Average House Prices Falling For The First Time In 2021 But Will Propert...

Average House Prices Falling For First Time In 2021 But Will Property Crash?

House prices have fallen for the first time this year, according to property website Rightmove, but does this mean we are heading for a market crash?

The website reports that the “average price of property coming to market in August fell 0.3%”, which is a small drop of £1,076, to £337,371.

The property market slowdown follows the ending of the stamp duty holiday and a subsequent fall in demand for bigger homes.

"Average prices have only fallen in the upper-end sector," said Tim Bannister, Rightmove's director of property data.

First-time buyers and second-stepper properties are still in demand, leading to new record high average prices in those sectors, he added.

Rightmove figures revealed a 0.8% drop in the four-bedroom-plus sector, but new record price highs in the two-bedroom sector, up by 0.6%, and three to four bedroom second-stepper-type properties, up by 0.3%.

Summer holidays normally lead to a slowdown in activity in August, experts pointed out, with many anticipating a slackening in demand. Source: BBC and Rightmove.

The small property price falls, based on new houses coming onto the market, do not yet indicate a market crash. Minor price fluctuations could be seasonal or influenced by a post-stamp duty holiday slowdown.

Property investors should see a return to a more normal buyers property market in the coming months. I am definitely noticing more price reductions and properties coming back on the market after a sale fell through.

However, markets, like the bond and stock markets, are not always rational and frequently react to external events, such as a war or political instability in the Middle East.

The actual figures based on sold properties for the current period will be revealed in official Land Registry data later this year.

Professional property investors make money in property in any market – UP, DOWN or SIDEWAYS! You can make money in property if you know how, and you do not even need to use your own money. You can start with zero capital using many of the ‘no money down’ strategies.

Would you like to learn more about making money from property?

Click HERE for free updates, courses and webinars on how to become a professional property investor in your spare time using other people’s money.

FOR MORE PROPERTY INFORMATION FOLLOW - https://bit.ly/3sjxRa

Which are the least affordable cities to buy a home in the UK? Its not G...

Which is the least affordable city to buy a home in the UK?

According to Britain’s biggest lender, the Halifax Bank, Winchester is the least affordable city to buy a home in the country.

Its figures suggest buying a home in the Hampshire commuter city will cost 14 times average earnings, higher than Greater London at 11 times. Central London would be much higher.

Typically, buying a property in a UK city will now set buyers back 8.1 times their average earnings, up from 5.6 times a decade ago.

House prices have "generally continued to outstrip wage growth", said Halifax managing director Russell Galley.

Winchester has leapfrogged Oxford as the least affordable city in the annual survey, while Londonderry is the most affordable for the third year in a row.

In the Northern Ireland city, a home will cost 4.7 times average earnings.

Over the past year, the Halifax reckons the average house price in UK cities has grown by 10.3%.

Its analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics suggests average earnings for people living and working in cities climbed just 2.1% over the same time period.

Average city house prices increased to £287,440, while comparable average earnings rose to £35,677.

Surprisingly, cities are slightly more affordable than the average for the UK as a whole, according to the figures.

But that may partly reflect more people moving out of cities in search of more space during the pandemic.

A home in Winchester will now set buyers back an average £630,432, up 8% in the last year.

That leaves it with the highest average house prices of any UK city, ahead of St Albans at £604,423 and London at £564,695.

The least expensive average house prices among cities are in Londonderry at £155,917 and Hull £156,924.

Average earnings in Winchester are £45,059, higher than for the UK as a whole and only beaten by St Albans at £59,391 and Greater London at £51,257.

Where can you find more affordable places to buy a property?

There is some good news: in one in nine UK cities, property has become more affordable in the last 12 months.

Housing affordability improved in seven cities compared with a year earlier: Oxford, Carlisle, Portsmouth, Durham, Salford, Inverness and Glasgow.

According to the figures, Carlisle and Aberdeen are now more affordable than five years ago, while Inverness is the only city more affordable than 10 years ago.

An average home there costs 5.6 times average earnings, down from 6.2 in 2011, as wage growth there has outstripped house price growth.

"Affordability is significantly better in the North and there are now just two cities - Plymouth and Portsmouth - with better-than-average affordability in the South," said Mr Galley.

The top 20 least affordable cities in 2021

(Figures show the price-to-earnings ratio followed by the average house price and average annual earnings. Source: the Halifax)

1. Winchester, South East, 14.0, £630,432, £45,059

2. Oxford, South East, 12.4, £486,928, £39,220

=3. Truro, South West, 12.1, £356,788, £29,558

=3. Bath, South West, 12.1, £476,470, £39,508

5. Chichester, South East, 10.6, £446,899, £37,352

6. Cambridge, East Anglia, 11.9, £482,300, £40,492

7. Brighton and Hove, South East, 11.6, £449,243, £38,737

8. London, South East, 11.0, £564,695, £51,257

=9. St Albans, South East, 10.2, £604,423, £59,391

=9. Chelmsford, South East, 10.2, £424,690, £41,781

11. Salisbury, South West, 10.0, £392,355, £39,154

12. Exeter, South West, 9.9, £323,554, £32,635

13. Leicester, East Midlands, 9.7, £279,080, £28,725

14. Hereford, West Midlands, 9.7, 316,929, 32,839

15. Norwich, East Anglia, 9.4, £306,946, £32,632

16. Bristol, South West, 9.3, £346,902, £37,357

=17. Southampton, South East, 9.0, £310,435, £34,429

=17. Canterbury, South East, 9.0, £365,168, £40,565

=17. Gloucester, South West, 9.0, £287,600, £31,987

20. Worcester, West Midlands, 8.8, £303,132, £34,389

The top 20 most affordable cities in 2021

(Figures show the price-to-earnings ratio followed by the average house price and average annual earnings. Source: the Halifax)

1. Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 4.7, £155,917, £33,138

=2. Carlisle, North, 4.8, £163,232, £34,087

=2. Bradford, Yorkshire and the Humber, 4.8, £164,410, £34,219

=4. Stirling, Scotland, 5.4, £208,927, £38,744

=4. Aberdeen, Scotland, 5.4, £205,199, £38,016

=4. Glasgow, Scotland, 5.4, £196,625, £36,205

7. Perth, Scotland, 5.5, £203,229, £36,700

=8. Inverness, Scotland, 5.6, £191,840, £34,373

=8. Hull, Yorkshire and the Humber, 5.6, £156,424, £27,730

10. Dundee, Scotland, 5.8, £181,150, £31,344

11. Sunderland, North, 6.0, £179,567, £29,745

12. Lisburn, Northern Ireland, 6.1, £203,386, £33,138

=13. Salford, North West, 6.2, £211,903, £34,444

=13. Durham, North, 6.2, £196,274, £31,762

=13. Liverpool, North West, 6.2, £215,741, £34,911

=13. Belfast, Northern Ireland, 6.2, £205,228, £33,138

=13. Lancaster, North West, 6.2, £217,392, £35,004

18. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North, 6.3, £229,434, £36,212

19. Stoke-on-Trent, West Midlands, 6.5, £200,161, £30,698

20. Edinburgh, Scotland, 6.8, £285,605, £42,245

(Source BBC).

The report shows further evidence of an exodus from London and the larger cities following the pandemic. Thousands of people are now working from home so commuting hundreds of miles is not an issue for the time being.

However, if employers start asking staff to return to the office in the City of London commuting from Devon and Cornwall will be a challenge!

With the rush to beat the stamp duty holiday now over property prices are starting to cool. Property investors should see a return to a more normal market in the coming months. I am definitely noticing more price reductions and properties coming back on the market after a sale fell through.

You can make money in property in any market if you know how, and you don’t even need to use your own money. You can start with zero capital using many of the ‘no money down’ strategies.

Would you like to learn more about making money from property?

A property expert friend of mine is running a web class on 18 August.

The Property Revolution Summit Web Class Experience is designed by top investing trainers to bring you 120 minutes of valuable content; providing you with the tools to successfully invest in buy-to-let properties, raise finance and build a mighty property portfolio from the ground up.

To register for the free web class from anywhere in the world click the link: https://bit.ly/2VLDCBd

UK House Prices Drop As Stamp Duty Holiday Ends - Is The Property Bubble...

House Prices Fall As Stamp Duty Holiday Ends

UK House prices dropped by 0.5% in June just as the long stamp duty holiday began to be phased out, according to the Halifax.

Annual property prices still rose 8.8%, resulting in average prices more than £21,000 higher, which is more than most people saved on stamp duty in the mad scramble to buy a home. The average price of a UK property according to the lender is now £260,358.

The Government removed the need to pay stamp duty on some properties for much of the pandemic in a bid to stimulate the market in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The move worked, but critics argue that it caused price inflation and could created a property bubble if demand falls.

Mortgage lenders, like the Halifax and Nationwide, long with estate agents are confident that, "The power of home movers to drive the market won't fade entirely as the economy recovers”.

Demand remains high among buyers seeking larger family homes with the average price of a detached property climbing faster than any other type over the past 12 months - shooting up by more than 10% or almost £47,000 in cash terms.

Detached homes now cost on average more than half a million pounds, £200,000 more expensive than the typical semi-detached house.

Double tax on holiday homes

A Welsh local authority plans to double council tax on second homes in order to deter the growing number of English buyers snapping up seaside holiday homes on the coast of Wales.

Owners of holiday homes and empty properties in Gwynedd will be hit with double council tax from next month after Councillors backed the increase in premium from the current 50%. The tax could raise an extra £3m a year for social housing.

More than one in ten houses in Gwynedd was now classed as a second home.

Councillors in the larger city of Swansea are planning a similar tax hike.

Buyers, presumably priced out of the more expensive Devon and Cornwall, have been buying up properties in Welsh beauty spots. The effect of this prices locals out of the market and destroys local village life where properties are only used at weekends.

Councils have powers to increases local taxes on empty properties and second homes.

Cheap money also fuelling the bubble?

There is a buy-to-let mortgage available through the NRLA offering a 2 year fixed rate of 1.25%, with free legal fees and a £250 cashback! You could borrow a million pound on interest only and the mortgage payment would be just over £1000 per month. You couldn’t rent a million-pound home for that.

If you enjoyed this and found it helpful, please like and share with your friends and follow me on social media to give more people free value. 

I’m offering a free Wealth Accelerator discovery coaching call to three people this week - CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR FREE CALL https://bit.ly/3zJ21GY

Breaking Property News! Renting A Home Is Cheaper Than Buying For First ...

Renting A Home Is Cheaper Than Buying For First Time In 6 Years

With low interest rates and high rents, it has long been assumed that it is cheaper to buy than rent. But the tide has turned thanks to soaring house prices and lower rental demand, especially in the city centres.

According to leading estate agents, Hamptons, it has become cheaper to rent a property than buy a home for the first time in more than six years.

The estate agency research reveals that prior to the pandemic in March 2020, people buying with a 10% deposit would have been £102 a month better off than renters.

Last month, figures showed that the average private sector tenant was paying £71 a month less in rent.

This applies across the UK apart from four areas where it is still cheaper to buy than rent: the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber, and Scotland.

In May last year, rental demand dropped as younger adults and European workers returned to live with their families during the pandemic and work and leisure restrictions made city living less attractive.

Back in early 2020, it was cheaper to buy than rent in every region in the UK.

London's sees the biggest shift since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hamptons reports a 7.1% rise in average rents over the past 12 months, but also a strong house price growth coupled with increases in higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage rates have added to the cost of buying and owning a home.

This means a typical first-time buyer will find it cheaper to rent than buy on a monthly basis, with a monthly average of £1,054 spent on rent compared with £1,125 on mortgage repayments - the first time since December 2014 that renting has been cheaper than buying a home.

Plummeting rents there mean a buyer putting down a 10% deposit on a property in the capital will have gone from being £123 a month better off buying in March 2020, to spending £251 a month less on rent in May 2021, the report said.

There are many other financial and practical factors which potential first-time buyers will consider when deciding to rent rather than buy, or vice versa, which are not captured in this research.

In the long term, it is nearly always better to buy than rent. Rents will rise over time, whereas mortgages are paid off with ever devaluing paper money.

Buyers do pay for repairs and maintenance, but will benefit from long term growth and future equity in their property.

One major reason private renters want to buy is the long term security of tenure. Fear of buy-to-let landlord eviction, for instance when they want to sell the property, is obviously stressful for tenants.

Where and by how much is it cheaper to rent, than buy?

·        Greater London - £251 cheaper

·        South East - £54 cheaper

·        South West - £108 cheaper

·        East - £117 cheaper

·        East Midlands - £98 cheaper

·        West Midlands, £35 cheaper

·        Yorkshire and the Humber - £5 more expensive

·        North West - £4 more expensive

·        North East - £72 more expensive

·        Wales - £11 cheaper

·        Scotland - £130 more expensive

Source: BBC, Hamptons

Property Investing Secrets - Discover the ultimate beginners' guide to property in 2021 With my friend and property expert Kevin McDonnell.

Complimentary Property Training - next session is on Wednesday 23rd June, and Kevin can't wait to see you there!

Do you want to start earning life changing sums of money from property whilst knowing you’re  avoiding all the common mistakes beginners make when investing?

Well I'm going to promise you this:

Kevin help you avoid the all-to-easy mistakes most newbies make when getting started in property investing.

New investors must be increasingly strategic when it comes to spotting good opportunities, and knowing how to jump on them quickly (without worrying about finance roadblocks or having a little black book of contacts).

This free, live online training will provide you with knowledge, tactics, and strategies for identifying great deals, knowing which of the easy strategies to use, and getting the cash profits out fast - both now and every year!

Join Kevin on Wednesday and learn how to overcome the most common beginner mistakes in investing. Click HERE TO JOIN - http://bit.ly/3eMDgRLFREETRAINING.