October Roundup

Well, October seems to have flown by! But what has been happening in the property news over the last month?

Take a look with our October round up!

Far from the tumultuous news reports of the preceding six months or so, the property market has been relatively stable throughout October and the news making the headlines reflects this.

Most of the local news throughout October has focused on new developments within the city and on the outskirts, with Derbyshire Live bringing us reports of planning approval being sought for extra homes to be added to the former DRI site, with some 124 additional flats being proposed to the £150 million redevelopment of the site. The new properties are yet to be approved by the planning department and you can read the full article here: https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/new-derbyshire-housing-estate-shown-6104363

In the same vein, Derbyshire Live continue to follow the fortunes of the group behind the proposed development at the site of the old La Gondala restaurant, with the owners now seeking planning permission to create two 23 bedroom bedsits on Uttoxeter New Road. This would form a total of 46 rooms between the two properties, with associated parking to the rear of the buildings. Both of the properties had previously been used as offices, but the intention is now to convert them into studio rooms, all of which will have en-suite shower rooms, while there will also be communal areas on each floor. You can find out more about the proposal here: https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/two-23-room-bedsits-planned-6118383

Another planned development received a huge boost this month, with the proposed Infinity Garden Village south of Sinfin benefiting from the Governments ‘Leveling Up’ scheme to the tune of £50 million to help pay for a for a new junction on the A50 south of Derby. This is needed to unlock a greenfield site where the houses and new industry will be sited and the development would also contain a new primary school, community hall, shops, health services, a pub, drive-through restaurant and a petrol station. You can find all the details here: https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/plan-1850-homes-outskirts-derby-6122108

Switching to a broader view of the property news, the BBC have reported on predictions for both house prices and mortgage rates this month. The current thoughts are that the surge in house prices with begin to slow, but continued growth is to be expected for at least the next five years. According to the report, The Office for Budgetary Responsibility has now predicted that house prices will go up by 8.6% this year, compared with a year earlier. The annual rise would then slow to 3.2% in 2022, before decelerating further to 0.9% in 2023, it said. You can read the report here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59078455

Hand in hand with the predictions, is the suggestion that the ultra-low mortgage rates that have been available for some time now, will gradually begin to rise with Mortgage experts expecting a “slow and measured” increase in the cost of home loans amid predictions of rising prices elsewhere. Of course, all eyes are still on the Bank of England which will consider next week whether to raise the base rate. Read the full report here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59091003

The budget was of course the main event in the October calendar, but for once the property market seems to have got away quite lightly with minimal changes announced in this round of book balancing. Our friends over at Estate Agent Today online property magazine compiled a handy guide to the announcements below:

Budget: Property and related issues:

There will be £5 billion to remove unsafe cladding from highest risk residential buildings; this will be funded through a Residential Property Developers Tax levied on developers with profits over £25m at a rate of four per cent. Some 31 housebuilders made that much profit in 2019.

There will also be up to 180,000 affordable homes built on brownfield sites as part of a “multi-year housing settlement” of nearly £24 billion – the largest cash investment in a decade according to the Chancellor.

Some £11.5bn of these funds will go towards the construction of affordable homes, with the focus trained on developing brownfield sites.

Sunak told the Commons: “We are investing more in housing and homeownership with a multi-year settlement totalling nearly £24 billion. The government will provide £11.5 billion to build up to the 180,000 new, affordable homes the country needs annually, 20 per cent larger than the previous programme. We are investing an extra £1.8 billion, enough to bring 1,500 hectares of brownfield land into use, meet our commitment to invest £10 billion in new housing and unlock a million new homes.”

So some good news and indications that investment in new home building is still high on the political agenda.

Finally, Rightmove have produced their average house price figure, suggesting that the national average is now up to a record high of £344,445, with more people looking to move than there are homes for sale. They have also taken a look at exactly what that figure would get you in each region across the country, take a look here: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/property-news/houses-average-region-price-britain/?

So that’s the round up for another month! Of course, as usual, if you need any help or advice about the property market or the sale of your home, just get in touch with your local experts at Hannells!

https://hannells.co.uk/branch/