According to the latest survey conducted by English Housing Survey, only 63% of us now live in homes we own outright or with a mortgage following the 11th successive yearly decline in home ownership.

In contrast, as homeownership fell, the private rental sector grew by 19%.

the figures show that for the first we are seeing far more outright homeowners that those owning with a mortgage, indicating how much harder it’s become to get on to the housing ladder.

The younger priced out generation is hit the hardest, as 10 years ago more than half (55.6%) of 25-34 year olds owned a home with a mortgage but now its just a third (33.7%). Over the same time proportion of 25-34 year old privately renting has more than doubled, rising from 21% to 48%.

Across England Housebuilding is at its lowest peacetime levels since the 1920s and as these prices continue to pull away from wags and deposits now averaging £30,000 the National Housing Federation fears that home ownership could soon become the preserve of only the richest in society.

with home ownership being slowly pushed further out of reach and the number of households in affordable social housing also falling over the last thirty years, more people are renting from a private landlord. they tend to find themselves trapped in a cycle of expensive short term that leave certain stability or abilities to save for a house deposit, despite how hard they work

YouGov research for the National Housing Federation showed taht almost two thirds(63%) of private renters aged 25-44 years old in Britain said they thought they would have bought their own home by now. out of all private renters, the majority (56%) say that they’ve rented for longer than planned because they have no alternative.

David Orr , chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said : “People in their thirties are seeing their chance of home ownership slip through fingers as they struggle to save for the enormous deposits and mortgage payments, no matter how hard they work. We are in danger of winding back the clock on homeowenership, as house prices continue to rise only the privileged few can only hope to affording it.

At the moment people who can’t buy a home little or no choice but a rent privately going from one short term let to another at an ever escalating cost. we believe that people should be able to have a home they can afford, which means more affordable homes to rent or buy through shared ownership and a private rental market that’s fit for purpose.

we’ve had enough of short term, gimmicky housing policies. our younger generation are having all hopes of affording , affordable homes. The  next government must produce a long term plan for housing and commit to the end the housing crisis within a generation.”

Gavin Smart , interim chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Housing, added :” The English Housing Survey is a stark demonstration of national housing crisis. its clear that the cost of housing is affecting people all over the country in particular younger generations and people living in London.

However, homeownership continued to fail in 2013-2014, while the proportion of private renters continued to rise. nearly half of all households aged between 25-34 are living in the private rented sector, a figure that has more than doubled in the last 10 years. for the first time, there are more households who owned their home outright than with a mortgage, showing just how polarised housing wealth has become.

 
working households who still have to reply on housing benefit has almost doubled in just five years. if radical action isnt taken now more people are going to continue to struggle and the housing benefit bill will continue to grow. Making housing more affordable means building more homes of all tenures for ownership, shared ownership, private rent and social rent. To do this we need political will, commitment and leadership, We would like all political parties to commit to ending the housing crisis within a generation, and we think the government should take a more active role in boosting housing supply

A new report from Your Move and Reeds Rains has found that in the past 5 years the average of rent has risen by 16.3%.

In absolute term, the average residential rent in England and Wales has grown by £107 since January 2010, to reach £763 as of January 2015.

This is an annual rent rise of 3.0% over the last half decade. However this represents a real term increase of 0.6% per annum when adjusted for inflation over the same period.

Recently, rent has fallen on a monthly basis down by 0.6% between December 2014 and January 2015. Rent is actually higher on a annual basis up by 2.8% higher than what was seen in January.

Adrian Gill, Director of Estate agents Reeds Rain and Your Move, comments: “the nature and affordability of UK housing is transforming before our eyes. In the last 5 years the private rented sector has successfully absorbed an unprecedented influx of tenants, while rental prices have broadly tracked inflation. As ever, the devil is in the detail but as this growth accelerates, even more investments will be necessary for the industry to keep up. So we need more buy to let landlords to help solve the crisis in demand for homes to rent.

It’s also important to recognise that these figures don’t float in a hermetically sealed chamber. There are many other aspects of this sector that feed it like finance and the housing market.  Rent represents a landlord’s attempt to recoup investments at a reasonable market rate dictated by consumer prices, inflation and basic principles of supply and demand. Over the long term, rents also tend to reflect higher house prices.

In real terms, rents have risen only incrementally. But any real and sustained growth in rents should offer a clear lesson

As with the purchase market, the only clear way to make rented housing dramatically more affordable is to build more homes, far quicker than in our current case. And until this occurs, landlords are more likely to earn double digit returns on their investments

With the sterling hitting a seven year high against the euro, these are ideal buying conditions are tempting the Brits back to the French Market.

This is the first time mortgage rates are at a 60 year low and prices back at the levels they were in 2007 its perhaps no surprise that France has accounted for 46% of Conti’s mortgage enquiries over the last four months.

Rhone-Alpes region best known for its Skiing properties are proving to be the most popular pulling in the most buyers.

However, this steady increase of the value to the pound against the euro, which has reached a 7year high of €1.34 last week, is effectively shedding tens of thousands of pound off buyer’s budgets.

With the pound currently hovering around €1.33, a €200,000 home in France now costs £150,376 compared with £175,439 back in the summer of 2013 when the pound was worth €1.14. That is a saving of £25,000. Investors, full of fresh optimism, are bringing their plans forward and snapping up bargains while they can.

Clare Nessling, director at Conti, says:” Over the last three years, but during 2014 in particular, Rhone-Alpes has been growing in popularity, with more than 4 in 10 French Mortgages being taken out to purchase a ski property in the region. And also the department of Haute-Savovie, where popular resorts such as Chamonix Morzine and Les and Les Gets are located, are at the top of buyer’s lists.

The French Ski market is most popular with the British but at the same time is also extremely well supported by the domestic market, making rental opportunities very good. Another bonus is that it’s also very accessible wither by air, train and car and the culture is familiar, which British buyers like. When you combine this with the current mix of ideal buying conditions, including the favourable exchange rate, it’s basically a great time to buy a French ski property.”

French mortgage rates are still at their lowest in decades, with deals starting at just 2.2% for variable mortgage over 10 years, and 3.25 per cent for a 25 year fixed-rate mortgage. Unlike many countries where the best rates are limited to those with the biggest deposits, both of these deals, and many others, are available for mortgages of up to 80per cent loan to value.

Property search experts; The Buying Agents, has stated that estate agents are delivering poor levels of customer service and in by doing so will be forced out of business by 2020 this is a result of quality, online based agencies emerging in today’s market.

The Buying agents believe that high street estate agencies can no longer afford to change high fees and deliver poor customer service. This firm has also claimed that over 90% of their clients would decide who they sold with based on the level of service they received when they were buying their properties.

Consequently, Henry Sherwood the Managing Director of The Buying Agents has predicted that high street agencies are falling to apply the standards of good practice in customer service amongst other things, and in doing so they will be out of business over the next 5 years, since the property market continues to evolve increasingly in favour of the digital medium.

Henry Sherwood continues to say; “We are seeing an emerging trend in the growing number of seller who opt for an online agent as a result of their own buying experience with high street agents. Many customers feel they could do much better themselves at a fraction of the cost by only paying for the services they actually require. As a result, agencies not meeting client expectations when they are looking to buy will quickly become a dying breed over the next 5 years.

“Encouragingly, the emergence of so many online agents has inadvertently acted as a kind of filter for ensuring that only quality agencies survive on the high street which is great news for us and for the clients we look after .“

Sourcing Property have released a new report into its clients of 2014, this reports shows a predominantly British clients base with 69% domestic buyers.

Buyers from France and Italy made up 9% and 5% respectively, with the remainder a mixture of overseas buyers from the Middle East, Far East and Australia. Of these, 53% were owner/occupiers whilst 47% were investing in buy to let properties.

Jo Eccles, Managing Director of Sourcing Property: “People are often of the view that buying agents, particularly thoise in London, are largely acting for the super rich overseas buyers, however he goes on to say that we have a very strong British client base with the majority   of which are owners occupiers (78%). Out of this 13% are first time buyers and 12% were buying for children which are becoming an increasing trend. Our clientele also work across a very diverse range of industries, 50% are in banking and the financial services and the rest are divided across industries including insurance, fashion, recruitment, government, property and law.

We saw a lot of sealed bids in the first half of 2014; and in 4 out of 5 sealed bids we entered; we were bidding against other buying agents. Buyers that are unrepresented often didn’t even get a look in. In the final six months of the year, the market became very price sensitive and where that asking price was too high, a lot of buyers and tenants refused to even bid as they didn’t want to deal with unmotivated landlords and sellers. In whole prices remained fairly flat with the expectation of trophy homes, where some buyers were prepared to pay up to 2% premium to secure something rare.”

When dealing with rentals and relocations Sourcing Property has seen a 26% growth in 2013, with the highest majority of relocations from the US at 46% with 36% from Europe and 18% from within the UK. These also include employees from CBRE, Lulu Lemon, JP Morgan and RBC.

Jo adds: “We are in talks with a number of large corporations to handle their employee’s relocations, but we are expecting this growth to continue as companies, especially tech, digital, media and finance, increase their relocation numbers and many would be buyers opt to rent instead. We have a partnered with a superb settling in and education consultants as part of this growth.”

A very new report from online letting agents PropertLetByUs has highlighted some of the secrets that tenants are keeping from their landlords.

As you would expect, the number one tenant confession revealed in the study was the one and only making excuses for paying rent or avoiding paying rent that is what this study has shown. 63% of the tenants admitted to trying to dodge paying rent followed by 59% of tenants keeping pets with any authorisation. Tenants redecorating without permission (45%) and a third of tenants admitted to damaging walls by knocking nails.

This study also reveals that nearly a forth of tenants’ confessed that they have rarely or never cleaned their ovens, 18% haven’t mowed the lawn regularly, 11% have dumped rubbish at the front and 6% have sublet a room. When it comes to expensive damage to property, 4% admit to burning holes in floor coverings and concealing them with mats.

Jane Morris, Managing Director of PropertyLetByUs comments: “Our research shows that a considerable amount of tenants have made excuses to avoid paying rent, which is worrying. The latest industry figures show that tenants arrears are on the rise again, up by 7.2% in 2014. This represents an increase of 4,600 tenancies compared to the same quarter in 2013.

One key way that landlords can ensure they protect themselves from arrears and potentially bad tenants, is by conducting very thorough tenants reference checks. Background checks on tenants are so important and in doing so, you end up picking the right tenant and it can save a long and costly process further down the line.

Landlords need to be thorough in conducting background checks and above all reference gathering, including bank statements for the past 3 months; previous landlord references to check the tenant paid rent on time; credit checks, incorporating fraud indicators; and employer’s reference. It’s highly important for to also check identity and proof of current address- ideally tax and insurance documents and talk to at length to a prospective tenant.

Landlords should also make regular check on their property during the tenancy, so they can spot and breaches. In addition, landlords should also check each rental property thoroughly for signs of common damage, which can often be misses at the end of the tenancy, potentially costing landlord’s hundreds of pounds.”

Are changes to stamp duty and pension reforms bringing a bounty of new buyers to the market, creating a bumper year for North East property?

The announcement last year on the changes of Pensions are due to come into effect this April these will allow savers over 55 greater freedom to take their pensions as a lump sum, with a so called “silver landlords” likely to take advantage of the return on their investment offered by buy to let properties by buying homes to rent out pushing up prices.

Chancellor George Osborne also announced in December’s autumn statement the homebuyers that are purchasing properties with less than £937,000 will pay less stamp duty cutting £1000 from the cost of buying a North East home and encouraging more buyers into the market.

Expected delays and low inflation in lifting interest rates have also led to suggestions of a “mortgage price war” as several major lenders launch New Year “record low” fixed-rate deals.

Mortgage approvals, this week have hit a 17-month low and are 23% down on this time last year.

Ajay Jagota, founder and Chief Executive Officer of KIS lettings agents, nonetheless predicts a “bumper year” for North East property

“Despite what the doom-mongers might tell you, 2015 has all the makings for a bumper year for North East property. The ease of pension regulations will undoubtedly bring more purchasers to the market both as owner-occupiers and buy-to-let investors, rising up prices.  At the same time, stamp duty changes will make it cheaper and easier to buy a home. The North East rental yields are as good as any in the UK and as rental returns rather than capital appreciation are key to making money out of property, out region stands to gain the most. As a result I think we can expect to see double digit house prices growth in the North East 10% seems a good bet with rents set to rise in the region of 6%

North East have all the correct conditions existing  , low prices, high rental yields, strong demand, affordability of mortgages – means that if buyers and investors decide 2015 is a time to buy then self-fulfilling prophecy could raise prices just like they did in London.

As a result, bargain hunters need to strike early to get the best deals, and should stick clear of  signing lengthy tenancy agreements if they’re renting at the moment and are looking purchase”

Specialist lender Fleet Mortgages and BTL has announced that it is now actively accepting business through its distributor partners and their affiliated members and advisers.

Currently the lenders products are currently available through The Business Mortgage company , legal &General Mortgage club, Mortgages for Business, The Buy to Let business, Mortgages for Business, the Mortgage trading Centre , Professional & Commercial and Solent Mortgage services.

Fleet Mortgages are opening out its distribution to the rest of the adviser market late 2015

Product range highlights include:

• A two year fixed rate 65% LTV individual buy-to-let product price at 2.79%
• Individual buy-to-let tracker options for three years at 65% LTV -2.85%; 75% LTV -3.35%; and 80% LTV- 4.75%
• Two year limited company fixed rate buy-to-let products priced at 4.39% (65%LTV), 4.59 %( 70%LTV), and 5.29% (80%LTV). Three year trackers rates priced at 4.55% (65%LTV), 4.75% (70%LTV), and 5.25% (80% LTV).
• Two year Fixed rate HMO buy-to-let products priced at 5.29% (65%LTV) and 5.39% (75% LTV)

“ This is a momentous day for the Fleet Mortgages” said by Bob Young , Chief Executive Officer of Fleet Mortgages he went on to say team and all our stakeholders as we open our lending doors and begin to accept business through our distribution partners. We have brought this lender to market in record time and are lending at what is a extremely exciting time for this fast growing and developing but-to-let market. We focus our products on areas which are currently underserved, particularly in the limited company and HMO market; we truly believe this range should particularly appeal to our target customers and experienced landlords

If it wasn’t for our support from our partners in all areas of business we would have not got to this point so quickly, plus the hard work of everyone in the Fleet mortgages team. Our focus now moves for pre-launch to active lending and we are aiming to deliver a very high quality of service which will be ensuring open communication and transparency between ourselves and advisers.  This is a long term project and we are looking forward working with the buy-to-let advisory community in order to develop a proposition which meets their needs their needs and those of their clients.”

Andy Young, CEO at The Business Mortgage Company (TBMC), said “I am Delighted that fleet Mortgages has chosen TBMC as one of its distribution partners from launch. Fleet Mortgages has a compelling proposition in the buy-to-let mortgage market and I am sure Bob Young and his management team will grow a very successful business”

According to the latest findings from Barclays and the Centre for Economics and business research, nearly half of homeowners who have a variable rate mortgage aren’t aware of the rise in their repayments could rise this year.

This report also revealed that 46% couldn’t remember what the current BoE base rate is, 61% of them have no idea when they might rise and 88% are Utley unaware of BoE’s recent interest rate forecast.

As a direct consequence, a reported 76% have not been putting money aside for the rate increase, Despite CEBR predicting a minimum total mortgage payment rise of £723.8m nationwide.

In this study home owners cited different political and regulatory  statements in this study changed market commentary and conflicting family views  has been the main reasons behind this widespread uncertainty.

The sheer lack of awareness could contribute to the UKs mortgage holders experiencing financial difficulties in 2015, as CEBR predict that household owners could face a potential £1.1bn total increase in mortgage repayments by the end of the year.

This is solely based on CEBR’s  sharp but potential  model Suggesting threw rates rises in 2015 “ taking the average base rate to 1.25% by December 2015

Even a rate rise of 0.25% in May 2015 would see homeowners across the nation paying an additional £101.33 on average

At the very minimum CEBR predicts a average annual of £81.12 increase in mortgage payments for individuals by the end of 2015.

This Survey also found that 45% of homeowners felt that they could possibly miss out on better mortgage rates and so they paid out more because they were not sure whether not to fix or change their mortgage.

For those between the age of 30 and 49 they are facing the largest hike in their mortgage repayments, with the potential £362.1m increase in total mortgage repayments.

Regionally, the biggest rises in repayments are for those living in the South East they can expect a rise in payments totalling to £158.9m

The Scots are least likely to put money aside for potential rise in interest rate, with only 10% saving their mortgage repayments going up. In Wales Welsh home owners are more likely to save, with a third of them putting aside money even though their potential mortgage increases are not as large as other areas throughout the UK.

However, CEBR Have Predicted that London’s homeowners can expect a reduction of £20 per person on their mortgage repayments by the end of 2016. However , if you take the region as a whole, the total mortgage repayments increase by £124m as the number of Mortgage paying households in the Capital has increased

A new poll has found that less the 10% of Brits are not in favour of Mandatory legal limits being imposed on housing rents. This Poll is based on a survey done on behalf of Generations rent which asked over 1000 people and has found out that only 6.8% said that they were either strongly against rent control or somewhat against it.

The Full question that was put to the respondents last month read:

“Over Recent years, rent have been rising faster than the average wage in the UK. In some cases, people support a system of “Rent Control” “Where the government has limited the rate at which rents can be increased disputing this would make renting more affordable for tenants. Others have opposed “rent control” stating that it would lead to a shortage of properties landlords were willing to rent out.

Now the question asked is would you support or oppose the proposal in which the Government would introduce a “Rent Control” System in the UK?

Out of those asked, 59% of them backed rent control and thought it was a good idea, 34% openly said that they didn’t have an opinion on the matter. Throughout all political parties rent control was popular. UKIP had 58% of their party voting yes, alongside 55%of the conservative supporters, 68% of labour Supporters and 70% of LibDems Supporters all backing controls.

77% of the Private Sector tenants were in favour of these measures saying it was a great idea. There was also a high level of endorsements from homeowners 56% of whom backed the measure

Commenting n the findings, Generation rent director Alex Hilton said the results “indicate a concern and sympathy for the older generations and for a large amount of the younger generation that have been condemned by high house prices and to a life time of rent slavery”

He added “Private Sector are now spending upwards of 40% of their income on rent. By supporting rent control, politicians will have an opportunity to do something that could have a real, beneficial impact on millions of people whilst also saving tax payers money through the housing benefit bill, £9 billion of which would go straight into the pockets of private sector landlords