United Kingdom - Real Estate

[behappyalways]

It's Free Gift Season in the London Property Market
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... eek-buyers

[behappyalways]

This Isn't a London Property Crash. Yet
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/article ... it-mauling

[winston]

Londoners Cut House Prices to Lure Buyers in Slowing Market

by Thomas Seal

Source: Bloomberg

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/londoners ... 00416.html

[winston]

London house prices seen falling 10% as rents decline for first time in 6 years

by Katy Barnato

Landlords opting to rent out rather than sell houses

Stock levels were already running higher than usual due to investors bringing forward purchases in the rush to beat the stamp duty (tax) deadline in April.

The greater hit to London versus the rest of the country may be driven by the surge in housing construction in the city in the last three years and the bigger part foreign money plays in the market.

Plus, increases to taxation on second homes, introduced shortly before the Brexit vote on June 23, may have hit demand from foreign buyers.

Source: CNBC.com

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/15/london-h ... 284a1255a1

[winston]

UK house prices rise, consumers regain some confidence after Brexit hit

British house price rises picked up speed in August and households recovered some confidence which had plunged after June’s Brexit vote, according to surveys that added to signs of calm among consumers after the unexpected referendum result.

Prices rose 5.6% compared with the same month last year, faster than July's 5.2%. Economists polled by Reuters had expected house prices to rise 4.8%.

In monthly terms, house prices rose by 0.6%, from a rise of 0.5% in July.

Source: Reuters

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... in-august/

[winston]

'Hard Brexit' could cost British finance firms 38 billion pounds

If finance firms lose the right to freely sell their services across Europe, 75,000 jobs may disappear and the government may lose up to 10 billion pounds in tax revenue, the report by consultancy firm Oliver Wyman said.

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brexi ... ess%200900

[winston]

Some investors see opportunity in UK amid lingering uncertainty

By Cecilia Chow

“For all the renewed interest, however, our clients remain concerned that the market may have further to fall,” says Dell.

“No one wants to overpay for a property and, amid continuing market uncertainty, many of our clients are looking ahead and asking whether they might be better off waiting for further falls.”

Singapore investors who bought property in the UK when the British pound was 3:1 against the Singapore dollar are also likely to see their gains eroded by currency loss if they were to exit today, as the pound has fallen to a historical low of 1.75 against the Singapore dollar.

The UK population has grown to 65 million this year, with the population in London at 8.7 million. There is still a housing shortage, says JLL’s Challis.

“We have 50,000 new households a year, and we are building just 20,000 new homes annually. It’s a perennial problem that hasn’t been dealt with properly.”

Source: The Edge Property

http://www.theedgeproperty.com.sg/conte ... dium=Email

[winston]

UK house prices rise for second month in Sept, London weak

LONDON: British house prices rose for a second month in September and enquiries from buyers picked up for the first time since February, suggesting the housing market has weathered the initial shock of the Brexit vote, a survey showed.

But prices in London fell again due to uncertainty about what the decision to leave the European Union means for the capital and its huge financial services industry, and the impact of a tax hike in April for landlords buying property.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its monthly house price index increased to +17 in September from +13 in August, moving further away from July's three-year low of +5.

The back-to-back rises over the past two months followed five months of declines.

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said the market was settling down slowly after the EU referendum in June, but the big issue remained a shortage of sellers, a phenomenon which has been pushing up prices since mid-2014.

British finance minister Philip Hammond is expected to announce measures to boost home-building in his first budget statement on Nov. 23.

In London, house price expectations for the coming three months fell, bucking the national trend which saw the biggest increase in surveyors predicting price rises since March.

"Central London remains something of an outlier with contributors telling us this is the one part of the market where there may be further give on prices in the near term," Rubinsohn said. "Elsewhere the price trend still seems on the up."

RICS has previously said the Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates in August for the first since 2009 probably contributed to a brighter mood in the housing market.

Britain's economy has fared better in the three months after the EU vote than the BoE and most private economists expected.

But an expected pick-up in inflation after a sharp fall in the value of the pound is likely to hurt spending power of many households, and companies have signalled they are set to reduce investment while they wait for more clarity on Britain's future relationship with the EU.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

Booming property auctions lift Brexit gloom in British real estate

LONDON: Commercial property auctions are proving an unlikely bright spot in Britain's real estate market where a steep drop in sterling has attracted overseas buyers and local investors are as yet unfazed by potential fallout from Brexit.

Retail investors quickly pulled money out of commercial property funds just after the vote, causing a temporary freeze on 18 billion pounds ($22.38 billion) in assets.

In July, British commercial property values fell by 2.8 percent, according to the IPD real estate index compiled by MSCI , the biggest fall since March 2009, highlighting a sharp drop in investor confidence.

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... al-estate/

[winston]

4 reasons Singapore property investors should be UK confident

Source: Select Group

http://www.selectproperty.com/2016/10/4 ... confident/