Monday property news update
Housing market surge leaves the system creaking
3 minutes to read
Mortgage rates start to rise
The rising cost of mortgages that has been squeezing many first time buyers out of the property market is now beginning to include lower loan-to-value mortgages.
Mortgage rates across the largest high street lenders at all LTVs are now rising as banks struggle with a surge in new business sparked by homebuyers seeking to finalise deals ahead of the end of the stamp duty holiday.
Hina Bhudia of Knight Frank Finance tells the FT that anybody with a rate secured with a lender "should lock it in asap because there’s no guarantee it’s going to be there tomorrow." You can read more from Hina over on the blog.
The conveyancing system creaks
The surge shows little signs of abating. Exchanges in the property market outside of London reached an all-time high in the second week of October and there are signs of strain in various parts of the conveyancing system.
Once an offer is accepted, it takes on average just over two months before exchange is reached, according to analysis by Tom Bill. The whole process, from the sale instruction to completion, takes on average six months.
With the stamp duty holiday ending at the end of March and a 2% surcharge for overseas buyers in place from April, pressure on the system is likely to increase. Tom speaks to Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, about what it all means for the market.
How can Britain build better homes?
With the coronavirus fuelling searches for new lifestyles any many homeseekers looking to upsize, Anna Ward speaks to the authors of new book Broken Homes to find out how new housing policy could result in bigger, better spaced homes.
Journalist and former editor of EG Peter Bill and urban regeneration specialist Jackie Sadek talk about the incentives that have led to a dysfunctional system and Knight Frank partner Charlie Dugdale outlines what it will take to get large-scale garden community housing projects off the ground.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, or Acast.
A big fortnight for central banks
Three Group of Seven interest-rate decisions along with data accounting for 40% of global gross domestic product will provide a temperature check for the global economy this week, writes Bloomberg.
Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank will provide a snapshot of global growth this week, before the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve outline their outlook next week.
After stoking speculation we may be about to see a negative base rate back in June, BOE officials have since played down the likelihood that will happen in the short term. Chief economist Andy Haldane was playing down the possibility late last week.
A vaccine breakthrough?
The FT this morning reports that the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford, in collaboration with AstraZeneca, has produced a robust immune response in elderly people.
The piece suggests the vaccination of priority groups such as NHS staff on the frontline might be able to get under way as early as January.
Meanwhile, the government is considering reducing the self-isolation time for the contacts of people who tested positive for the coronavirus, cutting it from two weeks to potentially 10 or seven days.
In other news...
Private jets take off as wealthy flyers seek to avoid virus; packed bars and mask-less catwalks in China; Spain announces new state of emergency; and finally, Italy mulls partial lockdown.