Author: Antony Antoniou

Antony Antoniou MAPD, has been involved in property for over two decades, in developing, sales and rental. With an inherent love of property and a comprehensive knowledge of Northampton and the surrounding area, he is well placed to deal with all aspects of the sales process, from sourcing, valuing, marketing and sales progression.
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Britain’s favourite rural home locations

Where Britons want to live revealed: Rural and coastal areas have seen the biggest surge of interest from buyers – and Bruton, Somerset tops the list thanks to Sarah Beeny

  • The locations with the biggest surge in views on Rightmove are all rural or coastal
  • Bruton in Somerset tops the rankings, with a 72% annual increase in buyer searches this year
  • The outskirts of Bruton is where TV’s Sarah Beeny is building her new family home 
  • Channel 4’s Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country follows her move to the South West 

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The rural and coastal areas that have seen the biggest surge in online property viewings this year have been revealed – with the Somerset village where TV’s Sarah Beeny has created her new life in the country topping the list.

Bruton in Somerset leads the way, with a 72 per cent increase in buyer searches, according to the list compiled by Rightmove.

Locations close to the coast and in more rural areas make up the entire top ten locations that have seen the biggest rise in people searching for homes on Rightmove.

Bruton is followed by Pitlochry in Scotland, up 50 per cent, and Aylesford in Kent, which has seen a 48 per cent increase in views on the property website.

Bruton has become a well-known feature of fans of Sarah Beeny’s new television show that follows her move out of London last year and the building of her new home on the outskirts of the Somerset village.

After selling her London home after advertising it for £3.5million, she bought a 220 acre farm near Bruton.

The data compares 2019 with this year, although this year’s data only runs up to December 14.

The Channel 4 show, called Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country, sees the home renovation queen, her artist husband and four sons adapt to country living.

The theme of moving to the country has been a big feature of the housing market this year amid the pandemic.

People have sought more space both indoors and outdoors following the first lockdown that saw people restricted to their homes for hours on end every day.

The top five places with the biggest annual increases in buyer searches are completed by Salcombe, Devon and Lightwater, Surrey.

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What other trends were there?

Back in May there was a more fleeting trend when Barnard Castle saw daily searches leap 144 per cent, after it was reported that Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser visited the area during the initial lockdown period.

In terms of the nation’s rental hotspots, the top three places in Britain that have seen the biggest annual increases in rental searches are Cambridge at 34 per cent, Stockport at 31 per cent, and Rye at 27 per cent.

Rightmove’s review of the year found that seven of the top 10 areas that have seen the biggest rises in the number of sales being agreed in the past 12 months have populations under 10,000, further highlighting the popularity of rural locations.

The top local markets with the biggest year-on-year increases in sales agreed are Welwyn in Hertfordshire, which saw an increase of 75 per cent, Woodbridge in Suffolk, up 69 per cent, Llanelli in Wales – which is up 65 per cent.

The top five local markets also include Stockbridge in Hampshire, which is up 60 per cent, and Malmesbury in Wiltshire, which is up 54 per cent.

For prices, it’s suburban areas in the North West near Liverpool and Manchester that saw the biggest growth this year.

Eccles, home of the iconic cakes and located west of Manchester, has seen a bigger annual increase in average asking prices than anywhere else in Britain, up 16 per cent. The national average increase is 6.6 per cent, according to Rightmove.

It said average asking prices in the town are up from £184,299 last year to £213,706 this year.

Six other locations across Greater Manchester and Merseyside complete the top 10 property price hotspots in 2020, with Wavertree up 12.2 per cent and Chadderton up 10.9 per cent, taking second and third places respectively.

For traffic, the busiest days of the year are usually recorded in the first few months, but the temporary closure and subsequent mini-boom from May onwards, plus the introduction of the temporary stamp duty holiday in July, saw Rightmove record over 200 of its busiest ever days in 2020.

Daily visits surpassed eight million for the first time on July 8, when the stamp duty holiday was announced. And within half an hour of the announcement, traffic increased 22 per cent.

Rightmove’s Tim Bannister said: ‘This year we’ve seen an uplift in the number of homemovers escaping to the country and we think this trend will continue for now as people show their willingness to make significant life changes.

‘The data highlights just how influential the unexpected events of this year have been in shaping the nation’s housing priorities, with many buyers determined to swap city streets for rural and coastal retreats.’

Glynis Frew, of Hunters Estate Agents, said: ‘2020 has given many people time to reset and reprioritise, with a focus on lifestyle. From a better work-life balance to the need for outside space, we have a renewed sense of what matters to us.

‘For some, this means finally making that dream rural or coastal move, safe in the knowledge that they can work remotely for the majority of the time while coming into the office a few times a month.

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‘For those in certain digital-led industries, the possibilities are almost limitless – a good Wi-Fi connection is all they need.’

 

Richard Speedy, of estate agent Strutt & Parker, added: ‘This year in the West Country we’ve seen around three times the regular number of applicants, and in the last weeks of 2020 are witnessing at least double the number of interested buyers compared to the same period in 2019.

‘This year, people have become increasingly curious as to what they can get in the countryside, with many finally deciding to take the plunge.

‘Coastal locations have seen a boom in popularity as people look for a change in lifestyle.

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This year in the West Country we’ve seen around three times the regular number of applicants, and in the last weeks of 2020 are witnessing at least double the number of interested buyers compared to the same period in 2019.
Richard Speedy – Strutt & Parker

‘Hotspots along the coast allow residents to enjoy activities on the water, access the beach, and brilliant coastal walking while also maintaining the ever-important tight-knit community aspect.

‘With the majority unable to travel abroad this year, the staycation trend has highlighted the benefits of the British countryside and coastline, leading to a surge in interest from first and second-home buyers, particularly in Devon and Cornwall, wanting their own slice.

‘What’s quite interesting, in the last couple of months, is the increasing number of professionals in the financial sector being given a greater amount of flexibility when it comes to working location.

‘Many have been given the option of working remotely, with required time in the office limited to just a couple of days a month.

‘As a result, a rising number of relatively high net worth individuals and their families are heading to the South West in search of the rural, or coastal, idyll.

‘Priorities have changed – being within a one hour’s radius of London is no longer a must-have requirement and, as a result, people are looking to buy larger homes than they would have previously considered, with most requiring one, if not two, home office spaces to be able to work remotely.’

Tom Parker, of Zoopla, said: ‘More space and a desirable location have been the primary drivers of home moves as a result of lockdown measures, with households across the country making a once in a lifetime reassessment of their property and whether it lives up to what they want and need.’

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Buyer surge to beat stamp duty holiday expected to continue in early 2021

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“Accidental savers” who put money aside during the lockdowns are piling into the housing market and will drive up UK asking prices by four per cent in 2021.

As many as 650,000 properties are due to change hands in the first quarter of next year while fresh buyers will try to find, buy and complete on a new home before the end of the stamp duty holiday window on March 31, according to Rightmove.

“The new year is typically a time for resolutions and many will see it as an opportunity to draw a line under 2020, which may well include a fresh start in a new home for those who have not already acted,” says Tim Bannister of Rightmove.

“Interest rates remain at near-record lows and we expect greater availability of low-deposit mortgages next year. These two factors will help to oil the wheels for home purchases by the accidental savers who have collectively saved £100 billion during the pandemic restrictions.”

The surge of demand to move house following the first national lockdown, stoked by the Chancellor’s tax break, has pumped prices up 6.6 per cent over the last 12 months to December taking the average UK asking price to £319,945.

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Phase It Out – Calls grow for ‘tapered’ end to stamp duty holiday

Phase It Out - Calls grow for ‘tapered’ end to stamp duty holiday

Pressure is building on the government to agree a tapered end to the stamp duty holiday, even if a full-blown extension now appears unlikely.

There’s still an online petition gathering momentum for an extension – you can see that here – but now the latest request for a phased end to the holiday comes from the Yorkshire Building Society

It says the current cliff edge deadline of March 31 may not give enough time to complete transactions for those who have already agreed sales and had mortgages approved.

So the YBS wants a three month taper – a period of grace allowing any property sales which have been agreed and have secured a mortgage approval by March 31 until June 30 to complete their transaction with a stamp duty reduction.

The grace period would exclude new mortgages approved after March 31, says the building society, and they would not be entitled to a reduction.

Nitesh Patel, strategic economist at Yorkshire Building Society, says: “This is already likely to be a very busy period for lenders and other professionals involved in the house sale process.

“Social distancing measures are likely to still be in place, which will make it more challenging to move at speed.

“As well as helping buyers, we think this is a sensible approach which will ease the pressures likely to build on lenders and the rest of the residential property industry immediately before the deadline. This solution would be help to give everyone involved a better outcome and help more people to have a place to call home.”

His suggestion comes as a new survey suggests nearly one in three buyers will pull the plug on deals if they miss out on the stamp duty holiday.

In a survey of 1,001 purchasers conducted for the Guild of Property Professionals, 31 per cent say they would very likely cancel their move if they had to pay stamp duty.

While there are over 140,000 more people in the process of buying a new home now than this time last year and an estimated 418,000 homes sales progressing to completion according to Zoopla, and with many having been prompted by the stamp duty holiday, there are growing concerns over plans for the re-introduction of stamp duty in April 2021.

With the current threshold set at £500,000 and the average house worth £244,513 many would be set to save in stamp duty.

However, under current plans, from April 2021 the threshold returns to £125,000, leaving those who thought they would benefit from the stamp duty holiday having to find extra cash to complete the move.

Guild chief executive Iain McKenzie says: “If the deadline remains as it is, only a quarter of the sales agreed in January will complete in time. With 140,000 more people waiting to complete sales than this time last year, there will be a significant number of buyers who will have to find additional money for stamp duty if they have not budgeted for it.

“Our hope, and the hope of 71 per cent of the public, was that the government was going to extend the stamp duty holiday, or at the very least, introduce a phasing out period that will ease the pressure on all parties involved, and will prevent a cliff edge.”

Over a third of those surveyed said that stamp duty had a big financial impact on the amount they paid, while a further 46 per cent said it had a medium impact on their finances.

The research also found the average value of the property people had bought or were going to buy was £232,500, meaning the average house buyer would face a stamp duty bill of £2,150.

With a third aiming to push through a move quickly to take advantage of the holiday, McKenzie warns many would not have budgeted for this added cost: “If buyers are unable to complete because of not having the stamp duty money in place, we will see a large number of transactions fall through as a result.

“The signs are there, the stamp duty holiday has been successful, but we need to ensure a smooth transition back to a normal service.”

The survey was conducted online ; all 1,001 were buying a property in the next year or had bought a property this year. The research fieldwork took place in early December by Atomik Research.

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Agents can work in Tier 4 as government publishes guidelines

Agents can work in Tier 4 as government publishes guidelines

The Westminster government has published extensive guidance on the operation of the new Tier 4 Coronavirus restrictions in England.

This includes a section given over to moving home.

The full document covers working from home or at workplaces, educational locations, childcare, events such as weddings and funerals, sport and places of worship.

The entire moving home section is as follows:

“You can still move home. People outside your household or support bubble should not help with moving house unless absolutely necessary.

“Estate and letting agents and removals firms can continue to work. If you are looking to move, you can go to property viewings.

“Follow the national guidance on moving home safely, which includes advice on social distancing and wearing a face covering.”

In addition there is extensive guidance from Propertymark on how agencies should operate in a Covid-safe way.

And a reminder of where the new Tier 4 rules apply: all 32 boroughs of London and the City of London, most of Surrey plus Kent and Medway, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hastings and Rother, Hertfordshire and parts of Hampshire, Essex, Bedfordshire plus Peterborough.

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Government refusal to extend SDLT holiday

Agents and property experts have reacted angrily to the government’s refusal to extend the stamp duty holiday.The government has told campaigners that it “does not plan to extend the relief” beyond March 31 next year.

“This is in response to the petition with the caveat that the government constantly reviews all matters of revenue” says Mark Hayward, policy advisor at NAEA Propertymark, which had been consulting with the government over the issue.

TV property expert Phil Spencer expressed complete exasperation at the government’s intransigence.

He tweeted: “The stamp duty holiday has been successful in activating the market. Ending on a cliff edge will create utter chaos! Surely it can be phased out? Timescales on deals slip more often than they don’t. The motivation behind people moving could disappear in a single day. Utter madness!”

Meanwhile Knight Frank agents have also expressed disappointment.

“The conveyancing system has been struggling massively and that will intensify as a number of people will be trying everything possible to get deals over the line before the end of March” says Luke Ellwood, a London Knight Frank agent.

“What I hope this shows the government is the need for measures to speed up the sales process in future” he continues.

Another Knight Frank agent – Charlie Taylor in Bath – says: “I can’t remember a time when we had so many transactions under offer and solicitors are really struggling to cope … However, early guidance from government might not be a bad thing as leaving it to the last minute would have been chaotic. This may focus minds and solicitors will be able clear the backlog before March.”

The apparent unequivocal statement from the government follows an online petition calling for an extension. Because that petition exceeded 10,000 signatures (in fact it’s now well above 22,500) the government was obliged to respond formally.

That response says: “As the relief was to provide an immediate stimulus to the property market, the government does not plan to extend this relief. SDLT is an important source of government revenue, raising several billion pounds each year to help pay for the essential services the government provides.“The government is committed to supporting home ownership and helping people get on and move up the housing ladder.

“When the SDLT Holiday ends, the Government will maintain a SDLT relief for first time buyers which increases the starting threshold of residential SDLT to £300,000 for first-time buyers that purchase a property below £500,000.

“In addition, a new Help to Buy scheme will be introduced from 1 April 2021. This scheme will run until March 2023.

“All tax policy is kept under review and the government considers the views it receives carefully as part of that process.”

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Gazeal announce that 1 in 3 sales fall down

Fall throughs which could be avoided by Reservation Agreements have cost agency branches an average £10,000 per month. That’s the claim from digital platform Gazeal which has made the calculation by monitoring transaction and other market data.According to HM Land Registry figures, there were 105,630 completed transactions in October. Based on Nationwide’s national average house price of £229,721 and an average commission fee of 1.0 per cent, Gazeal says agents’ total monthly earnings are in excess of approximately £242m.But it goes on to claim that £80m in commission fees could be lost each month due to a third of transactions falling through – that’s in excess of £10,000 per branch.

The figure reflects the fact that the number of potential property transactions has risen sharply in recent months due to the stamp duty holiday, which could continue into the New Year.

According to Zoopla forecasts, an additional 100,000 sales are expected in the first quarter of 2021 as high transaction volumes spill over from 2020. This could result in an additional 33,000 fall throughs and lost commission for the industry to the tune of approximately £75m, suggests Gazeal.

“This results in agents doing hours of work without getting paid. Agents have to face the reality that each branch risks losing thousands of pounds in commission each month due to fall-throughs” says Bryan Mansell, co-founder of Gazeal.

He adds: “Providing reservation agreements is a good place to start as they confirm commitment on both sides and take emotion out the equation. A reservation agreement is a fair and balanced way of protecting transactions in which no-one is punished if no-one is to blame for a transaction falling through. Furthermore, sellers are encouraged to use reservation agreements as recommended in the government’s How to Sell Guide.”

Gazeal claims reservation agreements have been proven to reduce agents’ fall-through rates by at least 50 per cent.

Mansell adds that ensuring properties are ‘sale-ready’ with up-front information such as protocol information forms, title documents, certificates and guarantees, can reduce the chance of any problems further down the line and protect agents’ pipelines.

“Giving buyers a transparent view of the property before they make an offer can really speed up transactions and drastically reduces the chances of them pulling out at a later date. Quicker transactions which are more secure allow agents to get paid sooner and more frequently, while increasing consumer satisfaction with the moving process” he concludes.
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Madness! Government refusal to extend SDLT holiday provokes anger

Madness! Government refusal to extend SDLT holiday provokes anger

Agents and property experts have reacted angrily to the government’s refusal to extend the stamp duty holiday.

The government has told campaigners that it “does not plan to extend the relief” beyond March 31 next year.

“This is in response to the petition with the caveat that the government constantly reviews all matters of revenue” says Mark Hayward, policy advisor at NAEA Propertymark, which had been consulting with the government over the issue.

TV property expert Phil Spencer expressed complete exasperation at the government’s intransigence.

He tweeted: “The stamp duty holiday has been successful in activating the market. Ending on a cliff edge will create utter chaos! Surely it can be phased out? Timescales on deals slip more often than they don’t. The motivation behind people moving could disappear in a single day. Utter madness!”

Meanwhile Knight Frank agents have also expressed disappointment.

“The conveyancing system has been struggling massively and that will intensify as a number of people will be trying everything possible to get deals over the line before the end of March” says Luke Ellwood, a London Knight Frank agent.

“What I hope this shows the government is the need for measures to speed up the sales process in future” he continues.

Another Knight Frank agent – Charlie Taylor in Bath – says: “I can’t remember a time when we had so many transactions under offer and solicitors are really struggling to cope … However, early guidance from government might not be a bad thing as leaving it to the last minute would have been chaotic. This may focus minds and solicitors will be able clear the backlog before March.”

The apparent unequivocal statement from the government follows an online petition calling for an extension. Because that petition exceeded 10,000 signatures (in fact it’s now well above 22,500) the government was obliged to respond formally.

That response says: “As the relief was to provide an immediate stimulus to the property market, the government does not plan to extend this relief. SDLT is an important source of government revenue, raising several billion pounds each year to help pay for the essential services the government provides.

“The government is committed to supporting home ownership and helping people get on and move up the housing ladder.

“When the SDLT Holiday ends, the Government will maintain a SDLT relief for first time buyers which increases the starting threshold of residential SDLT to £300,000 for first-time buyers that purchase a property below £500,000.

“In addition, a new Help to Buy scheme will be introduced from 1 April 2021. This scheme will run until March 2023.

“All tax policy is kept under review and the government considers the views it receives carefully as part of that process.”

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Agents Losing Money: Fall throughs cost £10k a month per branch

Agents Losing Money: Fall throughs cost £10k a month per branch

Fall throughs which could be avoided by Reservation Agreements have cost agency branches an average £10,000 per month.

That’s the claim from digital platform Gazeal which has made the calculation by monitoring transaction and other market data.

According to HM Land Registry figures, there were 105,630 completed transactions in October. Based on Nationwide’s national average house price of £229,721 and an average commission fee of 1.0 per cent, Gazeal says agents’ total monthly earnings are in excess of approximately £242m.

But it goes on to claim that £80m in commission fees could be lost each month due to a third of transactions falling through – that’s in excess of £10,000 per branch.

The figure reflects the fact that the number of potential property transactions has risen sharply in recent months due to the stamp duty holiday, which could continue into the New Year.

According to Zoopla forecasts, an additional 100,000 sales are expected in the first quarter of 2021 as high transaction volumes spill over from 2020. This could result in an additional 33,000 fall throughs and lost commission for the industry to the tune of approximately £75m, suggests Gazeal.

“This results in agents doing hours of work without getting paid. Agents have to face the reality that each branch risks losing thousands of pounds in commission each month due to fall-throughs” says Bryan Mansell, co-founder of Gazeal.

He adds: “Providing reservation agreements is a good place to start as they confirm commitment on both sides and take emotion out the equation. A reservation agreement is a fair and balanced way of protecting transactions in which no-one is punished if no-one is to blame for a transaction falling through. Furthermore, sellers are encouraged to use reservation agreements as recommended in the government’s How to Sell Guide.”

Gazeal claims reservation agreements have been proven to reduce agents’ fall-through rates by at least 50 per cent.

Mansell adds that ensuring properties are ‘sale-ready’ with up-front information such as protocol information forms, title documents, certificates and guarantees, can reduce the chance of any problems further down the line and protect agents’ pipelines.

“Giving buyers a transparent view of the property before they make an offer can really speed up transactions and drastically reduces the chances of them pulling out at a later date. Quicker transactions which are more secure allow agents to get paid sooner and more frequently, while increasing consumer satisfaction with the moving process” he concludes.

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Agents demand immediate tax action to help market

Agents demand immediate tax action to help market

NAEA Propertymark has written to the Scottish Government demanding it extend the current Land and Buildings Transaction Tax holiday – the stamp duty holiday equivalent north of the border.

It also wants the SNP administration to change the steep thresholds home buyers’ experience between buying a house in different tiers of the tax.

It says that by acting now, the Holyrood administration can revitalise the housing market and avoid “a disorderly and distressing period for movers and businesses throughout the market.”

Propertymark wants an extension of the LBTT holiday of at least six months to be announced before Christmas to reduce the risk to the consumer, and for the government to work with Scottish agents to develop a method to help smooth the end of an extended LBTT holiday to prevent another cliff edge.

Agents says that post-lockdown, property transaction levels in Scotland have now accelerated sharply and between August and October the number of homes coming to market rose by 44.4 per cent while the volume of property sales was down 5.6 per cent compared to last year.

As a result average prices are up 7.9 per cent compared to last year.

However, as is expected for this time of year, the seasonal lull in house buying and selling is taking place.

Propertymark says: “This is leading to concern that without an extension to the LBTT holiday, this lull will continue into the New Year and with the worry that consumers will miss being able to make the most of the LBTT reduction when the market picks up again.

“This will cause movers to apply pressure to complete transactions by  March 31 2021 to benefit from the changes to LBTT. Failure to complete those transactions could see the breakdown of chains with consumers potentially financially unable to continue with the purchase, as they would have to find funds to pay LBTT.”

Daryl McIntosh, Propertymark’s strategic development manager for Scotland, says: “We’re calling on the Scottish Government to step in and consider a tapered ending and extension of the holiday and to address the steep threshold that home buyers’ experience between buying a house in the band from £325,001 to £750,000.

“This will allow pressure on the system to be released so allow transactions to complete and avoid a disorderly and distressing period for consumers and businesses throughout the market.”

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Yes Purplebricks – but how many homes do you actually SELL?

Yes Purplebricks - but how many homes do you actually SELL?

Mystery still surrounds the number of homes actually sold by Purplebricks, despite upbeat statements regarding the number of instructions it wins.

The agency’s long-standing nemesis – housing analyst Anthony Codling – has returned to the fray, questioning how good its most recent trading figures actually are.

Yesterday Purplebricks said it enjoyed a rise of almost eight per cent in instructions in the first half of its financial year, with revenue per instruction rising three per cent.

It also revealed that its cash position was relatively strong on the back of the sale of its Canadian business – the last overseas venture the agency ended as it retrenched.

But Codling, who now runs PropTech platform Twindig and was an analyst at international investment consultancy Jefferies, says a vital ingredient has been missed by Purplebricks.

“As ever, the key missing metric is how many homes have been sold, but with up-front fee models, you pay your money and takes your choice” he says.

And he continues: “Let’s hope that those looking to meet the stamp duty holiday deadline have made the right choice.”

He points out that Purplebricks will know how many homes it actually and legally sells because the legal completion of a home sale is one of the triggers for payment of the £999 or £1,499 instruction fee for those customers choosing the pay-later option.

In early 2018, when working at Jefferies, Codling conducted an extensive analysis of Purplebricks inventory at the time and concluded that it actually sold only 50 per cent of the properties it advertised online.

This was far below the 88 per cent figure which Purplebricks’ former global chief executive Michael Bruce cited.

“Do you really want to pay £1,000 whether or not you sell your property?” Codling asked at the time.

Purplebricks refuted his analysis in 2018. Then last year the former UK chief executive of the agency – Lee Wainwright – said the 50 per cent claim “simply isn’t true.”

“I can assure you the numbers that have been shared [80 per cent or more] are accurate” said Wainwright last year, adding that he “felt very comfortable being the voice of Purplebricks” defending such figures in the media.

Estate Agent Today has this week asked the agency to say what proportion of its instructions it goes on to sell, to get an updated position. However, the agency says it does not comment on this issue.