Qualifications for estate agents should be ‘mandatory’
Posted by The Oracle Group on 16th July 2019 -
INDUSTRY
Qualifications for estate agents should be ‘mandatory’
The Regulation of Property Agents working party (ROPA) has recommended that property agency representatives should hold a formal qualification to do the job. ROPA advised Housing Minister Heather Wheeler that qualified agents would then be licenced as the only people able to conduct core selling or letting activities. The body also outlined plans for a detailed Code of Practice and a new regulator to follow. However, the proposals were met with criticism from industry experts. Writing in the Telegraph, Professor Len Shackleton of the Institute of Economic Affairs said: “The ROPA proposals are concerning, not just because of their pernicious impact on the housing market, but as part of this much broader drift towards more and more licensing that ramps up costs while doing little to boost consumer satisfaction or productivity.”
Sales of new leasehold houses slump
The number of new homes sold as leasehold in England and Wales dropped from 13.3% to 4.2% between 2017 and 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics. Just 3,242 new houses were sold under leasehold arrangements last year, according to the ONS, a fraction of the 44,928 leasehold homes sold in total, which were mainly existing homes. The decline in leasehold sales comes after intense scrutiny on developers after a series of mis-selling scandals. ONS head Nigel Henretty speculated that “The government’s announcements about potential changes to the leasehold system may have driven the decreases.”
First-time buyers looking beyond terraced houses
The number of first-time buyer mortgages for the purchase of a terraced house has dropped from 38% in 2017 to 34% in 2018, whilst the proportion of buyers choosing a detached home has doubled in the same period. Figures from Accord mortgages also show that property size is increasingly important to those stepping on to the housing ladder. In 2007, 38% of all first-time buyers’ homes had two bedrooms, while in 2018 the proportion fell to 32%. In comparison, the share of three and four-bedroom homes has grown from 52% to 61% over the same period. “Rather than buy a small ‘starter home’, schemes such as stamp duty relief and Help to Buy have given first-time buyers the financial support to choose larger properties and perhaps ‘future-proof’ their purchase,” commented Nitesh Patel, strategic economist for Accord.
Average house price in Scotland to soar
PwC’s latest UK Economic Outlook report states that a decade of wage stagnation and population growth has resulted in rental affordability ratios deteriorating significantly in parts of the country, with key public workers in many areas spending more than 30% of their monthly salary on rent. The firm also said that the average house price in Scotland is predicted to rise by 14% over the next four years to £170,000 – but only if a no-deal Brexit is avoided.
RENTAL
Key workers in London spend half of wages on rent
Teachers, nurses and police officers are having to move out of London and southern regions of the UK, as rising rents make many areas unaffordable for key public sector workers. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report said there was an urgent need to increase the supply of homes after it found that the failure of public sector pay to keep pace with soaring housing costs had made it increasingly hard for workers on modest incomes to make ends meet. “We risk seeing professions that are integral to the UK’s public services struggling to afford to rent in several regions in the UK,” said John Hawksworth, PwC’s chief economist.
COMMERCIAL
Sainsbury’s land-banking devaluing homes
Residents of Staplehurst, a village near Maidstone in Kent, have accused Sainsbury’s of causing local house prices to fall by “land-banking” sites and leaving them undeveloped. The supermarket chain acquired two commercial sites in 2013 but has yet to start work on either of them. The Daily Telegraph notes that the news follows warnings that supermarket chains are sitting on enough land to build thousands of homes, but won't build stores because they have become too unprofitable. A Sainsbury's spokesman said the supermarket chain was “currently reviewing their options” for the sites.
PLANNING
Khan blocks plans for 1,000ft Tulip
Sadiq Khan has blocked plans to build a 1,000ft "Tulip" tower in the City. The skyscraper was planned to sit alongside the "Gherkin" in the City of London, but Mr Khan said it would harm the capital's skyline The Tulip would have been the second tallest building in western Europe. The construction was projected to raise £1bn in revenue for the City of London by 2045 and attract one million visitors a year.
FIRMS
Lazari’s property empire worth £3bn
London landlord Christos Lazari has seen the value of his London empire surge to £3bn, as the capital’s commercial property market remains resilient. Lazari Investments’ portfolio of offices, shops and hotels in the West End and north London, rose 2.2% in the year to March, new accounts show. “Demand for central London offices remains active and we have been able to outperform the market with our various development and asset management activities,” the firm said in its report.
PIC invests £40m in Eildon
Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has invested £40m in Scotland’s Eildon Housing Association to expand its UK housing sector investment. PIC said it has invested the amount in debt issued by Eildon, to help support the Scottish housing association’s development plan, under which they are building 750 new homes by 2021.
LEGAL
Petition launched to safeguard croft houses
A petition has been submitted to Holyrood to try to prevent local authorities selling on croft houses to help pay for home care costs. Councils have the power to seize an individual's assets to help meet the costs of placing them in a care home. While many of the newer homes have had the actual property footprint removed from the tenancy to secure a mortgage, many older homes remain as part of the wider croft portfolio. The vast majority of croft land is under a secured tenancy agreement. It was initially thought this protected them from the care home legislation on assets, as the house was not owned outright. The issue arose after Fife resident John MacIver challenged the right of Western Isles Council to seize the family's croft home on Lewis to pay for the costs of a relative in a care home.
OTHER
Reg Holdsworth branded ‘nightmare landlord’
Ken Morley, the actor that played Reg Holdsworth in Coronation Street, was involved in an extraordinary row with a single mother who rents his property after she called the police and said he threatened her. Michelle Beattie said he threatened to call social services to remove her children when she complained to the council as he tried to evict her.
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