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28 May 2007
The new Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill.
This will only refer to sales of residential properties and not lettings. The Bill forces all 12,000 Estate Agents to belong to a recognised ombudsman scheme which will make rulings on disputes and force rogue agents to compensate victims. However, this will not apply to complaints against estate agents acting for landlords, or for landlords against an agent managing their property. Complaints by landlords has been increasing at the fastest rate, following the boom in by-to-let sales. The bill also does not apply to developers selling direct to homebuyers.
23 May 2007
Home Information Packs delayed!
The controversial introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPS) has been delayed until 1st August 2007. Even then, it will only apply to homes with four bedrooms or larger. The government intends a gradual introduction of the requirement for smaller homes, but has, as yet, not given any timetable for this.
Until the end of this year, sellers of four bedroom homes can market their properties without a HIP; provided they have “commissioned” one and it is no longer required on the first day the home is marketed.
Following the earlier scrapping of the requirement for a Home Condition report, this is yet a further climbdown, due this time to a national shortage of Energy Performance Assessors. Only 520 have been trained with a further 1500 currently being trained and experts believe over 2000 will be required to make HIPS work.
The ongoing delay and changes to the requirements will only serve to further confuse and for those who have already been trained, this delay will leave them out of work and out of pocket.
13 May 2007
Plans for Eco-Towns
Gordon Brown will announce plans to build up to five new “eco- towns” each providing 100,000 new homes. The new houses will be powered by wind and solar power, using recycled building materials and hi tech insulation and will be built on “brownfield sites”. Trees will be planted to offset any “carbon footprint” and public transport access will be designed to keep car use to a minimum. Buyers will benefit in reduced energy bills and will also not have to pay Stamp Duty.
The first development is planned for Oakington Barracks in Cambridgeshire with around 400,00 eco-homes build across the country. Gordon Brown says he will change planning rules to greatly restrict developments on “greenfield sites”. It is intended that all new developments will be on disused “brownfield” land. As part of this plan there will be more shared equity schemes and an increase in social housing.
1 May 2007
Home Information Packs.
On 1st June 2007 house sellers will be required to compile a Home Information Pack (HIP) for potential buyers before they put their homes on the market. Compulsory documents to be included are:
Energy Performance Certificate : Sale statement : Standard searches and
Evidence of title and additional information for leasehold and commonhold sales, where appropriate.
It is thought that there is a national shortage of trained accredited Energy Assessors to complete the energy performance certificate, a detailed report on how energy efficient a property is and recommendations to make it more energy efficient.
For further information on HIPS visit: www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk
1 May 2007
House Prices on the rise.
The Halifax report that house prices have risen 10.9% during the year to 30 April 2007. The average house price is now £196,740. The Land Registry report price rise of 8.3% and average price of £178,423, with the Nationwide reporting an annual rise of 10.2% and an average house price of £180,314
28 April 2007
NHBC statistics recently released for the three months from December 2006 to February 2007 reveal the average number of new homes sold each day in the UK was 724, an increase of 27 per on the same period a year ago (568).
In addition, Housing association completions totalled 8,084 in the three months to the end of February 2007, an increase of 56 per cent on the corresponding period a year ago (5,187).
8 April 2007
New Laws to protect home buyers.
The new Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill will force all estate agents to keep their records for six years and force them to belong to an ombudsman scheme. However there is, at present, no provision or requirement for housebuilders to sign up despite the fact that they sell thousands of new homes every year from sales rooms on development sites. The House Builders Federation said “We sell in a completely different market situation and we are not aware that this protection is needed.”
25 March 2007
Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey in £5bn merger deal.
It is expected this week, that an announcement will be made of the all-share “merger of equals” to create Britain’s biggest house builder and propel the new company into the FTSE 100 index. This deal is set to put the £2bn takeover of Wilson Bowden (David Wilson Homes) by Barratt Developments in the shade.
The merger of the 3rd and 4th biggest house builders is expected to create millions of pounds in cost savings and boost it’s landbank. Wimpey, who recently lost out on the Wilson Bowden ‘auction’, posted profits last year of £370.9 million on a turnover of £3.15 billion and built 13,616 homes last year.
Taylor Woodrow, announced profits of £406 million (down £5 million on last year) despite a rise in sales to £3.68 billion. They trade under the Bryant name. A company they took over a few years ago building a total of 13,165 new homes in 2006.
Shares in both companies rose last week, Taylor Woodrow up 5.3% to 420.5p and George Wimpey up 12.4% to 635p valuing the companies at £2.45 billion and £2.55 billion respectively.
Over the last 10 years, 22 building companies have been lost to mergers and acquisitions.
It is thought that the increased recent activity is being fuelled by a general shortage of land with the larger companies being better placed to develop land as it comes on to the market. They are also engaged in long term strategic land acquisitions which they seek to obtain planning permission at a future date.
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