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ARLA reports fall in rental properties

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) report a further drop in the number of rental properties advertised by its agents.
On average each ARLA letting agent had 172 rental properties per branch in January - 10 less than in December.

The figure is ARLA's lowest on record, though they have only been tracking it for a year.

ARLA's managing director , David Cox remarks:

“Supply of housing continues to be a problem and tenants bear the brunt of this with more people competing for properties at higher prices.”

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Let property campaign

It's always worrying when landlords get a letter from the taxman.  My latest correspondence from Mr HMRC was under the Let Property Campaign. 

Has anybody else received this letter asking landlords to come clean on their property tax affairs?

My conscience is clear but I'm guessing for many landlords it has the desired affect of spooking them into disclosing additional amounts of income.  Watch out watch out there is a taxman about!

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Nationwide pitches in with its HPI for Feb

Following on from Nationwide's latest HPI figures claiming annual growth now at 4.8%, the Halifax have published their February 2016 data, putting annual growth at 9.7% .

That more than twice the Halifax rate, so using my befuddled logic, maybe the real rate is somewhere between the two, so, let's say 7.2% - it's as good a guess as any.

Anyway back to the Halifax release. The bank reports prices in the three months to February were 9.7% higher than in the same three months a year earlier. 

Halifax housing economist, Martin Ellis comments: 

"House prices in the three months to February were 3.0% higher than in the previous three months whilst the annual rate remained unchanged at 9.7%.

Prices continue to rise at a robust pace driven by a significant imbalance between supply and demand. Whilst this position is likely to continue over the coming months, there are some tentative signs that the supply situation may be beginning to improve. Instructions for secondhand properties coming up for sale have increased in the past two months and the level of housebuilding increased significantly in 2015. Further ahead, increasing affordability issues, as house price increases continue to exceed wage growth, are likely to curb housing demand and cause price growth to ease.”

So, does anyone else want to guess what the actual rate might be?

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Welsh tenants most satisfied

A tenant satisfaction survey carried out by the NLA puts Wales landlords at the top.

92% of tenants surveyed reported being satisfied with their landlord, compared with just 67% of tenants in the North East.

No doubt the Welsh Assembly will claim it reflects the measures they've introduced to help regulate PRS, as part of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 such as Rent Smart Wales.

The UK average was 79% of tenants satisfied with their landlord.

Richard Lambert from the NLA comments -

‘Good landlords make up the majority of the market so it’s not surprising that the majority of tenants are satisfied,’ 

The tenant satisfaction scores by area are -

• 92% - Wales
• 83% - East Midlands 
• 82% - North West 
• 82% - South West 
• 80% - South East
• 79% - Scotland
• 79% - West Midlands 
• 73% - Yorkshire and Humber 
• 72% - London 
• 71% - East of England
• 67% - North East

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Nationwide house price growth up - 4.8%

Nationwide's HPI figures for February show a small acceleration in annual house price growth.

House prices were up 0.3% in February, bringing the annual growth to 4.8%.* Seasonally adjusted figure.

Robert Gardner, the Nationwide's Chief Economist, comments:

“UK house price growth remained steady in February, with prices increasing by 0.3% during the month, unchanged from January’s reading.

Annual house price growth has remained in a fairly narrow range between 3% and 5% since the summer of 2015. This trend was also maintained in February, with house prices up 4.8% over the year, a slight pickup from the 4.4% increase recorded in January.

The number of mortgages approved for house purchase increased sharply in January to almost 75,000, up from around 71,000 approvals in December and the highest number since January 2014.

However, much of the increase is likely to be related to the impending increase in Stamp Duty on second homes which is due to take effect in April 2016. This is likely to have brought forward a significant number of purchases, which in turn will probably result in a fall back in approvals during the spring/summer.

Looking through this volatility we expect the underlying pace of activity to increase in the quarters ahead as improving labour market conditions and low borrowing costs provide ongoing support.

Gardner also highlights the stabilising of home ownership rates -

“After declining gradually over the past twelve years, the rate of home ownership in England stabilised in 2014/15. However, at 63.6%, this is well below the peak of 70.9% recorded in 2003.

If we look at the shift in tenure patterns by age over the past decade, we see a particularly marked decline in home ownership rates amongst the younger age groups, especially amongst 25-34 year olds, traditionally the segment containing most first time buyers. While there was a marginal uptick in 2015, the proportion of younger adults who own their own home (currently 37%) remains considerably lower than ten years ago.

Over the same period, the proportion of people renting (either privately or through a local authority or housing association) increased from 43% to 63%. For 16-24 year olds, the proportion renting increased from 73% to 92% over the same period.

The increase has occurred in the private rental sector, which currently houses 19% of total households. Over the past ten years, the number of privately rented households has increased by 75% to 4.3 million.

The latest English Housing Survey showed that the proportion of private renters who expect to buy a home at some point in the future declined by four percentage points from 61% to 57% - the lowest reading since the survey began in 2008/09. Even amongst those who expect to buy a home, for most this remains a longer term aspiration, with 75% expecting it to take at least two years.”

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