Investments in Edinburgh for regeneration and affordable housing
Craigmillar in Edinburgh, Scotland, is to receive regeneration funding worth £14.4m.
The money is to be used to improve all aspects of the local area and will provide new homes, jobs, schools, and leisure facilities.
Proposed developments include 300,000 sq ft of industrial, retail, leisure and office space, 3000 residential units, as well as new schools and community leisure facilities. In 2007/8 a further £3m is expected to be added to previous investment over the last three years of £6.81m which provided over 100 units. There are plans to approve around 60 more units in 2007/8.
Communities’ minister Rhona Brankin said: “The announcement is an investment in the future of Craigmillar and of Edinburgh. It will encourage further investment, provide new opportunities and fund the long term improvements the area needs.”
Brankin also announced that Edinburgh City Council will receive £36m for affordable housing investment across the city that will provide 600 new homes in the coming year.
The £36 million represents the Affordable Housing Investment Programme investment in Edinburgh in 2007/08. It is part of a total investment in affordable housing across Scotland of a record £584 million that will provide around 8,000 affordable homes.
Forecast of 20% growth for prime central London
Savills Research sees no end to the strong demand for prime property, and has increased its forecast for prime central London to 20% growth for the year.
It shows that the first quarter of 2007 has seen residential capital values in prime Central London rise to 27.6%, compared to 9.2% in the same period last year.
From the end of December to the end of March, levels of growth in prime Central London continued to 8.8%, which is the highest quarterly growth in seven years. In the first quarter, annual growth in properties valued over £5m was 50%. The traditional core prime London areas are significantly outperforming the rest.
The highest annual growth (31.6%) was seen in the Central area (Mayfair to Chelsea), closely followed by the Western area (Kensington, Holland Park and Notting Hill). Houses also continue to outperform flats in Central London, the former being 39.6%, compared to the latter at 19.8%.
Many commercial sites going up for sale under public auction
According to Mortgages for Business, commercial property investment opportunities in the UK are attracting a growing number of investors, signaling a potential increase in commercial mortgages activity in the UK.
New reports highlight that commercial sites in England and Scotland are increasingly popular targets for investors, with many sites going up for sale under public auction.
One reason why developments are proving attractive is that they are relatively flexible, offering scope for various types of development.
Estate agents Osborne King argue that a trend is emerging of investors buying commercial property by auction, particularly highlighting Northern Ireland.
“The UK market is very attractive for Northern Ireland investors especially when the stock is limited here and they often get better returns for their money”, said Andrew Coggins of Osborne King.
Headline rate of house price growth continues to accelerate
Hometrack’s latest national housing survey shows that the headline rate of house price growth continues to accelerate.
Average prices grew by 0.8% in March, up from 0.7% the previous month. The year-on-year rate of growth now stands at 6.7%, compared to just 0.1% at the same time a year ago. According to Hometrack, this is the highest year-on-year rate of growth since June 2003.
Richard Donnell, Hometrack’s director of research said: “The headline figures continue to be distorted by a robust London housing market that appears largely disconnected from the rest of the country, where the impetus for price growth is far more subdued.”
In addition, the survey shows that average house prices in London grew by 1.8% over March. This is the largest monthly increase in the capital for over four years, since July 2002.
A lack of housing for sale combined with strong competition from buyers resulted in average prices rising across more than 80% of post codes during March. This is also having a knock on effect on the commuter areas around the capital. Average house price growth was 0.8% in both East Anglia and the South East over March. The strongest growth was seen in Berkshire, Kent, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Surrey, which all registered above average growth.
Donnell said: “This latest survey highlights a growing dilemma for policy makers. Higher interest rates and increased affordability pressures are clearly limiting house price growth across large parts of the country. However, supply shortages combined with confident buyers is resulting in an acceleration in house price growth in London.”
Home working with local residents to create £135m regenerated estates
Housing provider Home is working with Sheffield City Council and local residents to regenerate estates in Scowerdons, Weakland and Newstead in a £135m plan.
Planning permission has already been granted to provide 45 new homes at the Weakland estate, and a planning application has been submitted to develop 55 new homes on the first phase at Newstead. According to Home, the existing properties on the estates do not meet the government’s decent homes standards due to a number of defects arising from their construction style.
Ansar Ali, managing director for Home's central region, said: “We are aiming to create a sustainable, mixed tenure development that will have a number of key features, including high quality housing and estate design, energy efficient homes and a safer environment.”
The regeneration scheme is expected to take six years to complete.
BPF believes updated Lease Code will help small businesses
A consortium of business, property, finance and legal organisations have published the updated Code for Leasing Business Premises.
It helps businesses avoid possible pitfalls of lease agreements, and also that landlords operate to an industry agreed standard. The government endorsed code has a number of changes from the 2002 edition such as restrictions on preconditions on break clauses. The new code offers three documents to improve leasing practice which includes a two-page landlords’ code, a step-by-step guide for tenants and a heads of terms checklist for all parties involved. The British Property Federation believes it will be of particular help to small businesses, highlighting both the opportunities and problems of commercial leases.
Ian Fletcher, commercial policy director for the British Property Federation , told PIN: “The code is designed to ensure an equality of arms between landlords and small occupiers. Often, many small businesses will not have legal representation when negotiating leases and can find themselves signing up for conditions they didn’t bargain for.
“Small businesses have been at the centre of the thinking behind this new code and by bringing so many organisations together on a voluntary basis, we hope to show there is no need for legislation.”
Development on brownfield sites thrashes the government’s targets
According to Wolsey Securities, over 95% of new developments from small to medium house builders are being built on brownfield sites.
This beats the government’s national target of 60% of new homes, by 2008, should be built on these sites. Wolsey’s statistics show that smaller house builders, with schemes of a development value of up to £10m, are beating this target.
Mike Ratcliffe, chief executive of Wolsey Securities, said: “What these findings show is that small developers can use brownfield sites with greater success than many larger builders who like to roll out national house types.”
The findings follow research produced this week by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, which found that vast amounts of land that could be used for development are going to waste in towns and cities. One finding found that 60,000 new homes could be built in London alone if all the small sites close to town centres were used.
The Chancellor’s Budget hits commercial property
The Chancellor’s Budget report will have detrimental effects on the commercial property sector, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
RICS highlights the Chancellor’s plans of phasing out the Industrial Building Allowance as well as the restriction of rate relief on vacant industrial property from April 2008.
Brian Berry, RICS head of UK public policy, said: “The restriction of rate relief on vacant industrial property from April 2008 could lead to owners deliberately damaging buildings to remove them from the ratings list and exempt them from the empty rate. Hitting those with empty property in the pocket is not an effective way to encourage redevelopment of vacant sites.
“We could see a drop in share prices for companies with holdings in industrial property and, as the IBA covers hotels, the delivery of the Olympics could be in jeopardy.”
