FTB's competing for properties with landlords

Rightmove's October 2015 House Price Index for England and Wales has been published and the key points are -

• Average price of property coming to market has hit a new high, up  0.6% (+£1,715) this month to £296,549 - 5.6% higher than a year ago.
• Record demand for first-time-buyer properties, with prices up 4.9% on last month and 9.6% (+£16,105) over the past 12 months
• Tenant demand remains strong with Buy-to-let demand remains strong to meet high demand for rental property to go head-to-head with first-time buyers:
• Many letting agents report ‘same-day’ rentals and little or no property to rent
• Number of first-time-buyer properties (two bedrooms or fewer) coming to market down by 8% on same period a year ago, exacerbated by first-time sellers struggling with second-step price gap

Miles Shipside, Rightmove's housing market analyst Miles Shipside, comments: 

“There are signs of a slowing pace of price rises in some sectors of the market, with the overall October rise the lowest we’ve recorded at this time of year for five years. We still have another national average record however, as prices continue their upward trend. This is mainly being fuelled by the heady price rises of typical first-time-buyer homes. A near 10% price surge in this category in the last year proves that despite tighter lending criteria in last year’s Mortgage Market Review, some first-time buyers can still afford the higher prices being asked for by sellers in this sector. It’s also symptomatic of a shortage of properties coming to market with two bedrooms or fewer, combined with demand from both first-time buyers and landlords investing in reaction to the huge rental demand for smaller properties.

With local authorities, housing associations and developers no longer satisfying the country’s housing needs, those in particular looking to rent or buy smaller homes must hope for the cavalry to come to their rescue, in the form of government action or large-scale institutional investment. Initiatives such as continued relaxation of planning rules to boost building, 200,000 new affordable homes available to buy over the next five years, or American-style institutional investment in the rented sector will take time to come over the hill, as the sound of bugles is still in the distance. In the meantime, it seems the army of privateer buy-to-let investors remains the only short to medium term way to scale up our rental capacity.

Tenant demand is such that many letting agents are reporting viewings and tenancy applications on the same day as marketing properties. In some cases they’ve nothing left to rent until tenants move out or a new influx of investor landlords gives some short-lived respite to tenants-in-waiting. Both investor landlords and first-time buyers looking to buy smaller homes are finding them in short supply. As they’re typically owned by potential first-time sellers, the price gap and costs of moving to the second step on the housing ladder deter them from coming to market. Competition is most fierce in this sector, with first-time buyers and buy-to-let investors going head-to-head for the same properties.”

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