Your Right Move » Housing

How to fight housing and homelessness

Zanet — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:00:25 +0000

Zoopla decides to show how to fight housing and homelessness. Teaming up with Shelter, Zoopla commits £25,000.

The economic situation over the past few years in the UK means many families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. As a result, property website Zoopla.co.uk has today announced a fundraising partnership with national housing and homelessness charity, Shelter, with Zoopla committing to raise at least £25,000 for this cause in 2012.

As part of their commitment to make a difference and raise awareness of the issues surrounding bad housing and homelessness, Zoopla will work closely with Shelter to help support their charitable efforts and will participate, donate directly and identify new opportunities to raise funds in 2012.

Zoopla employees also lead the way on how to fight housing and homelessness

Zoopla employees have wasted no time in showing their commitment to the partnership by donating over £7,500 themselves already via payroll giving alone and committing to numerous events throughout the year, including Shelter’s annual Vertical Rush in early March, which involves scaling the 920 steps of Tower 42 in the City. Zoopla also plans to make fundraising for Shelter an integral part of the numerous trade events and awards it sponsors throughout the year including Lettings Live, the ESTAs and the Estate Agency of the Year Awards.

Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of Zoopla said: “Shelter does an outstanding job trying to help those have fallen on hard times. We recognise that charities like Shelter rely heavily on donations from businesses like ours and we are keen to do what we can. Our team are motivated and to meet or exceed the fundraising targets we have set for this year and to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate.”

Tracy Griffin, fundraising director at Shelter, said, “We’re delighted to be working so closely with Zoopla and are very grateful for their support. The money raised through the partnership will support Shelter’s vital work to help families across the country find and keep a decent home. We are looking forward to developing a strong ongoing partnership.”

Shelter’s housing advice helpline 0808 800 4444 is open 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm Saturday and Sunday.

Property price gap grows

Zanet — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:32:11 +0000

According to the Rightmove House Price Index this month, it found that UK average asking prices increased by 2.8% over the past month driven by strong price growth in the South.

lf you are looking to move to the north of the country from the South, the growing price gap will let you buy a lot more house for your money”.

The North/South price divide means that you can now buy two properties in the North for the price of one in South!

A real plus - draw a search

Rightmove’s House Price Index also found that asking prices in London reached a new record high.

The Rightmove House Index gives further details on the average asking price for a property in the UK increased by 2.8% over the past month to leave the average asking price for a UK property now at £239,672. This figure masks a two-tier market in which the price gap between the north of the country and the south has never been wider. Asking prices in the south (East Anglia, South East, South West and Greater London) increased by 4.7% over the past month but fell 0.7% in the north (East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales, North West, Yorks & Humber and North East), and average property prices in the south (£336,743) are now more than double those in the north (£164,347).

Do you think the North south divide will ever disappear in the UK. Is it due to several factors including the London commuter pull along with higher temperatures in the South?

Have your say on the property price gap below:

Barratt Housebuilder go Gold

Zanet — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:31:06 +0000

Barratt are set to return to profit this year after a poor few years. Barratt Developments, Britain’s biggest housebuilder, expects to increase profit after announcing thay have began work on more than 1,000 homes near the Olympic site in East London before the games begin in 2012.

Barratt Developments have a total of eight major phases at St Andrews in Bromley-by-Bow and Dalston Square in Hackney by the time the Olympics kicks off.

Barratt House builder at Olympics

This ties in with rising prices in the East London area, after Lloyds TSB research revealed that the average property has appreciated by 32 per cent in Bow and 39 per cent in Dalston since the Olympics was awarded to London in 2012.

Barratt Developments reports, “There is strong demand for property in East London and flats in both St. Andrews and Dalston Square are excellent value for money, especially considering how convenient they are for Canary Wharf and The City”

House prices set to Rocket or Plummet

Zanet — Sun, 09 May 2010 10:01:51 +0000

A very interesting report in the Times looked at how things may turn out in the coming months for UK property with the latest political changes.

The articles expressed that one of the greatest challenges the new coalition Government faces is to make sure that pessimistic predictions about the housing market do not come true. Allowing prices to plummet would be catastrophic economic policy. If the market falls by significantly more than 10 per cent our banking industry could once more find itself in difficulties, triggering a negative spiral of new lending restrictions and further house price falls that would put the economic recovery in great jeopardy. Nor should we forget that falling prices would trap tens of thousands more borrowers in negative equity.

Property Set to Rocket or Plummet after Hung Parliament

The replies were even more interesting based on whether an extended period of stable prices may allow incomes to catch up with valuations or whether a return to an era when houses are viewed primarily as places to live rather than speculative investments. Here are the comments below….

“One of the greatest challenges the new coalition Government faces is to make sure that pessimistic predictions about the housing market do not come true.” Why? What happened to “you can’t buck the market”? Why should the Government prop up excessive house prices?” – Ned Ludd

Not sure I agree when you say falls in excess of 10% could cause the banks problems:
Firstly, the net lending figures tells us something interesting – people have been steadily paying down their mortgages, therefore increasing equity. Secondly, the average deposit for the past few years has been around 25%. See where this is going? The banks are positioning themselves very comfortably for the coming falls. Also, whilst keeping house prices artificially high may have suited a government trying to get re-elected, a lower starting point would suit any incoming government. Anyone buying recently will find the next few years quite stressful I think.” – Mike Williams

“We are approching the end of the “suckers rally”in land and property prices.This rally in theory cauld continue until interest rates start creeping up due to inflation or the end of the banks monetary policy that is supporting the economy some which should happen at the end of this year or the beginning of next.How ever interest rates cauld rise alot sooner due to the contagian of delinguat soverign debt in europe that WILL hit us at some time meaning interest rates will have to rise subsantially and speedily to defend the pound against a down ward spirral,thus pulling down the last prop holding the property market up.The shake out has not finished, this will be a dramatic colapse.To prevent this cycle happening again we need to tax the land owners/free holders and not the wage earners and savers!Buy to let investers have destroyed the hopes and asperations of many people.They are the new land barrons!!! Tax them out of existance!” – Rousel Duke

“The house price bubble created during Brown’s era of fiscal imprudence that led to the collapse of the banks is over. The bubble Brown encouraged to power our economy has left the nation with the highest level of debt in decades. The subject matter of that bubble, house prices, have yet to reflect economic reality. Prices are grossly distorted against any measure you care to name including wages, ability to borrow under the new rules that eschew “creative financing,” jobs and the unemployment trend, rentable values and the global trend of house price collapse. House prices in this country will collapse and they have a long way to go before reaching a viable level. I expect to see further falls of between 40-60% over the course of the next 3 years.” – Real Istbear

So what do you think?

Are prices still greatly inflated and we are about to find out?

Will interest rates dramatically sneak up over the coming months?

Will the next few years be really tough on new time buyers?

Village of Tescos

Zanet — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:40:44 +0000

Tescos announced plans to build four reported villages based around there own store. Its been echoed around for some time that the massive supermarket would move into the housing market. This has now raised concerns of the retailer abusing it’s power and knowing too much about it’s customers.

Village of Tescos - Every Little Helps!

Their is no doubt though that there is rightful concern that the biggest supermarket in Britain is turning into a power business as it recently announced a record £3.4bn in profits to the city.

While Tescos claim that it will provide more work for the economy, others are concenred that they will end up owning a to large share of several markets and thus take away the importance of fair competition. They would know everything about individuals as they not only shopped, but insured, banked, mortgaged, and now virtually worked and lived under the Tescos umbrella.

The New Economics Foundation think tank reported “There’s a sense that they are using their market power to dominate aspects of the economy, there is a need for more affordable housing but there is a danger with Tesco’s moves. If they provide the mortgage, if they act as estate agent, if they provide a credit card, if they sell you a house, they will end up with more personal information about you than the Government.”

A Tesco report denied they would abuse its power or “suggestions they were building “mini-villages” was “going too far”.

Property Price Extremes

Zanet — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:09:10 +0000

Last week we revealed the most expensive street in Britain as being Chester Square in London, where the average property is worth £6,596,000. It is the second consecutive year that Chester Square has been in the number one spot and the most recently sold property in the area went for £7 million.

Fernhill Near Cardiff - Extremely Low Prices

So what is the cheapest street in Britain? Well no one wants the label cheapest, so officially its Britain’s most affordable street. A street in Wales is Britian’s most affordable location with the average home costing just £28,600. Fernhill, in Mountain Ash, Wales was the cheapest road for the second year running.

Fernhill, in Mountain Ash, Wales – average property is worth £28,600
Chester Square London – average property is worth £6,596,000
Thats a downsizing difference in average property price of £6,567,400

In effect you could afford 230 properties in Fernhill in exchange for one in Chester Square!

Fernhill in the Mid Glamorgan village of Mountain Ash, near Cardiff, has remained the lowest-priced street amid recent low sales and has an average home value of £28,600, up from £24,640 last year.

At least the price has increased since last year by around £4000. Mouseprice said all regions had seen their average rise since last year as the property market has improved.

Pre-election house prices up – Rightmove

Zanet — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:23:06 +0000

Rightmove the largest UK property web site reports that house prices continue to rise. With the election approaching this has not dappened the market in any way. Asking prices in April increased by 2.6 per cent on the average property, thats almost £6000 compared with March. Prices are running 6 per cent higher than in the same month of 2009.

Rightmove does add some caution though. “The shortage of properties widely credited as a key factor in recent price rises is starting to ease. More than 25,000 properties have been going on the market each week for the last two months, the longest sustained period at such levels since August 2008. Estate agencies’ unsold stock levels are also increasing, rising from 65 to 68 between March and April. Also if the General Election result is a hung parliament, the uncertainty could undermine the boost in activity which normally follows an election”.

right move stats

“As far as the housing market is concerned, any election result is better than no result,” Miles Shipside, the commercial director at Rightmove, said. “In the even of a hung parliament, the market is likely to go into suspended animation until greater certainty emerges.”

Some would debate whether there is a shortage of properties. If asking prices continue to rise, all but the most popular locations are building themselves up for some of the gains to be lost later in the year. May will provide a lot more answers to the on going and ever changing views of the Uk property market.

Can Tepilo remain free?

Zanet — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:52:25 +0000

How can Tepilo remain free?

Why can a web site like Tepilo, operate as an on-line estate agent for the grand cost of zero? Normally you would expect to see some small print or a catch in such an arrangement. we looked into it in greater detail and were suprised to find that there really are no catches.

Can Tepilo remain free?

With its small cost of running and maintenance the site will probably have to have some form of advertising. As the Tepilo brand grows and traffic increases it seems that the kindest way to cover costs would be an advert here or there. Most users would be overly happy to accomodate such adverts in exchange for the free services.

Tepilo web site states “We plan to run the site for some time with little or no “on site” advertising, and keeping the offering free for you. We need to establish ourselves, get the site finished and get our message out there. In the future we may look for some choice sponsors to help finance the site, but we are determined not to pester you with offers, adverts or spam”.

Looking forward, Tepilo have some exciting partnerships to announce and plan on remaining true to there word of keeping everything free.

This unique offering may well change the way you sell your next property. Read our full report on how you can upload your own properties for free, without the need for getting an estate or letting agent involved and saving you thousands in the process.

Good to see that on a detailed look Tepilo is exactly what it claims, a great free offering.

Halifax says house prices over 5 percent rise

Zanet — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:45:56 +0000

New report – Halifax says house prices over 5 percent rise!

Housing market confidence its currently at its highest since recession started a few years back. According to the data supplied from the Halifax, they recently indicated that house prices rose by 1.1 per cent last month to an average of £168,521 and have increased by 5.2 per cent in the past year.

Interestingly the property web site Zoopla.co.uk showed that 81 per cent of people believe house prices will increase in the next six months, with the average rise expected to be 5.7 per cent.

Halifax says house prices over 5 percent rise

Confidence is growing

This means confidence has grown in the UK housing market and is the highest it has been since the start of the recession according to an online source of UK property market information.

The public’s confidence in the future performance of the housing market is great to see and will provide continued confidence for future growth and recovery as is already shown in the Halifax figures.

With the looking general election there will be a lot more certainty about what the state of play is for future months to come in the UK property market.

Property – Stable in 2011 peak 2014

Zanet — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:39:42 +0000

Stable in 2011 peak 2014

If you paid top value in 2007, it will only be around 2013 that house prices in England will climb close to the same value, and rising above during 2014.

Oxford Economics recently prepared a report for the National Housing Federation. It is suggested that house prices will fall throughout 2010, with stabilisation coming in 2011.

National Housing Federation

The pattern is similar to the nineties according to the high street lenders.

The Nationwide Building Society report:
“It took until the first quarter of 1998 to regain the third-quarter 1989 peak”.

The Halifax report:
“Prices rose above their January 1990 peak in November 1997″.

It could just be too much is being read into this short-term trend, amid evidence that the flow has slowed, if not reversed, in the recession. People have to live somewhere, so if not enough homes are being built, and then housing will become more expensive, thus the price increase seen in the past.