INDICES
Rightmove says house prices up! March February
Average Property Asking Price £236,939 % Change in Month % Change in Past Year
+1.6% +2.2%
Monthly Index (Jan 2002=100) 192.8
The latest Rightmove House Price Index says that early indicators suggest that
property market activity in 2012 is on course to be more robust than in 2011.
HOUSE PRICES The Crossrail effect
Crossrail will have a dramatic effect on residential property prices along its route,
according to new research released by Jones Lang LaSalle – with particularly strong impacts around Tottenham Court Road, the City Fringe and Docklands. The cross-London railway, due to begin operating from 2018, will make areas East of the City far more accessible, with the West End and Heathrow becoming just 13 minutes and 39 minutes from Canary Wharf respectively. Its most important impact will be the improvement of the image and environment of the area around Tottenham Court Road, ending the scheme’s long blight of the area and bringing values in line with adjacent parts of the West End. The property consultancy
forecasts that over the six years to 2018, residential property prices will increase by 50% for mainstream property around Tottenham Court Road, with prime residential property seeing even greater growth of 57 per cent. This will be closely followed by Canary Wharf and Farringdon, where mainstream and prime values will see uplifts of 46 per cent and 47 per cent, and 47 per cent and 48 per cent respectively. Jon Neale, Residential
Research Director at Jones
Lang LaSalle, said, “Our core forecasts over the same period are circa 33 per cent for mainstream and outer London and 40 per cent for Inner London, so we expect outperformance all along the Crossrail route, particularly within a 5-minute walk of the new stations.” “International evidence
suggests that new transport infrastructure has strong impacts on values around new stations, with uplifts of 10-20 per cent commonplace. The effect is most intense on areas where the increase in accessibility is most significant (see attached map).” Areas which are already very
established locations, such as Bond Street, will benefit less from the uplift resulting from Crossrail, although the area will still see the strong price growth that will be characteristic of Inner London over the next few years – a result of the increasing appetite international investors have for such locations, together with robust domestic demand. The map demonstrates the
effect that Crossrail will have on levels of access for those areas along the Crossrail route. It also shows the changes in value between 2012 and 2018 for mainstream and prime property prices in each of these areas.
New sellers’ average asking prices are up by 1.6 per cent this month and are seeing their strongest start to the year since 2004, fuelled by the continuing shortage of suitable stock and a jump of 16 per cent in search activity on Rightmove during the first quarter. While these statistics indicate increasing confidence in some sectors of the market, the recovery remains patchy and, because transaction volumes remain low, the market is very sensitive to external influence. The end of the first-time buyer
stamp duty holiday on the 24th March is a potential blow to the all-important lower end of the housing market, with some tentative signs of ‘housing market life’. There is evidence that first- time buyers are working hard to raise deposits to get onto the housing ladder. However, they are now faced with the double blow of losing their one per cent stamp duty exemption between £125,000 and £250,000 and asking prices are three per cent
CONGRATULATIONS Oakley is Toastmasters’ President
John Oakley a former Kent based estate agent and Chairman of The NAEA in East Kent is
now President of The Association of the UK School of Professional Toastmasters, the largest member association within The Toastmasters General Council. John has been a Toastmaster for
10 years having undergone extensive training after having
retired from day to day Estate Agency.
He has worked at a number of prestigious locations including the recently refurbished Savoy Hotel, The Waldorf, The Hilton in Park Lane and even as far away as a function in Palm Beach Florida. Much of his work is at local
venues, looking after Weddings, Corporate Events, Award Ceremonies, Civic Functions and Formal Dinners – anywhere that needs a master of ceremonies to coordinate the event.
PROPERTYdrum APRIL 2012 7
£233,252 +4.1% +1.4% 189.8
higher than a year ago on their target market of terraces and flats. Miles Shipside (pictured), director of Rightmove said, “For a first-time buyer it’s already hard enough to raise the necessary deposit and now, as well as potentially losing between £1,250 and £2,500 in stamp duty exemption, asking prices for their target property types have increased by over £5,000 in the last year as well. The stamp duty holiday was designed to promote activity in the moribund housing market, helping first time buyers to get onto the housing ladder, and as a consequence releasing others to climb up the rungs too. With some promising indicators of activity so far in 2012, there are finally some signs that this is playing an important role. The question is: can the Chancellor afford to spring a surprise and extend the stamp duty exemption? If not, what are the potential costs of leaving the UK re-sale property market without any incentives?
“The recent launch of NewBuy
may well counteract some elements of the removal of the stamp duty exemption. However, due to its focus on the new build sector, to support Government’s efforts to create jobs, this is of little consolation to those people looking to buy or sell on the resale market.”
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