Archive for the 'Property Know' Category

Home Information Packs aka HIPs

Published
by
Property Know Team
on November 9, 2006
in Property Know
. 1 Comment

Are Home Information Packs (HIPS) Necessary?

Once again, there have been relentless campaigns over the HIP (Home Information packs). HIP’S is designed to highlight possible discrepancies of a property. From a sellers point of view Hip’s can be seen as a costly and time consuming process, on the other hand in a buyers point of view, Hips is deemed necessary in order to for see the potential problems your chosen property may have. It has been revealed there will be a preliminarily trial of the Hip’s report, which will be undertaken in 6 major cities across the UK, and these are Southampton, Cambridge, Bath, Huddersfield, Newcastle and Northampton.

The hips report is designed to shift the emphasis of buyer to the seller in order to collect relevant information about the property. The initial aim was to cut down on unnecessary waste, save time and make the market more efficient- all this seems reasonable. However there have been numerous complaints from mortgage lenders and other professional bodies insisting that the reports would dissuade people from putting their houses on the market.

We at Rent A Home Manchester, just like yourselves like to save money, but with the HIP’s report expected to cost roughly £650, this is a hefty price to pay but to make money matters worse, the report has to be reassessed every 3-6 months. In case there are further problems which can be identified during the selling process, adding more costs to the current situation. This would save buyers millions, which they currently waste when sales fall through before contracts are even signed.

Rightly so, there are already many costs to selling a house, finding a good estate agent and solicitors is difficult as it is and not to mention costly, adding additional costs such as the HIP’s report will create higher demand and no supply of housing at all. This will no doubt cause higher property prices; in the short run interest rates will continue to rise rapidly in order to curb the increase in prices. The government has really over looked the issue. In most circumstances buyers would also insist on an independent survey themselves, therefore the report would be seen as pointless by sellers.

Even though, there are continuous problems with Hip’s one of many is the fact that there is currently a lack of experts or even signed on to relevant courses to conduct the Hip’s report. With all this in mind, the government expects the HIP’s report will become compulsory on the 1st June 2007. Sellers must be aware of these pricey demands before putting your house on the market!!!

The packs will include:
• Terms of sale
• Evidence of title
• Copies of planning, listed building or building regulations consents
• A local search
• Guarantees for any work on the property
• An energy performance certificate

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4784923.stm

London’s Elektron Towers

Published
by
Property Know Team
on November 5, 2006
in Property Know
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Remember the articles about the “Sky Towers in Canary Wharf” and about “London and the Olympics 2012” – if you don’t you should go and have a quick skim read through them because, this article directly follows on what has been mentioned and its impact to the London Property Market - especially with regards to Canary Wharf.

What we will be talking is the launch of the West “Elektron” Tower near Canary Wharf.

london-property-development

The Elektron Development site is situated on the north side of the river Thames directly opposite the Millennium Dome. The London Property Development headed by Barratt’s Homes will encompass 3 towering 25-story blocks. Currently all of the Phases of the first 2 Tower Blocks built are now sold out. Barratt’s have now announced the launch of the “West Tower” and yes that means it is the last one and the final phase!

1 Bedroom apartments are going from £219, 995 – and for the current London Property Market it is affordable compared to many other areas.

Transport wise the Elektron has easy access to the “East India” Docklands Light Railway Station, which is only 4 DLR stops away from Canary Wharf and 1 DLR stop away from the Jubillee London Underground Line.

london elektron

In our opinion (emphasis again, in our opinion) we believe with all the regeneration projects surround Canary Wharf and the East of London, it may be worth a visit to the Elektron and surrounding Property Developments. As first time buyers the properties are reasonably priced especially for its area; and for investors this may be that ideal property investment that you were looking for.

Good luck!

Images are taken from the Barratt’s Website www.barratthomes.co.uk

Edinburgh is topping Scotland

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 30, 2006
in Property Know
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Good news if you own a property in Edinburgh - the Edinburgh Property Market is booming. So wouldn’t you love to own a property in Edinburgh - because we would!

Edinburgh has delivered the biggest rise in property prices per square metre in Scotland over the past ten years, according to new research from Bank of Scotland, with a 170% increase from £759 per square metre (psm) in Q1 1996 to £2,052 psm in Q1 2006. Across the UK, Truro has delivered the biggest rise in property prices with an increase of 262%.

The most expensive city in Scotland is Edinburgh with an average psm of £2,052, while the most expensive cities in the UK are London (£3,582 psm), Oxford (£2,741 psm) and St Albans (£2,716 psm). Edinburgh ranks amongst the ten most expensive cities in the UK on a psm basis.

Dundee is the most affordable city in Scotland at £1,285 psm, while Armagh is the most affordable city in the UK; there the average price is £1,009 psm just over one-third of the price in London.

The gap between Edinburgh and Glasgow has widened over the past decade. In 1996, the price psm in Edinburgh was 22% higher than in Glasgow. In 2006 house prices in Edinburgh were 46% higher than in Glasgow, although the gap has held steady over the past five years. The gap between prices in London and Edinburgh has widened substantially more over the last 10 years. In 1996, the price per square metre in London was 34% higher than in Edinburgh. In 2006 house prices in London were 75% higher than in Edinburgh.

Commenting, Tim Crawford Group Economist Bank of Scotland, said: “House price per square metre is a useful measure for house price comparison because it helps to adjust for differences in the size and type of properties between locations. This is a helpful descriptor to be used alongside other more established house price comparators. The strength in house prices per square metre in Scottish cities over the past decade, particularly Edinburgh, highlights that many Scottish home buyers are attracted to the conveniences of city living, like shopping, transport links and easy commuting. Prices remain highest by a large margin in Edinburgh and on a square metre basis it is one of the ten most expensive cities in the UK.”

Source: http://www.hbosplc.com

Early X’mas Present

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 16, 2006
in Property Know
. 0 Comments

Winter is approaching fast, which case many of us are thinking about Christmas presents, this is generally where we will see the slowdown in property prices.

In the current property market, it seems inevitable that property prices looks like they are going to continue to rise. In another words this means big profit, as demand is still outstripping supply. Recent reports suggest house prices are rising at their fastest for nearly four years and show no sign of running out of steam, not even with current interest rates being hiked up. According to one to one of the biggest building society property owners have seen their houses rise by an incredible £30 a day in the UK. However houses prices in the North West have seen an increase of £14 each day, with average property prices approximately around £151,198. Higher interest rates, has yet seem to threaten the property market, at present it seems very strong and stable. Rising immigration and a growing economy, has done wonders to peoples confidence, ultimately creating higher demand and fuelling property prices. Reports have mentioned that house price inflation have risen by a 6.9% in the third quarter, an impressive increase of 4.8% from the second quarter, now with a typical house costing of £168, 640.

Interest Rates; First Time Buyers

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 11, 2006
in Property Know
. 0 Comments

On 5th October 2006, The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee kept interest rates at its current level of 4.75%. With predictions of an interest rate increase for next month, it looks like a rocky road ahead for first time buyers once again. Whilst trying our best efforts to save every penny for that perfect home whilst property prices continue to rise.

For first time buyers’; jumping onto the property ladder just doesn’t seem to get any easier. However there is light at end of the tunnel, where first time buyers are concerned they do have a certain degree of advantages. Firstly interest rates have been their lowest for the past 30 years making it a lot cheaper to borrow nowadays and high street banks providing you competitive offers in order to attract your custom, am sure there is a good deal out there in the market for us all. In fact most first time buyers have no chain involved, this means they are not waiting for their own property to be sold in order to move in the new, therefore a quicker transaction can be made with less hassle, this will no doubt make you more appealing to home sellers.

This means all you need to do now is look for the right property in the right location and the right price tag! We will be posting some of the most sought after property developments in Manchester!

Good lucking property hunting!

Will the Property Bubble burst?

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 10, 2006
in London Property Market and Property Know
. 0 Comments

For the past century there has been a great deal of speculation on whether the property bubble will burst in the UK, but mainly will the magic bubble burst in London. For the past several years house prices has gradually increased. Every year there would be a big “Woo Haa” over whether the market was too saturated and if the house prices were over inflated.

The concept of inflation (rising house prices) derived from the fact that people had started buying London property market at a fast pace compared to properties being built. Thus using the Supply and Demand chart; Demand would become greater than Supply creating an in equilibrium in the market, further resulting in increasing property prices (“inflated” prices) compared to the real value of the actual property. A great deal of buyers were scared of the fact that if they didn’t buy now the prices would increase threefold and by then they would not be able to enter the market.

The Rent A Home London Teams personal view on this “bubble bursting”?

Well, land is land, the Earth is the Earth. With our currently technology we have no possible way of creating more land. So land (supply) will always stay the same, but demand is another story. The more people there are, the higher the need for houses. And with the ever increasing booming population, we are doomed! Just kidding – but the only way demand is going to go is upwards, especially with the exponentially growing population. Supply, may increase with man made landfills or man made islands but it will not be able to keep up with the worlds population. In short, demand will always out weigh supply. Consequently increasing the price of property because as we know if something is in higher demand people will want it more and be more willing to pay for that “something”, in this case land!

With regards to London, in our opinion – (just to cover our backs) emphasis on in our opinion, price will not go down or “burst” – it may stabilise. Right now in the news commentators are stating that workers in the UK are unable to afford a house until they have worked for X amount of years. Yes, and we will agree with that – BUT it is London, the capital of England. So the demand is not just restricted to UK, it is world wide. Outside the UK, there are a large group of wealthy individuals who want and are willing to purchase in property in the sought after capital of England, London. The foreign investment will create a demand even when local demand is weak or decreasing.

Buy, Rent & Invest wisely!