New evidence of housing slowdown as Bank moves to cut loan rates ‘aggressively’

There was more evidence of a housing market slowdown today after the industry revealed the first year-on-year fall in mortgage lending for more than two years.

Daily Mail - 20 December 2007

Mortgage lending last month was £30.7 billion, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said, down 8% from £33.2 billion for the same period last year.c

The annual drop is the first time that monthly lending levels have dropped below the same month in the previous year since July 2005, the CML said.

CML director general Michael Coogan said he expected the trend to continue into next year, and blamed it mainly on the credit crunh. He called for more support from the central banks to help increase bank liquidity - full article

LandlordZONE Newsletter - December 2007 - Local Housing Allowance

Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes to all our colleagues - members and advertisers.

The December 2007 issue of the LandlordZONE Newsletter focuses on the impending Local Housing Allowance which is to be introduced fully from April 7th 2008.

Click here for the full December 2007 Newsletter: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/BlogNews/LandlordLOGDec07.pdf

LandlordZONE Newsletter - Local Housing Allowance

December 2007 Issue 25
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Welcome from the Editor: Season’s Greetings to everyone from LandlordZONE.

I’ve said this before—we’re living in interesting times - and very worrying times they are too for many investors and particularly new landlords.

There are some ominous signs as we look to 2008, not just in housing and commercial property but in the economy as a whole.

There have been some dramatic falls in the price of some property funds (as much as 40 to 50%) and to a lesser extent property prices themselves.

If you are too highly geared and rushing for the door right now then there’s a price to pay for liquidity.

As the governor of the Bank of England said recently, “Property prices are a matter of opinion, debt is real” I will add this: income is real too—it’s tenants you need right now!
Given time, if you have it, these prices will come back, in abundance, but in the meantime we may still see further falls.

On the other hand, as the arch contrarian investor Anthony Bolton, Fidelity’s star investment fund manager with a record of 20% growth over many years, is calling the bottom of commercial property stocks. He is reputed to be buying in, arguing that the share values have fallen far more than their underlying assets—the properties themselves.

Despite all this the government regulation bandwagon affecting landlords rolls relentlessly on: HIPS, HMO Licensing, Tenancy Deposits Scheme and they’ve just announced a full scale review of the Private Rented Housing Sector - is this the precursor to yet more legislation?

Continue reading LandlordZONE Newsletter - Local Housing Allowance…

Rental market alive as sales dry up

Worry about the future of the property market has boosted demand for homes to rent – and the money that can be charged for them, the RICS says. The Times, Daily Telegraph

But not all properties are equal. Demand is continuing to grow strongly for houses, while the oversupply of new-build properties is depressing the rent increases being achieved for flats.

The latest RICS lettings survey shows that 20% more members reported a rise, rather than a fall, in new lettings in the third quarter of this year, down from 28.5% in the buoyant second quarter of this year - full article

Buy-to-let landlords quit the housing market

Landlords are abandoning the property market at the fastest rate for almost three years, according to new research which underlines the troubles facing the buy-to-let sector.

Edmund Conway, Economics Editor, The Telegraph - 18 December 2007
The proportion of landlords opting to sell properties when tenants move out has risen from 6.1pc to 6.5pc in the past quarter, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

With the level now at the highest since January 2005, experts said it was a sign that higher house prices and falling rental yields were making it difficult for landlords to turn in a profit - full article

Worst property returns on record

IPD figures show November saw the worst ever monthly returns from commercial property.

Mike Phillips, Property Week - 17 December 2007

Figures from the Investment Property Databank showed that property provided returns of -3.6%. Previously the worst month was May 1990, when returns were -1.8%.

The figures, which are based upon the valuation of a sample of 4,200 properties worth £53bn, are more moving closer into line with market sentiment and the actions of fund managers, who have been drastically writing down the value of their portfolios in recent weeks.

In November, Schroders said it was writing down the value of its Exempt Property Unit Trust by 12.5%, and last week New Star said it was devaluing its portfolio by almost 8% - full article

Are Today’s Property Landlords Prepared for the Winter Ahead?

Andrew Harris, Gas Services Manager from Aspect Maintenance, advises that now winter has set in, landlords should be getting their boilers checked…

Now that the cold snap has begun, homeowners and property tenants have begun to turn their boilers on; boilers that have been sitting dormant for months. Break downs inevitably occur, and, companies like Aspect Maintenance experience a 100% increase in emergency calls outs.

Trying to get a tradesmen in the winter months is not always an easy task. More often than not there is a backlog of similar calls the company needs to plough through before they get around to answering yours.

At Aspect Maintenance, our policy is to try to get someone out to look at the problem on the same day you call our switchboard, and to begin fixing it within 24 hours.

Continue reading Are Today’s Property Landlords Prepared for the Winter Ahead?…

Treasury releases details of business tax reforms

The Government has published details of draft legislation, announced in the 2007 Budget, related to business tax reform and capital allowances. Following consultations in July, the Treasury has published two technical notes detailing the draft legislation proposals.

John Bakie, ifaonline.co.uk - 17 December 2007

The Treasury says changes to business tax are aimed at improving the UK’s international competitiveness and to reflect modern business activity, including the need to be more environmentally friendly - full article

No retreat on empty rates relief

The government’s plans to remove empty rate relief on empty buildings next April are to go ahead with very little change despite an intense lobbying effort by the property industry.

Deirdre Hipwell, Property Week - 17 December 2007

Local government minister John Healey said today it is drafting the secondary legislation so that all aspects of the rate reform, introduced in this year’s Budget, can come into effect next April - full article

Land Registry to put resource into electronic mortgages & property transfers

Key learning from Land Registry’s Chain Matrix prototype and valuable feedback from customers on electronic funds transfer have influenced Land Registry’s decision to focus resource on introducing electronic discharges, charges (mortgages) and transfers as the priorities in its e-conveyancing programme.

PublicTechnologu.net - 14 December 2007

This will include refreshing the existing product range and enhancing its web services to better serve the needs of its customers.

Head of Land Registry’s Business Transformation Programme, Alasdair Lewis, said:
“We have always recognised that we would move incrementally towards our long-term vision of e-conveyancing. We have already done much in-depth work with customers, testing the market, and our first priority must now be to introduce electronic discharges, charges and transfers - thus fully automating our core business of registering land - full article