Budget 2014 - So what does this mean for the property market?

On the 19th of March 2014 The Chancellor, George Osborne, presented a ‘budget for savers’. In this story, we delve into the details of the budget, looking at what changes have been made relating to the property sector and the benefits for you.

Help to Buy
The Budget 2014 confirmed that the government is extending the first part of the Help to Buy scheme for equity loans until 2020. This enables people to still contribute 5% deposit but on new- build property only.

The first part of the Help to Buy scheme was originally meant to expire in 2016, but the Chancellor has extended this in order to help people get onto the property ladder, plus boost the UK construction industry. Mr Osborne said “120,000 new homes would be built as a result of the scheme”.

The second part of the Help to Buy scheme regarding Mortgage guarantees has not been mentioned in the Chancellors speech.
Find out more about the help to buy scheme by clicking here

Stamp Duty

Previously, corporate stamp duty land tax has been at a rate of 15% for any residential properties over the £2,000,000 threshold. It has been announced that the threshold has been reduced by 75%.

From midnight on the 19th of March, any property being purchased through at corporate envelope at a value of £500,000 or more will be subject to the increase duty rates.

Many of the properties which fall in this category are empty properties held in corporate envelopes to avoid stamp duty.

Although corporate companies will be feeling the pinch from this announcement, private homebuyers won’t feel the effect with private stamp duty land taxes being held at the same rate.

Stumped by stamp duty? Find out everything you need to know by clicking here

Self-Builders – Right to Build
In order to help self-builders, a “right to build” scheme will be created and £150m will be provided by the government to support this. Also an extra £500m to small house building firms will be given, which has been welcomed by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB)

The opportunity for new builds will also aid the regeneration of run down council estates.

Looking for a new build? We work with many large and private developers and have a stunning range of new build properties across Berkshire and Surrey. Register with us today to keep up-to-date with all new developments.

If you’re a maker, a doer or a saver: this Budget is for you!

The budget brought with it radical changes to savings and pensions, plus encouragement for homeowners. The economy is certainly showing signs of recovery and although there is more work to be done, the Budget promised to secure the recovery and build a more resilient economy.

The OBR forecast the largest upward revision in economic growth in 30 years, with employment levels up and the national deficit down by one third.

A resilient economy is a more balanced economy with more exports, more building and more investment. With this in mind the Chancellor announced that the funding available to exporters will be doubled to £3 billion and the interest rates charges on this lending will be cut by a third.

Announcements such as the increase in personal allowance to £10,000 and the shake-up in savings mean that individuals will be able to keep more of the money they earn and save. Mr Osborne also predicted that earnings will rise at a greater rate to inflation, meaning that by 2015 households will have a larger disposable income, which is why the government have announced a rise in National Minimum Wage.

Due to the recent flooding and the damage this has caused for many home owners, there will be £140m extra for flood defence repairs and maintenance. Also, after the storms which have battered the UK for the last couple of months there has been £200 million allocated towards repairing potholes.

Other announcements that will significantly benefit individuals include a council tax and fuel duty freeze, meaning there will be no fuel duty rise as planned for September. In 2017 we will get a new £1 coin as quoted by the Chancellor “A more resilient pound for a more resilient economy!” The new £1 is to be introduced due to counterfeit coins.

Colin Wells, CEO of Prospect Estate Agency, comments: - "Excitingly, the March 2014 budget has done little to derail the recovering property market. With unemployment falling, domestic growth accelerating and homeowner confidence rising, the 200,000 new home investment and extension of the help-to-buy scheme until the end of the decade has enhanced a positive market place in a measured way."

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- See more at: http://www.prospect.co.uk/news-featured/budget-2014-so-what-does-this-mean-for-the-property-market.html?no-mobile-redirect#sthash.MgepRNdr.dpuf

Service at it's best...

A recent experience with a well-known, national company, gave me a further insight into the importance of quality service and results.  Whilst this company offered a relatively attractive package at the cheapest price, from day one the service was bordering on appalling.  I decided, as the package was so cheap that I would stick with it but after a week of stress, I decided it would be wise to pay extra and get the service and results I wanted.  This experience wasn’t a property related one but it can certainly be related to the property market.

The market in general is positive but selling a house for the best price is never easy.  The service and results your agent can deliver both now and in the past are of the utmost importance to your move.  A reputation and track record will overcome the old adage “if you buy cheap, you buy twice”.

Prospect are currently ranked 8^th out of 12,140 estate by the review site, All Agents.co.uk - the trip advisor for estate agents. This is testament to the service we have provided over the previous 24 years and many years to come.

If you are thinking of selling or letting your property this year, please contact me on 0118 979 9005 or email me at sstevens@prospectphd.co.uk

It is the height of the moving season and with many different opinions, I think it is an excellent time to consider moving.

Here we go again. Double dip. What will the property market do now? When will it ever get back to normal?

Well, the mortgage lenders are still being difficult and the conveyancers seem to be taking forever to process sales. Buyers are being especially choosy and, bizarrely, some are even letting the internet influence what they should pay for a property rather than the market. Some sellers still think it is 2006 with prices to match. Surveyors are ever more cautious.

Finchampstead Road - SSTC

These are everyday issues that affect all those involved in buying and selling property. Plus there are the other annoyances like Stamp Duty changes, and confused and conflicting reports made by industry ‘insiders’ in the press.

What should a sensible buyer or seller do? The answer is to forget all of the above and get on with your move.

If you wait for things to get back to normal you will wait forever because there is no normal in property. We are where we are now. Tomorrow may be better or it may be worse. But who really knows. So make the most of it now and move on. Don’t look back.

The Ridges £860,000




There may be ups and there will certainly be downs along the way. But the best advice from the people who understand the property market most of all – estate agents - is don’t wait for things to get back to normal. This is normal, or as normal as it gets.

Pricing Is The Key To Selling Your Home

Price governs property sales. It is not the location. It is not the size. It is not the condition. It is the price. Location, size and condition influence price. But price still governs everything. So here is a fun game to play with your own home. Estimate three prices. The first figure, a very high amount, beyond even your most rose-tinted view is the figure that your home would never fetch in a month of Sundays. The second figure, a very low sum, is the sort of price at which a frenzied hoard of ruthless cash buyers would bite your arm off on the first day of marketing - and each then be prepared to gazump wildly if they were unsuccessful. This is a price that would be met in a firestorm and with everything that could go wrong, going wrong. The third figure is between the other two. This is the amount your property might fetch if pursued by a couple of ready, willing and able buyers after several weeks of marketing on the internet and in the press. These buyers wouldn’t have been alone in viewing but the others will have decided against proceeding further for whatever reason.

New Wokingham Road, Crowthorne - Under Offer

You can play this game with any property and all three figures determine the speed at which the property will – or will not - sell. Clearly human nature demands a preference for a seller to try and achieve the first figure and a strong reluctance to descend to the second. But the clever player will steer the third, middle course. In a property sale one can determine the price one gets and one can determine the time it takes to sell. But it is tricky to determine both together – especially in this market. To achieve a perfectly timed and priced sale the seller has to move the price more towards the realistic than the optimistic, and in some cases, sadly, even nudge the pessimistic. Or they must be lucky. The question every seller has to ask is, am I lucky? Or, do I have time to be lucky?

Nine Mile Ride, Finchampstead - Under Offer

The good news is that even in a depressed market such as we have now there is a level of movement stimulated by those who must sell and/or buy, usually through reasons of birth, death, health, marriage, divorce, job change, retirement or money concerns. The even better news is that moving home is a game usually played over two legs. There is the home leg, selling, and the away leg, buying. Usually, what one loses on the swings one gains on the roundabouts. So in the end all things pretty much level themselves out.

Remember that first figure, the highly optimistic one? That territory is reserved for a bull market with buyers scrambling to purchase what little there is available, where lenders are throwing money at borrowers, where there is much less unemployment than we have now and far more confidence, where there are no austerity cuts, where the property market is on a charge upwards and panic buying is rife. Can there be any reasonable person in this country who feels we have these conditions right now?

Wick Hill Lane, Finchampstead - Under Offer

2012 - A Year of Stability and Positivity

The New Year  is an excellent time to consider your options whether you are currently on the market, thinking of selling or looking to purchase.  The excitement of The Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee will bring further positive exposure for the country from all over the world.  The International investment in prime London homes will continue with long term strategy being key to most investors.

Although mature estate agents are apt to say that they have seen it all before, this time it is different. No one has seen this market under this set of national and international financial conditions before. But what is rather refreshing is that the uncertainty now cuts down the speculation aspect of a house purchase and strips the requirement to buy down to the real and age-old essentials. This makes for easier choices.

Rivendell, Heatherwood Avenue - £875,000

Le Corbusier, the pioneering architect, stated that, “The requirements for a house should be to provide a shelter against heat, cold, rain, thieves and the inquisitive”. He didn’t add that a house should also provide its owner with an investment return of seven per cent year-on-year.

For the first time since the 1960s property investment can take more of a back seat in the house buying mindset and, instead, fundamental life requirements can come back to the fore. Of course with other financial instruments providing so little in the way of return, property is a natural arena in which to invest. But with little or no indication about if or when the market, outside central London, will return in any strength we are left with simpler decisions and choices - does a property suit our requirements in size, location, style and price?

It is although our needs have been simplified in the way they may have been fifty years ago. With less frenzy and greater choice, for a while at least, this may be a very good time to choose a primary or secondary home for all the very best lifestyle reasons.

We quickly learn to expect that there is an investment opportunity to be gained from property purchase in a rising market. But we are rather slow to appreciate the reverse is likely in a poor market and/or in particularly adverse economic circumstances as we have now.

2011 was a hard year in property and this year may not be much better. We may have new American, Russian and French presidents, more ructions in Europe and the Middle East, and greater privations at home before we see improvement. But still there is a reassuring level of market activity that has more to do with need than discretion. This is the market we have and this is the market we have to deal with – and deal with it we will.

Maywood House - £1,300,000

Real buyers and sellers should not be deterred. Indeed they should be encouraged as the more life there is in the property market the more life there is in the economy. But those still insisting on the sort of financial profit they may have achieved several years ago should perhaps think again and get real. It will be the enlightened who get to the top of the property class in 2012, not those in denial.

There Is Still Time This Year......

The race is on. The holiday gear has been put away for another year. The children are back at school. Mince pies and Christmas decorations are already on the supermarket shelves. It must be October, and the rush for some is to sell their property and buy a new one in time to put those decorations up this year.
It’s as though Christmas decorations will make a new property an instant home. Nice thought. But it is usually time that makes a home. And time is not really on the side of October sellers, unless they adhere to some hard and fast seasonal rules.
So here are six top tips to help move things along before Christmas 2011.
1. Try not to apply an arbitrary timetable to your sale and purchase - especially one that is influenced by Christmas. It could add unnecessary pressure at an already stressful time. Ultimately the speed of property transactions rests on price and not on whimsical desire.

2. Price your property today based on what someone will realistically pay and not the sum you need to buy the property you want, or the amount you think you should have. Therein lies disappointment.

3. Be flexible. Yours will not be the only agenda. Others in the transaction, and in allied transactions, will have their own agendas too. Be reasonable.

4. Clean, paint, de-clutter, shine, stage, beautify and equip for all you are worth. Lots of other savvy sellers will be doing the same to attract a good buyer. You don’t want to be left with a bad one just before Christmas.
5. Remember a house is not just for Christmas. It is for all the year round. It is for you and your family. If it is worth buying it really is worth waiting for.

The market currently offers an outstanding opportunity for potential sellers with a distinct lack of quality choice available for purchasers, prices being acheived are positive and in reasonable timescales.

 Oaks House £995,000 - Sale Agreed in 3 Weeks

Nearwater £825,000 Sale Agreed in 2 Weeks

http://www.prospectphd.co.uk/

Achieving The Best Price - Local Knowledge and Experience Counts

One expert says that house prices will rise next year and then continue to do so for some years to come. Another says that house prices are 30% overvalued and will fall. Meanwhile prices are soaring in central London, are stable in other places and still losing ground in a few more.
But should we care so much about what is going on in general across the UK? And how useful are their comments in helping to keep the wheels of the property market turning? Certainly I don’t think we need to heed these market pundits too much when they are commenting on such a broad basis. What I am fairly certain of is that many of these people often don’t fully understand what is happening in the South East right now. There is a big difference between the media experts who talk about the market and the estate agents who actually have to deal with it. It is easy for the media to make grand over-arching pronouncements and predictions but estate agents have to move people whatever the market conditions.
And estate agents know how to do this because they are dealing with these matters every day. We understand how national, regional and even local financial issues affect our own local market and we work constantly to find ways of dealing with these conditions - whatever they may be.

Prior to 2007, when the market was storming away, it was much easier for owners and estate agents to sell property – of course it was. But now it is not. Yet despite this there is an active market bubbling under the lugubrious surface. There are always buyers about whatever the market. It is just that now there aren’t so many of them they can afford to be choosy and are often in no rush - all most frustrating and difficult for sellers.

But well-located property, in good order and at a sensible market price, will find a buyer – it always does. The skill here is in getting the best price. For other property, perhaps where the years haven’t been so kind, which is less pleasing on the eye or not in quite such a sought-after location, things get a little more tricky - but far from impossible.

Personal circumstances do not dance to the tune of the property market. It is when the chips are down and one really has to sell and move on - even in an adverse market - that sellers find out who their real friends are. A market commentator in those circumstances won’t be a lot of use. On the other hand an effective estate agent could - surprise, surprise - become a very good friend indeed.


For further information please contact Shaun Stevens on: sstevens@prospectphd.co.uk