Edenvale UK Property Management

Article: The Independent Network of Estate Agents

The great sell-off: Property tycoon to raise £3bn by selling 1% of ALL UK homes to clear his debts

250,000 homes are up for grabs in the sale. The portfolio has 15,000 homes in London alone.

The largest portfolio of homes in the UK is up for sale, and could be yours for just £3 billion.

Iranian-born tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz is looking to sell the freehold for 250,000 properties, which represents one per cent of the UK's entire housing stock.

The sale has been exclusively targeted at sovereign wealth funds, according to the FT.

Forty per cent of the homes and apartments are in the South East of England, with 15,000 properties alone in London.

source: Mail On Sunday

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Article: The Estate Agent Today

No Sellers – No Buyers

Sellers and buyers are staying away from the market, the Hometrack report revealed this morning, as sales fall away.

The number of new applicants has fallen 10.5% in the last month, after a 6.3% fall in December and a 2.2% drop in November.

The speed at which property listings are dropping has also accelerated. This month, there was a 5.4%% drop, following falls of 3.4% in December and 0.8% in November.

This month, there was also a 14.3% fall in sales agreed, following falls of 0.9% in December and 4.6% in November.

There was not a single region in January where the number of sales agreed did not fall. Sales in East Anglia held up best, with a drop of 6.3%, but fell hardest in the North-East (down 23.1%) and the South-West (down 19.2%).

Hometrack said the underlying trend is one of tightening supply and weakening demand.

Between August and January, the number of buyers registering with agents declined by 23%. Meanwhile, the supply of homes for sale has contracted by 7% over the last six months – and supply has not contracted to this extent since 2009, said Hometrack.

It also reports no change in house prices, although a rise in London prices has offset small falls across the rest of the country.

As has become usual, London’s housing market distorts the overall picture. Average time on the market is 10.2 weeks, but this is helped by London’s time on the market of 6.5 weeks. In the South, the average time on the market is 9.1 weeks – the highest for nearly three years. In the North and Midlands, time on the market is just under three months, at 11.9 weeks.

Hometrack’s director of research, Richard Donnell, said: “The latest survey reveals a market dogged by uncertainty.

“On a national basis, house prices have not increased over the last 18 months (since June 2010) – a theme carried over into January when prices were unchanged. A small rise in London offset falls in other regions.

“London looks set to buck the national trend again in 2012, thanks to overseas buyers providing a boost to prices in London’s prime areas. Elsewhere, demand remains constrained by the uncertain economic outlook.

“Some agents have also reported an increase in down-valuations as surveyors exercise growing caution.”

The Hometrack survey questioned 1,500 agents.

Separately, a Rightmove survey, also out today, shows that 60% of home movers believe it is a buyers’ market. Only in London does the percentage of people who believe it is a buyers’ market slip below 50% (to 47.1%).

Surprisingly, perhaps, 66% of the 32,111 people questioned think house prices will stay the same or go up this year – a higher percentage than those asked the same question a year ago.

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Article: Money Saving Expert & Tenant ID

The number of people in rented accommodation who are in severe arrears has reached its highest level in three years.

According to the latest figures, there are 78,970 tenants in England and Wales who are at least two months behind in paying their rent, nearly 11,400 more than this time last year.

It is the highest level since the third quarter of 2008.

While the number of those in severe arrears is rising, the overall number of tenants in any kind of arrears is falling, however. A total of 9.3% of all rent in England and Wales was late or unpaid in November.

The number of tenants evicted through court orders has also risen, with 24,966 people served eviction notices in the last quarter of 2011, an increase of 11% from 22,558 a year ago.

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Article: Property Jungle

House prices are perceived to have fallen again this month, for the 19th consecutive month.

The Knight Frank/Markit report this morning said that in its latest survey of 1,500 households, property values were perceived to have fallen throughout the UK, including London.

Only 5% of people thought the value of their home had risen over the last month.

More house price falls are widely expected, although a small majority of households in London, the South-East and Scotland think they will rise. The biggest price drops are anticipated in the North-East and Wales.

People who are particularly pessimistic about house price falls are those working in the banking and business services sectors.

Grainne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said: “There is little cheer among households this month, perhaps reflecting the wider economic uncertainty throughout the UK, with fears that the country may be back in recession compounded by this week’s alarming unemployment figures.”

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Article Source: Residential Landlords Association

EU threatens to end buy-to-let mortgages

The RLA has spoken out strongly against a proposed EU Directive that threatens to severely damage the private rented housing sector.

The draft directive is aimed at tackling irresponsible lending on mortgages following property booms and busts in countries such as Spain and Ireland.

Under its provisions, lenders will not be able to take account of rental income when assessing the ability of the applicant to afford mortgage repayments.

Given that almost 90% of English landlords are private individuals and that most purchases are made on the basis that the rental income will pay off the loan and its interest, this would cause serious damage to the private rented market.

The proposed Directive affects 'consumers', but currently they are defined in such a way as to catch small landlords who have just a few properties. There is no clear definition, but it will affect a part-time landlord who has bought two or three properties as his or her pension fund – which constitutes the vast majority of the private rented market.

Alan Ward, chairman of the RLA, said: “This Directive is nothing short of a disaster for housing in the UK. And the RLA is working to have it aborted.

"It would effectively kill off buy-to-let mortgages and would lead to a collapse in the market, with far fewer properties being available for rent.

“It is imperative that the Directive is amended to take buy-to-let mortgages out of its scope.”

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Article Source: Residential Landlords Association

THE RLA has welcomed the Government’s decision today to review the impact of paying housing benefits directly to tenants.

Says chairman Alan Ward,: “Given its commitment to individual responsibility, it seems remarkable that the Government has so far denied tenants the ability to decide how their housing benefit is paid.

"The RLA has led a campaign, along with groups representing tenants, social housing providers and mortgage lenders to champion the rights of tenants to choose. We welcome the Minister’s decision to establish a review of direct payments".

As part of the proposed changes to the benefits system, Ministers have argued that paying the housing element of universal credit directly to tenants should be the default position except where a tenant is “vulnerable”. As part of this, the Government is to announce six demonstration project areas to test payments to tenants.

Speaking to Peers following a debate on an amendment tabled by crossbencher Lord Best providing for all tenants to be given a choice over who receives their housing benefit, Welfare Reform Minister, Lord Freud has announced that the Government is to commission a review, to be led by Professor Paul Hickman from the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, to evaluate the effects of direct payments to claimants in the six demonstration project areas.

The amendment - originally drafted by the RLA - had the support of all Peers who spoke on it from all sides of the House of Lords.

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