8 June 2017 to make any further investment decisions.
• The survey also revealed that investors deem property investment to be safer
• Almost two-fifths (38%) of the investors surveyed said that they are currently less inclined to pursue newer or lesser-known investment classes amidst uncertainty surrounding unfolding political and economic event.

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According to Rightmove, the rise of 1.1% over the month (£3,547) has pushed the national average to £313,655, exceeding the previous high of £310,471 set in June 2016. This has been driven by strong buyer demand, with the highest number of sales agreed at this time of year since 2007, before the credit crunch. While the run-up to an election creates a degree of uncertainty and often a pause in activity, this strong set of figures should help mitigate pre-election jitters.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: “High buyer demand in most parts of the country has helped to propel the price of newly marketed property to record highs. There are signs of a strong spring market with the number of sales agreed achieved at this time of year being the highest since 2007. It remains to be seen what effect the run-up to the snap election will have, though any slowdown in activity will be counter-balanced by the market’s current fast pace. Indeed, in locations where choice of suitable property is limited hesitation could mean losing out to others who still decide to act.

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London landlords are looking further than ever to find a return

The latest research from Countrywide has found that there has been an increase in London based investors purchasing buy-to-let homes outside the capital.

Key Findings

• The proportion of investors from the capital buying outside of London reached 50% in 2017 compared with 19% in 2011.
• Last year, London investors bought over 22,000 (22,296), homes outside the capital up from 3,311 in 2010
• The East has the highest proportion of London landlords overall with one in five homes (26%) bought by an investor sold to a London landlord
• Nearly 1 in 10 (9%) homes in the North that are bought by an investor are sold to a landlord from London, up from 1 in 100 (1%) in 2010.
• In London only 12% of homes sold in April were bought by an investor, close to a record low.

By buying outside of the capital London investors are significantly cutting their stamp duty bills.  Landlords buying in London face an average £40,400 stamp duty bill compared to £6,300 for an investor buying outside of the capital.  The average stamp duty bill for an investor buying in London is now 73% more compared to pre-stamp duty changes (Q1 2016), but only 8% higher for an investor outside of London.

By purchasing outside of the capital London based investors are significantly cutting their stamp duty bills. Investors purchasing in London face an average £40,400 stamp duty bill in contrasted to £6,300 for a investor purchasing outside of the capital. The normal stamp duty charge for an investor purchasing in London is currently 73% more compared with pre-stamp duty changes (Q1 2016), yet it only just 8% higher for an investor outside of London.

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Average price growth for apartments, helped by the London market, have outperformed all other property types since 2009

The latest research from Halifax has revealed that apartment prices have grown by 53% in the last seven years compared with growth of 39% for all property types – typically rising an average of £1,008 per month from £159,292 in Q4 2009 to £243,936 in Q4 2016.

Key Findings

• 53% increase in the average price of a apartment is significantly greater than the 39% rise for all property types over the same period.
• Terraced homes have recorded the next largest increase in average prices with a rise of 43% over the past seven years, and detached homes the smallest rise (19%).
• A considerable amount of the national rise in apartment prices since 2009 is due to the rapid increase in apartment prices in London (65%), where apartments represent just under half (48%) of all sales compared with the UK average (excluding London) of 11%.
• The average price of a apartment in London is £398,038, meaning that buyers are on average paying £230,894 more than apartment buyers in the rest of the UK (£167,144).
• If London performance is excluded, price growth is greatest for terraced homes (41%), followed by flats (35%).

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Some of the UK’s other major cities such as Manchester and Birmingham are absolutely booming due to a massive influx of foreign and domestic money which is being invested outside of London over the last few years.

The latest research from Savills has suggested that despite Brexit and the forthcoming general election, Asian investors are still in the market to the buy UK residential and commercial property.

Key Findings

• According to Savills, Asian buyers injected £4.5bn of money into Central London’s office market by the end of November 2016, amounting to a third of 2016’s total, much higher than 2015’s figures.
• In research conducted by JLL detailed that Asian financial specialists represented 28% of the exchanges in the UK property showcase in 2016, up from the 17% the prior year.
• Most of the Asian wealth is coming from China, which has been one of the biggest buyers of UK property in the last year, capitalising on the weak pound and economic uncertainty caused by Brexit. According to Juwai.com, China’s leading international property portal
• Juwai.com also reported that growth in the enquiries into UK property in the last 12 months has jumped 60%, and Chinese buyers are increasingly interested to the UK.

While London remains a solid draw for oversea investors many are turning to the powerhouses of other major cities in the UK, pulled in by its reasonable priced property, solid investment fundamentals, and amazing yields which are up to 2-3 greater than what

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The latest figures from NAEA Propertymark have revealed that the UK housing supply fell to its lowest March level since records began in 2002.

Key Findings

• The number of properties available to buy on estate agents’ books decreased to 39 in March, from 44 in February. Looking at this year-on-year, supply is down 28% as agents had 54 properties available to market last March.
• The number of prospective house buyers also decreased in March. Estate agents had an average of 397 prospective buyers on their books last month, compared to 425 in February.
• The proportion of sales which were agreed for first-time buyers rose to 25%, up from 22% in February.

Mark Hayward, Chief Executive, NAEA Propertymark, said: “There are currently 10 house-hunters chasing each available property, and with supply at the lowest level for March since records began, building more homes to satisfy demand needs to be a priority.

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A survey of 2,000 homeowners, commissioned by property consultants Cluttons, has given insight into the nations thoughts on how the decision to leave the EU may impact on their future property purchases.

Key Findings

• Over three quarters (82.07%) of people surveyed aged 55+ agreed that the Brexit decision hasn’t impacted their property purchase intensions at all
• Despite the Government triggering article 50, a third (35.00%) of homeowners say they are looking to move or upgrade their current property with 72% of people stating that Brexit has no impact on their intension to purchase.
• Top 3 regions that state Brexit has not impacted their property purchasing intentions:
  • 1. South East (78%)
  • 2. Midlands (77%)
  • 3. Scotland and South West (75%)
  • This was closely followed by London (73%), Wales (73%) and Northern Ireland (69%)
• 29% of the total UK residents surveyed, agreed that they found the Brexit decision a chance to capitalise on a failing market
• 5% of people were not buying a house until the Brexit process has been completed.

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With news of Theresa May calling of a ‘snap’ General Election for the 8^th of June what does this mean for UK housing market?

Overall in regards to sales and properties coming onto the market I suspect even more potential vendors and purchasers will be adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude over the coming weeks.

The UK’s short supply of housing is likely to play a major role in the Election – indeed in his first interview post-Election announcement Corbyn Leader of the opposition party mentioned this – and that every manifesto will have something interesting to say on how the housing market can be ‘fixed’.

The result looks inevitable from the polls – a Conservative Party win which should mean business as usual with no detrimental change on the current UK housing market.

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