How has Brexit affected London house prices?New builds are the only home type with rises in every borough since 2014

http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/property-market-and-finance/03/2018/upmarket-london-properties-renting-for-record-highs/636/

New homes have risen more quickly in price than existing properties in every borough in London over the past five years, new analysis reveals today.

It shows that across the capital as a whole, new builds have gone up in value by an average of 25.3 per cent since 2014, while older “second-hand” flats and houses have increased by 20.6 per cent.

The findings suggests the “premium” buyers expect to pay for newly built properties remains intact, even after they have been lived in for several years.

The biggest gap is in the City of London where new-build prices have gone up 12.5 per cent more than those of existing stock.

The next biggest new-build gaps are in Redbridge, Camden and Lambeth. The smallest gap over the five-year period is in Kingston, at only 3.1 per cent.

The pattern is broadly the same over a 10-year period, with new builds outperforming older stock in all but five boroughs and by six per cent across London as a whole.

Since the EU Referendum in 2016, prices of existing properties have fallen by 2.1 per cent but new builds have edged up by 1.6 per cent.

The new-build property market has been hugely boosted by the Government’s Help to Buy scheme, which provides interest-free equity loans of up to 40 per cent on new properties worth up to £600,000. However, today’s findings raise fears that prices have been artificially elevated and could slump after Help to Buy is phased out between 2021 and 2023.

Michael Stone, founder of London agents Stone Real Estate, which carried out the analysis, said: “While new-build homes often come under fire due to the price premium involved, it’s abundantly clear that they have proven to be the best bricks-and-mortar investment option over the past 10 years when it comes to holding value.

“Despite the bumpy ride of Brexit uncertainty over the past few years, new-build property values have increased in every region of the UK, while existing stock has failed to keep pace, or in some cases, even seen a decline.

“This is largely due to build quality and condition. With new builds you can be sure the property is modern, structurally sound and energy-efficient, which are all features a buyer will look for.”

https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/how-has-brexit-affected-london-house-prices-new-builds-are-the-only-home-type-with-rises-in-every-a134316.html

London house prices:property market drops for the 18th month in a row wiping £7,000 off average home in the capital

https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/lifestyle/property/a26312929/house-price-index/

London house prices have fallen for the 18th month in a row, wiping nearly £7,000 off the value of the average home in the capital.

The property market dipped by 1.4 per cent in the year to August, leaving the average price at £472,753, according to Land Registry figures.

Prices are nearly £3,000 below where they stood in July 2016, the month after the EU referendum. In September 2017, they peaked at £488,527.

House prices fell in 21 of London’s 33 local authority areas, with the biggest drops in Kensington & Chelsea (down 9.1 per cent) and Brent(8.7 per cent lower).

They were down one per cent in inner London and 1.7 per cent in outer London.

The fastest-rising prices were in Hackney, where they went up 5.4 per cent, and Lewisham, which recorded a 3.9 per cent rise.

Jonathan Hopper, managing director of buying agency Garrington Property Finders, said: “While the capital still has the unwanted honour of being the region where prices are falling fastest, prices in the inner boroughs are beginning to settle and historically this is often seen as a precursor to a wider recovery across London.”

On the high street prices rose 1.7 per cent in September, according to the headline measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index. This was unchanged on August.

Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to City forecasters EY ITEM Club, said: “If the UK leaves the EU without a deal we believe house prices could quickly sink and drop around five per cent.”

It came as sliding fuel and second-hand car prices kept UK inflation at its lowest for almost three years in September.

https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/london-house-prices-property-market-drops-for-the-18th-month-in-a-row-wiping-7000-off-average-home-a134176.html

New 'affordable' homes in Bermondsey:Duke of Westminster's property company resubmits plans for custard cream factory conversion

The Duke of Westminster’s family property company, Grosvenor, got a rap across the knuckles for ‘‘not being good enough” when it submitted plans for its first major London development outside Mayfair and Belgravia and Southwark council threw them out.

https://www.christiesrealestate.com/eng/sales/chelsea-london-lv-eng

Now Grosvenor’s new £500 million masterplan for the former Peek Freans biscuit factory in Bermondsey has more and cheaper “affordable” housing and will be car free.

The original scheme was decisively rejected by the local authority in February when it said couples would need to earn around £30,000 each to afford the lower-cost flats on offer.

In May, however, Sadiq Khan used his powers as London Mayor to consider the scheme, saying it had “potential to make an important contribution to housing and affordable housing supply”.

The developer, best known for owning 100 acres of Mayfair and 200 acres of Belgravia, has increased the proportion of lower-cost housing from 27 per cent to 35 per cent and the average market rent discount from 27 per cent to 46 per cent.

Under the new plans 30 per cent of the affordable homeswill be at social rent equivalent, with a typical discount of 70 per cent to open market levels. The rest will be at discounted market rent with an average discount of 39 per cent.

Simon Harding Roots, executive director, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, said: “Bringing about positive and lasting change for Bermondsey has always been our focus. However, our original planning application was not good enough. We acted in good faith but it didn’t meet the council’s expectations.

“Since then, we have worked hard to address the clear call from the community, council and Mayor to deliver more affordable housing whilst ensuring the project, and its many other benefits, can become a reality.”

The plans for the factory where Bourbons and custard creams were made for decades, now include 1,548 new homes, up from 1,342 in the original plans and include around 482 lower-cost homes.

However, the requirement for more affordable homes has meant an increase in height of between one and seven storeys for seven of the blocks in the scheme and a reduction in the amount of retail space in order to be profitable, according to Grosvenor.

Phase one of construction would include 359 rental homes, of which 35 per cent by habitable room would be affordable, as well as the delivery of a new 600-pupil secondary school and 8,155sq ft of employment space.

The new plans are now the subject of a consultation lasting until 28 October.

https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/new-affordable-homes-in-bermondsey-duke-of-westminsters-property-company-resubmits-plans-for-custard-a133826.html