Archive for the ‘Estate Agency’ Category
Monday, January 25th, 2010
At the start of each year it is fashionable for commentators to predict the trend they expect to see in the housing market. Already some agents seem to be suggesting a significant improvement in the market. Of course it depends on what basis you judge a market. Much of the property press seem to be obsessed by the price of residential housing and that if people have to spend more to buy a house in Scotland in 2010 than in 2009 then this is the market “improving”.
At Caesar and Howie we do not really subscribe to that view. First and foremost houses are for families to live in not simply investments. We feel the number of successful transactions in the market is a much better indication of the health of the market rather than increasing prices. Consequently, whilst it does seem that the house price falls of the last two years are over – we do not think that the market is showing much sign of returning to good health. Good health for us is many buyers and sellers doing deals and in truth volumes remain very slim compared with the highs of 2007. Register House has not yet published final figures but sales in 2009 will probably come in around 67,000 or so compared with 155,000 in 2007.
The cost of Home Reports has clearly chased many sellers away from the market with listings for sale down all over the country since this policy was introduced by the Scottish Government.
We cannot see the sentiment of sellers changing much this year, and whilst there is still a strong desire to own property in Scotland, mortgage deals are still generally dependent on good deposits being available – and not all buyers can manage that.
So we believe the market will remain subdued in 2010. This means sellers have to be realistic on price, and to be patient, to achieve sales in 2010. Selling your house first before purchasing is the safest course to take – even being prepared to move into temporary accommodation between dates of entry. But buyers who had sold and had. “money in the bank” so to speak were able to press for a good deal buying houses in 2009 and we believe it will be the same this year.
We may be coming out of recession but many still fear for their jobs. We think until it is absolutely clear that the economy has turned round and individuals and families become more confident the number of house transactions is likely to stay modest. We doubt if house prices will increase across the board – although there may be the odd “city centre” hot spot. That does not mean that individuals cannot trade successfully in the market. But careful thinking, good professional advice and prudent decision making will be the order of the day to make this market work for you.
Tags: housing market
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Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
According to the Scottish Executive and Consumer groups Home Reports were intended to revolutionise the Scottish house market for the better. Ignoring the results of its own failed trial, the Executive pushed ahead against reasoned opposition and sensible requests for delay, and made the commissioning of a Home Report compulsory on domestic property sales from 1st December 2008. The results have been spectacular.
- GSPC is the premier house selling organisation in the West. Their listings dropped by 80% in the month after the introduction of Home Reports. They have remained resolutely at about 50% of 2008 levels ever since.
- ESPC is the premier house selling organisation in the East. Their registrations dropped by 80% immediately after the introduction of Home Reports and are cumulatively down about 52% in 2009 compared with 2008.
- Solicitor Property Centres and Estate Agencies across the country have recorded similar figures.
- House sales recorded in the Land Register dropped dramatically in January 2009 by 64 % from the 2008 figure.
- House sales recorded in the Land Register to end October 2009, the last date on which figures are available, are running at 5503 per month compared with 8571 per month in 2008. That is a massive fall of about 36%. And remember 2009 sales will have been artificially inflated from “Normal” by purchases under the Lift scheme and by the stamp duty holiday.
On any logical view of the house market and these figures it is clear that Home Reports have had a significant deleterious effect. If the rules of a market change on a particular date and from that date activity levels collapse I think it fair and reasonable to conclude that the rule change has affected activity. Our own experience in Caesar and Howie on volumes is typical and the chaos caused by this legislation is reflected in our daily work.
- Our listings halved in number from precisely the date of the introduction of Home Reports and have not yet recovered.
- Multiple surveys had been unknown in our firm for years until the introduction of Home Reports – now we are aware of them happening all the time – and who pays for them is often a cause of dispute.
- House Purchase and Sale transactions are taking longer and are usually more expensive for both buyer and seller.
- Many sales clients have complained bitterly to us about the cost of Home Reports, many buyers do not trust the sellers Home Report and lenders frequently reject the Home Report and require their own survey to be done.
- Potential sales clients have simply said they would rather not sell than meet the cost of a home report in a slow market.
- Sellers and buyers alike treat Energy Performance Certificates (part of the Home Report) with open contempt and see them as worthless.
- In many Home Reports, some, and even most of the questions in the Property Questionnaire section are answered “don’t know”.
- Sellers in financial difficulty who cannot get credit are selling “off market” often well under valuation because they cannot afford the Home Report and they therefore cannot put their house on the market.
In the face of our experiences and the figures I have quoted I am at a loss to see how any objective view of Home Reports could fail to confirm that they actually hinder the house market not help it. We have had a recession since early 2008 and yet the largest falls in listings and sales have come since the introduction of Home Reports – most markedly so. Many commentators predicted aspirational sellers (in our view the majority of sellers) would leave the market if it became too expensive to sell – and they have done just that, in their thousands. Every aspirational seller is also an aspirational buyer – which is why chasing this group from the market by ratcheting up the price of entering the market was such a daft policy decision. Indeed I wrote to Alex Neil, the Housing and Communities Minister, and all MSP’s advising that Home Reports would decimate the market and cause redundancies throughout the property and mortgage sector as well as in areas where trade relies on house transactions such as furniture shops, carpet shops etc. Such closures and redundancies throughout Scotland are now well documented.
As an aside, it seems pretty remarkable to me that a policy introduced to stop the non-existent problem of multiple surveys can actually cause multiple surveys and still be declared to be a success by our Housing and Communities Minister. If this mess is a success what on earth would constitute failure?
Sadly Home Reports were conceived in a Fantasy Land peopled by politicians, consumer “champions” and surveyors, with a sprinkling of a few non-representative lawyers. In Fantasy Land the 250,000 or so Scots who bought 155,241 houses in 2007 (and similar numbers in the years before that) were all hapless victims, recklessly spending their hard earned money on houses they knew absolutely nothing about. All these unfortunates apparently quite unwittingly bought “pigs in pokes” which might ruin their lives forever. This upset the consumer organisations and politicians who always know much better than the actual buyers themselves how and in what way they should spend their money. Oh and of course, these silly buyers were racking up about 5 survey fees a purchase as well. Of course in Fantasy Land it was all just that – pure fantasy.
Without wishing to be offensive I see from a recent press release that the proponents of Home Reports remain happily resident in Fantasy Land congratulating themselves on how they have fixed the house market – which they surely have.
Home Reports have “benefited buyers and sellers over the last 12 months” – The RICS.
“Which is delighted the new system is working well” – Which.
“It’s good news for everyone” - Alex Neil Housing and Communities Minister.
Well it must be great to live in Fantasy Land, where propaganda trumps facts. For the rest us left behind, we have to live with the gritty realities of life, one of them being the worst property market in living memory, a market brought to its knees by compulsory Home Reports.
There is an easy fix to this shambles. Just remove the compulsory nature of Home Reports – get rid of the £500 civil fine for selling without one – so sellers can freely decide whether to commission a Home Report or not. Then we will soon see who is right in this debate – because members of the public will decide for themselves whether Home Reports are a good thing worth paying for or whether they are not.
Should anyone in Government, the RICS, Which, or Consumer Focus Scotland read this article I hope someone will publish their response.
To save the hard pressed the bother of having to read it – I can tell you now what it will be.
“It wisnae us – it wis the recession”. How convenient. At all costs the Home Report Project must be saved irrespective of fact, logic, job losses, or the economic damage it has done. Just wait and see.
Tags: Home Reports, housing market
Posted in Conveyancing, Estate Agency | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Many clients of Kupdom have been buying houses in the Inverness area.
Those buyers will be pleased then to have seen figures from the Lloyds TSB house monitor issued this week. They show that the average price for a house in Inverness and the Highlands and Islands is £168,815. Also the price shows a healthy growth of 6.9 % from the same period last year.
Not all parts of Scotland have experienced figures like that with Glasgow and Edinburgh still showing price falls.
Aberdeen showed the highest prices rises – averaging 13% – but the North now lies third behind Edinburgh and Aberdeen in the house price league.
Many Poles buying houses in Scotland have been drawn to Inverness and the North with Inverness now experience good population growth.
“I am not surprised at the figures” says Sebastian Kedziora from Kupdom. “A lot of our clients appreciate the beauty of the North and many have found jobs perhaps a little more easy to come by than in some parts of Scotland. It looks like they have been making a good investment buying there also – so I expect the Polish community in Inverness to continue to expand”
Tags: Buy a house in Scotland, House Prices
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Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
I suppose, I should not be surprised at the latest RICS attempt to suggest Home Reports are a great thing for the Scottish house market. After all, some parties have suggested surveyors are making a killing to the tune of £36 million a year out of Home Reports and Energy Performance Certificates – but it is not for me to comment on that since I do not know the figures. I think it fair, however, to point out that surveyors do not generally carry out Estate Agency or conveyancing and therefore their experience in the house market is limited to just one part of the sales process.
What I find pretty disquieting is that the RICS simply interview their own members, who clearly have a financial interest in Home Reports continuing, and then they present to the unsuspecting public their “findings” as “research”. Then the RICS public relations staff pull in some quotes from sponsors of the legislation who are only too desperate to see some good PR for this legislation whether or not it fits in with the facts.
We deserve better than that but we are not going to get it from the RICS, politicians or consumer groups.
Here is some information I have gathered from our experience at Caesar and Howie since Home Reports became compulsory on the 1st December 2008. Unlike the RICS I would not dream of claiming this to have the title of “research”. But as a collection of experiences it may be of interest to some.
- House sales in Scotland averaged 8571 per month throughout 2008 when the recession was at its height and mortgages were desperately difficult to get.
- Various government initiatives including reduced stamp duty and £61m of Lift mortgage finance were available for most of 2009, mortgages generally were easier to come by also, yet house sales slumped to a mere 5347 per month from January to September 2009 (the last date on which Land Register figures are available).
- Our own listings at Caesar and Howie halved in number from precisely the date of the introduction of Home Reports and have never recovered.
- Multiple surveys had been unknown in our firm for years until the introduction of Home Reports – now we are aware of them happening all the time – and who pays for them is often a cause of dispute.
- House Purchase and Sale transactions are taking longer and are usually more expensive for both buyer and seller because of the Home Report and related fees.
- Many sales clients have complained bitterly to us about the cost of Home Reports, many buyers do not trust them and lenders frequently reject them.
- Potential sales clients have simply said they would rather not sell than meet the cost of a home report when a sale might be difficult..
- Sellers and buyers alike treat Energy Performance Certificates with open contempt and see them as worthless.
- In many Home Reports some and even most of the questions in the Property Questionnaire are answered “don’t know”.
- Hard up sellers are selling off market at reduced prices because they can’t afford the Home Report and can’t get credit.
I could go on a lot longer but it does get a bit boring. However in the face of our experiences I am at a loss to see how any objective view of Home Reports could fail to confirm that they actually hinder the house market not help it. We have had a recession since early 2008 and yet the largest falls in listings and sales have come since the introduction of Home Reports – most markedly so. Many predicted aspirational sellers (in our view the majority of sellers) would leave the market if it became too expensive to sell – and they have done just that in their thousands.
As an aside, it seems pretty remarkable to me that a policy introduced to stop the non existent problem of multiple surveys can actually cause multiple surveys and still be declared to be a success by our Housing and Communities Minister. If this mess is a success what on earth would constitute failure?
There is an easy fix to this shambles. Just remove the compulsory nature of Home Reports – get rid of the civil fine for selling without one – so the public can freely decide whether to commission a Home Report or not. Then we will soon see who is right in this debate – because the public will decide whether Home Reports are a good thing worth paying for or whether they are not.
Posted in Conveyancing, Estate Agency | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
House sellers in the Central Region are now able to benefit from the creation of a new Solicitors Property Centre, designed specifically to help house sellers in the Central region.
Central Solicitors are banding together to create Central SPC – which will offer all the services locally which the traditional SPC’s offer. The website section of the new project has launched and already over four hundred properties are for sale on www.centralspc.co.uk. A property newspaper will follow in January – linked to the massively successful GSPC property paper.
An SPC is effectively a solicitors’ cooperative where pooled resources allow solicitors to offer enhanced marketing services for their clients’ properties.
“I’m very excited about the development” says Caesar and Howie Managing Partner David Borrowman. “ESPC and GSPC have been extremely successful in Edinburgh and Glasgow – and we think this new grouping can do the same out here. Solicitors pooling our resources and buying power means top quality schedules, very cheap newspaper advertising and massive internet coverage for sellers properties over no less than fifteen different property websites linked to our site. On top of that we have a fantastic out of hour’s telephone service for buyers and sellers alike – and that can only help clients selling houses. All property sales work from valuation, home report production, estate agency, through to the final conveyancing can be carried out by each of our members – so it is a genuine one stop service for clients buying or selling property”.
The new service has been launched under the guidance of GSPC – whose Chief Executive Bill Scouller said “we are delighted to be now helping solicitors in central with their new project. It is a great service now but the good news is we are working constantly to improve what solicitors can offer and I’ll soon be announcing yet more innovations for clients using Central SPC. I expect Central SPC to become the main selling force in its market area very quickly indeed – they have a great product which gives an edge to people wanting to sell their house”.
(more…)
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Monday, November 16th, 2009
The latest figures from The Safe Home Income Plan Group, effectively the Equity Release Trade Body, show that equity release lending is increasing.
The total amount borrowed under these planes increased by no less than 19% in the third quarter of 2009 from the year previously.
However the total borrowings figure being well up, actually disguises a slight drop of 2.5% in the actual number of plans taken out. What has put the figures up has been an increase of nearly 4% in the amount borrowed. On the other hand with some providers coming out of the market the figures do show the resilience of this sector of the mortgage market. Figures show in the last twelve months the wider mortgage market dropped by 63% whilst Equity Release only shrank by a comparatively modest 22%.
Partner Carmen MacIver, head of Caesar and Howie’s dedicated equity release team commented “the end of house price falls I think is going to give this market a further boost. The products are getting better and better known in Scotland and our enquiry levels just go up and up. I think the Scottish public did not get to grips with the benefits of Equity Release till after those in the South. But I think this has changed and with so many people enjoying a better retiral life style because of equity release I can only see Caesar and Howie’s services as equity release solicitors become more and more in demand”.
Tags: Equity Release
Posted in Conveyancing, Estate Agency | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Figures from various sources confirm that the Scottish House market is changing a little, with prices stabilising and even starting to increase slowly again.
The Registers of Scotland – where every Scottish house transaction is recorded – state that prices have gone up in the third quarter (July to September) by 6.1% from the second quarter. That leaves the average price of a residential property in Scotland at £154,453. The national average figures of course disguise significant regional variations, and in six local authority regions prices were still shown to be falling. The biggest rise was in Perth and Kinross at 15% and the biggest loss was in Renfrewshire with a loss of 3.7%.
The picture therefore remains very mixed but at least after two years of bad news clearly there are some signs of a market returning to health. Solicitors and estate agents, however report that trading volumes are still down and this is confirmed by the Registers who state that five thousand less house transactions took place in the third quarter this year compared with 2008.
Kirsty Jack, Property Manager at Caesar and Howie and who works closely with the Kupdom Project states “There are clearly some positive signs but our sales volumes remain at about half the level of two years ago. I would say however that there are many people who would wish to buy but who still cannot get mortgage finance. The house buying culture is still strong in Scotland and as the financial world slowly returns to normal I predict a slow improvement in prices and sales volumes over the next few years. People buying a house now, I think will look back in a few years and think they have got a bargain”.
Tags: Buy a house in Scotland, House Prices, housing market
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Monday, September 28th, 2009
The last few months have seen first time buyers back in the house market with a bit of a vengeance. After over a year when first time buyers were almost an endangered species many more have taken the plunge recently.
Three issues have favoured buyers in this category. First there has been a ready supply of first time buyer properties, mostly flats, with sellers anxious to sell and willing to do a deal on price. Secondly the LIFT mortgage programme solved the funding problem for many first timers – with the government though housing associations – effectively providing and interest fee loan for the deposit. Thirdly the stamp duty “holiday” granted by the chancellor cut the cost of buying flats at the entry level to the market. All in all for the last several months first timers have had things pretty well there own way.
All good things must come to an end as they say and the signs are first timers are not going to enjoy these advantages going forward. Kirsty Jack senior property manager at Caesar and Howie has noticed prices firming up in the flat market. “Sellers have quickly reacted to the increase activity in flat sales, with less now desperate to do a deal at any price – in fact some closing dates are even creeping back in with there being more buyers around”
On the mortgage and stamp duty issue things are changing a little for the worse. Sandy McFarlane long time mortgage advisor at Caesar and Howie warns “ I think the ready supply of Lift funds is beginning to run out in some parts of the country – especially in the Lothians. With that and the Stamp Duty holiday ending in December I would say first time buyers need to move now to take advantage of Lift and not having to pay stamp duty. These benefits are not going to be around much longer – so first timers need to move now to make the most of them whilst they last”
Tags: First-time buyers, housing market
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Monday, July 20th, 2009
Caesar and Howie property experts report increased activity in the Scottish Property market. For over two months now transaction levels have increased following the firm noticing increase viewings from April this year.
Managing Partner David Borrowman reports “we are now beginning to see the increased viewing levels of four months ago turning into actual offers and sales.
Whereas in the last six months of last year our transaction numbers were down to 30% of normal levels they are now back up to 60% and look to go even higher in the coming months.”
There are two principal factors helping the recovery – the first is the increasing availability of mortgages. Sandy MacFarlane Caesar and Howie’s most experienced mortgage advisor comments “Whilst mortgages are still a little tight to get – they can at least be got now – whereas at the end of last year there was virtually a moratorium on mortgages. Also the Lift mortgage initiative has also helped bring first time buyers back into the market for the first time in nearly two years. That’s a big change and of course every time first time buyer snaps up a property the person that sold that property usually buys another – so the whole market is stimulated. To be honest I have never been this busy in years – and it is mostly with Lift mortgage applicants.”
The flexibility of the Lift scheme is another benefit continues Sandy. “Some buyers think that you can only buy houses built by Housing Associations – but that is a complete misconception. You can of course buy from an Association but you can buy on the second hand market too and you can even buy a new property from a private builder – so all areas of the market are covered by the scheme”
Another feature which is helping the market move forward is a new realism in the approach of sellers to setting prices. Property Valuer John Renton has noticed a distinct change here. “When the recession first struck, the property market pretty well seized up. At first sellers did not respond to the new conditions and kept trying to price their property as if a boom was still on” says John. “But at last things have changed and most sellers are realising that it is the keenly priced properties which are shifting, and prices have of course gone down in the last 18 months. If you are buying on, of course the house you buy will have gone down too – and folk in the market are beginning to respond to that. As well as that there is no doubt there are some bargains to be had out there”
The experience of Caesar and Howie seems to be shared elsewhere and whilst it is never safe to predict too much in the property world the consensus among the professionals seems to be that the worst is over.
Tags: housing market, Scotland
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Monday, June 22nd, 2009
The Low Cost Initiative for First Time Buyers is proving an attractive option for some first time buyers – and is bringing more activity to the housing market – at least that is the view of Caesar and Howie property experts.
Experienced mortgage broker Sandy McFarlane of Caesar and Howie comments – “I have never been busier on the mortgage front – mostly with LIFT cases. We have learned everything there is to know about LIFT mortgages and provided you know and understand the criteria you can access LIFT funds as a deposit for first time buyers. This will help meet the continuing demand for young couples in particular to get on to the housing ladder”
The scheme which is operated through housing associations effectively means you are gifted a percentage of the purchase price as a deposit – provided on a future sale the same percentage is repaid. But with no interest payable this is an attractive proposition for many first time buyers who might struggle to save up the deposits now required by lenders.
There is a price limitation however – as the scheme is intended to stimulate the first time buyer sector of the market. Experienced property consultant at Caesar and Howie Vivienne Malcolm explains that the limits can sometimes be restrictive but do work. “The key thing is to know the price range in your local area – you can get these on the LIFT section of the Caesar and Howie website. Once you know the range you can concentrate on finding a property within it – and with lots of properties going under the asking price you would be surprised what can be bought under the scheme. And another benefit is that the scheme covers second hand and new properties – and some developers with the reduced prices they are seeking – have available new properties which qualify. I think with sellers willing to do deals – it can be win win for some first time buyers using the LIFT scheme.”
With sixty million pounds available to be lent under the scheme maybe up to 2000 purchases could be carried out using these funds. Managing partner David Borrowman comments “This is clearly a help to the market at this time – it has been the lack of first time buyers over the last 18 months which has slowed things down. If this group were to get buying again it would get everything moving since the sellers to this group would presumably also purchase.”
To find out more please contact 0845 855 4411.
Tags: First-time buyers, housing market, LIFT
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