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Published: 16 March 2022

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More than three in five properties listed for sale are now selling within 30 days, according to website OnTheMarket.

The property site found 61% of home sales agreed last month were done so within the first 30 days of being on the market - compared to 43% in the same month last year.

Daily Mail

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Published: 10 March 2022

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Zoopla surveyed homeowners across the UK to understand how the nation's room requirements shifted - and how our homes changed as a result. 

Among those who changed their homes, more than half (53%) said they completely repurposed at least one bedroom, while one in five households (22%) said they changed multiple bedrooms. 

Nationally, this equates to a whopping 8,856,000 bedrooms have been lost amongst the UK's 24m privately owned homes during the pandemic.

With remote and hybrid working now set to be a mainstay for many, almost half (46%) of those who have made changes have created a home office. That means more than 4.5m home offices have emerged across the UK, and over half of homeowners (58%) say they plan to permanently keep them.

Alongside home offices, there are plenty of other ways Brits have reincarnated rooms in their homes since March 2020.Acoss the UK:

1.3m home gyms have been created

984,000 home bars

900,000 home cinemas or music rooms

688,000 dedicated classrooms

Zoopla

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Published: 09 March 2022

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House prices increased at the fastest annual pace since 2007 in February to hit a record high, according to Halifax.

At 10.8 per cent, the annual rate of property price growth was the strongest in 15 years, the bank said. The increase took the average house price across the country to a new high of £278,123. Property values increased by 0.5 per cent month on month.

Halifax's Russell Galley said: 'This was an eighth successive month of house price growth, as the resilience which has typified the market throughout the pandemic shows little sign of easing. This is the biggest one-year cash rise recorded in over 39 years.

Daily Mail

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Published: 17 February 2022

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The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) has commented on new legislation designed to protect leaseholders that will ban ground rents on new leasehold properties.

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill has received Royal Assent making it an Act of Parliament.

The new Act, (which is not in force yet) will apply to leasehold properties in England and Wales. It will restrict ground rent owed on new leases to a 'peppercorn' rent - effectively zero - and aims to make leasehold ownership "fairer and more affordable".

Mark Chick, ALEP Director, said:" ALEP recognises this new legislation, which was first promised back in 2017. Once in force, it will serve as a step towards the government's proposed agenda for change in this area.

This Act will bring an end to ground rent for new leases and will address the issues arising out of the 'leasehold scandal', where doubling of ground rents on newly-created leases created an iniquitous situation for homeowners who had been sold leasehold houses with an escalating ground rent.

"What is noteworthy is that this Act does not deal with the banning of leasehold as a tenure for houses, as was originally promised by the then housing minister Sajid Javid. That, together with the prospect of wider reform, is still 'in discussion' and it remains to be seen how and when such further changes will be acted upon by government."

Commencement of the Act is planned within six months and once in force freeholders will not be able to impose any kind of ground rent in a new lease, whether on the renewal of an existing lease, or when selling new properties as leasehold.

Mark continued: "This is all part of a wider programme to make leasehold unattractive for new properties and eventually, to pave the way for commonhold. Although the new law will abolish ground rents on new leases, it does not affect existing leaseholders. Leaseholders who face high ground rents and want to get rid of them will need to follow the statuary leasehold enfranchisement process."

PropertyWire