Southampton Pensioner Homeowners are Now Worth £7,211,443,300

How wealth is distributed will always be a contentious issue, especially as the Baby Boomers (those aged between their late 50’s and late 70’s) wealth has grown exponentially over the last 20 years, compared to the wealth of the younger generation. 

With most UK property in the hands of the older generation, with its total value about to smash through the £8 trillion barrier (up from £3 trillion at the start of the Millennium), is it right that so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of the older generations? 

As national house prices have continued to grow unabated (for example in the last eight years by 49.9%, whilst real take home pay has only increased by 11.8%), this has meant younger people are finding it even harder to get onto the property ladder and those already on it to move up it. 

Looking at the older end of the age range for home ownership… 

of the 105,350 homes in Southampton, 23,195 households are 65 years or older, and 66.7% of those households (15,461) are owned (mostly 

without a mortgage)

A full split as follows …

• Owned 66.7%

• Council House 26.5%

• Privately Rented 4.4%

• Living Rent Free 1.9%

• Shared Ownership 0.5%

I talk with many Southampton pensioners who want to move yet are unable to. There appears to be a shortage of suitable properties in Southampton for members of the older generation to downsize into. Due to their high demand and low supply, Southampton bungalows and suitable ground floor apartments achieve on average a 15% to 25% premium per square foot over two/three storey properties. Yet would it surprise you only 1% of new builds in the UK are single storey bungalows (compared to 7% 25 years ago)?

Southampton pensioner homeowners are now worth £7.21bn

YouGov did a survey a couple of years ago and they found that just over one third of homeowning pensioners in the UK were looking to downsize into a smaller property. As I have stated before, as a nation, we need to rethink how we can encourage older homeowners to sell their larger homes to release them to the younger families that desperately need them.

The Government over the last 11 years have appeared to target all their attention on first-time buyers with a strategy such as the Help to Buy Scheme. However, this doesn’t address the long-established under-supply of appropriate retirement housing vital to the needs of Southampton’s quickly ageing population. Unfortunately, Southampton’s housing stock is sadly ill-equipped for this demographic shift to the ageing homeowners. 

Also, to add insult to injury, those more mature Southampton pensioners in their 80’s and 90’s who do live in the restricted number of Southampton bungalows and suitable ground floor apartments are finding it difficult to live on their own, as they are unable to leave their bungalow/apartment because of a shortage of sheltered housing and ‘inexpensive’ care home places.

This in turn means the younger 60 to 70 year old Southampton retirees (in their bigger two/three storey family houses) can't buy those Southampton bungalows (occupied by the older retirees), which means those Southampton families in their 30’s and 40’s can't buy those larger family houses (occupied by the younger 60 to 70 year old retirees) they need for their growing families ... it’s like everyone is waiting for everyone because of the logjam at the top of the property ladder.

So, what is the solution? Quite simple – build more homes!

In the last 30 years, the UK population has grown by around 12 million people, yet the number of properties has only grown by around 4.2 million

With obstructive planning regulations, immigration, people living longer and increased divorce rates (meaning one family becomes two) we have needed 275,000 properties to be built a year since the Millennium to just stand still and meet demand. Twenty years ago, the UK was building on average 185,000 households a year, that figure dropped in the five years after the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 to 140,000 households a year. Thankfully that has increased steadily over the last five years and last year we created 245,000 households in the UK, however, we still have all those years since the Millennium to make up for.

The answer is to build on more land for starter homes, bungalows and sheltered accommodation, because land prices are holding back the property market as the larger national building firms are more inclined to focus on traditional two and three storey houses and apartments than bungalows (because they make more money from them). You might say there is no land to build the property on, yet…

only 1.2% of the UK is built on with residential properties

So how could Southampton people make money on this news? Shrewd Southampton property investors should consider purchasing bungalows, especially ones that need some titivating (possibly after somebody has passed away). Bungalows, purchased at the right price and location are a great gamble for flipping. They should also be considered for renting out as demand will only outstrip supply. This would be a start to the solution of rebalancing the Southampton property market so everyone is happier with their lot.

If you would like a chat about the Southampton property market - don’t hesitate to give me a call.

   CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOUR SOUTHAMPTON PROPERTY IS WORTH

 

If you would like to pick my brains on the Southampton Property Market – Just drop me a line on social media or email me @ brian.linehan@belvoir.co.uk you can also call me on 023 8001 8222.

 

If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative, then contact me to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

 

 

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Southampton Property News.

 

Blog, http://southamptonproperty.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/belvoirsouthampton/

 

Twitter, https://twitter.com/sotonbelvoir

 

LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlinehan

 

Website, https://www.belvoir.co.uk/offices/southampton

Southampton Q&A

  

So over the last few weeks I've had this question come through a few times, so I thought I would share my response below.

Question

"Ten years ago, we built a detached bungalow in the grounds of our house in the Southampton area. We took out a 10 year interest-only mortgage with one of the High Street mortgage providers to pay for it.

Now the 10 years is up and mortgage company wants us to pay it back. I know we agreed to pay into an ISA at the time, but thought as property prices were rising in Southampton, we would let the property market increases pay for the mortgage and sell everything in 2020.

The mortgage company have been given us an extension until the end of 2021 to find the money, yet we have changed our minds and do not want to do that by selling our main home yet.

A mortgage provider recommended we get a buy-to-let mortgage on the bungalow. Yet, we never got round to splitting the title deeds and the buy-to-let mortgage provider needs this before we can apply for a buy -to let mortgage.

What are the likely consequences of doing this?"

My Response

"If you are ever planning to re-mortgage or sell your property, it is vital that you meet with your solicitor. They can outline the exact nature of the title on both properties, get the paperwork in order for you and communicate with the Land Registry to sort it out.

If you select the option of a buy-to-let mortgage, it is imperative to appreciate what rent the bungalow could realise and whether that will cover the mortgage payments.

Also, is there independent access to the bungalow, or do tenants have to go through your own garden in order to access it? Not many Southampton tenants want to live in a property that is in the gardens of someone else’s home, especially their landlord’s, thus effecting the level of rent that could be achieved

It is really significant that you are conscious that a buy-to-let mortgage means the property has to be rented out. The lender has the right to see proof of the tenancy agreement and the rental payments coming into your bank account.

I would suggest you might also like to talk to other mortgage providers, as many other banks and building societies are offering interest only mortgages (as they make up around 7% of all mortgages in the UK). I know of some decent mortgage brokers in Southampton that might be able to help and give you a second opinion."

   CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOUR SOUTHAMPTON PROPERTY IS WORTH

 

If you would like to pick my brains on the Southampton Property Market – Just drop me a line on social media or email me @ brian.linehan@belvoir.co.uk you can also call me on 023 8001 8222.

 

If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative, then contact me to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

 

 

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Southampton Property News.

 

Blog, http://southamptonproperty.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/belvoirsouthampton/

 

Twitter, https://twitter.com/sotonbelvoir

 

LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlinehan

 

Website, https://www.belvoir.co.uk/offices/southampton

The Busiest December for the Southampton Housing Market Since 2006

Over the last six months, the Southampton Property Market has been flourishing. As soon as an estate agents “For Sale” flag went up, neighbours would be checking out Rightmove to see the internal pictures and compare the asking price to their own home (go on ... admit you do that too – every Southampton homeowner does). Flabbergasted by optimistic asking price tags, those same Southampton homeowners stand open-mouthed to see a sold slip added to the board a few weeks later. 

Property values in Southampton are 2.4 per cent higher than a year ago.

The newspapers are full of stories of this mini property market boom, which has been fuelled by the Stamp Duty Tax cut, which ends on the 31st March 2021. Not only has it pushed up values in Southampton, but it has also theoretically brought forward house moves from 2021 into 2020.

The most up-to-date transaction figures (i.e. the number of people moving home) endorse it too. In the UK, 137,200 property sales took place in December, the highest number of sales in December since 2006 (when it topped 149,200 transactions, only for it to fall to 32,700 transactions in December 2008 at the height of the Credit Crunch).

The exact figures from the Land Registry for Southampton won’t be available for another six weeks or so, yet in December 2019, 608 properties changed hands in Southampton. Looking at anecdotal evidence of for sale board changes, my database and the portals, I believe we will end up around 795 to 855 Southampton property sales/transactions for December 2020. 

So, how does all this compare to other years? 

The number of UK transactions continued to be relatively stable between November 2019 and March 2020. That decreased by around half in April/May 2020 compared to April/May 2019, triggered by economic impacts relating to the public health restrictions introduced. Since the first lockdown was lifted in the late spring, sales/transactions have increased steadily upwards each month, mirroring the relaxing public health restrictions for the property market during the summer and autumn of 2020 and the introduction of the Stamp Duty Tax holiday.

Before we all get the Champagne corks flowing, what the December national figures (and the corresponding provisional Southampton stats) don’t tell us, is that April to December 2020 transactions ended the year 13.7 per cent down compared to April to December 2019 transactions — the lowest since 2012. Don’t get me wrong, 13.7 per cent is impressive given that we are in the middle of a recession and even more remarkable considering there was a 48.7 per cent fall in transactions in 2008 (compared to 2007) when the Credit Crunch hit.

The biggest question though is, how much of this urgency to buy property since the summer can be credited to:

• existing pent-up demand that built up in 2018/9 and was starting to be released in the ‘Boris Bounce’ in January/February 2020 

• new demand from home workers looking for bigger properties 

• people moving out of the big city centres

• the Stamp Duty Tax cut 

— or a mixture of all four?

Nobody can categorically know whether the UK property market would have ricocheted as quickly without the Stamp Duty Tax cut.

Talking to many buyers, sellers, agents and solicitors in the Southampton property market over the last three or four months, the anecdotal evidence I have collated from those people seems to imply that the outbreak of activity in the Southampton property market has mainly been put down to the lifestyle factors (bigger house with office space etc.) and pent-up demand, meaning the Stamp Duty Tax Holiday is seen as the icing on the cake for most people. Yet, there will be some buyers, whose motivation has been purely to save money on the tax duty. Overall though, in the vast majority of house purchases, this allows us to be reasonably hopeful about what will happen once the Stamp Duty Tax Holiday ends on the 31st March.

However, some newspapers are preaching a story that the property market will collapse without a Stamp Duty Tax Holiday extension. Nobody can argue that a phased withdrawal from the Stamp Duty Tax Holiday would be better than some homebuyer’s sales falling through, when the tax holiday finishes in late March. Even if your motivation isn’t to save money on the tax holiday, it could be the motivation of a buyer in your chain – meaning it becomes your issue. Nobody knew in July, when the tax holiday was announced, that we would get another two national lockdowns with the inevitable delays from remote working by solicitors, mortgage providers and local authority search departments. My advice to all people currently sold subject to contract is to ask the question, “What if we don’t complete the sale by the end of March?”. Better to sort it now than have a nasty surprise in the last week of March.

All property taxation is long overdue for reform, from Stamp Duty to Council Tax. When Margaret Thatcher tried to change local Rates to Poll Tax in the late 1980’s, those who are old enough can remember the Poll Tax riots, hence the nervousness of any political party to make any changes. There is no way the Government will abolish Stamp Duty when it raises between £11bn to £13bn a year, yet with all the upheaval we have experienced in the last year, there could be an appetite to change the way property is taxed. 

The Government has already spent £271bn on interventions due to the pandemic and needs every penny so that it can start to repay those debts over the coming decades.

I have a feeling most Southampton property buyers and sellers would compromise on the price they pay for their next home to cover the cost of the Stamp Duty Tax after April, rather than lose the chance of owning the forever home they longed for during the first lockdown. 

Therefore, don't be alarmed when we see property values ease slightly in Q3 2021 when the price paid for property reflects the lower price to account for the Stamp Duty that will need to be paid from the 1st April.

If you are a Southampton homeowner or Southampton buy to let landlord and you would like a chat about where you and your Southampton property stands in the current Southampton property market, don’t hesitate to give me a call or drop me a line.

   CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOUR SOUTHAMPTON PROPERTY IS WORTH

 

If you would like to pick my brains on the Southampton Property Market – Just drop me a line on social media or email me @ brian.linehan@belvoir.co.uk you can also call me on 023 8001 8222.

 

If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative, then contact me to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

 

 

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Southampton Property News.

 

Blog, http://southamptonproperty.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/belvoirsouthampton/

 

Twitter, https://twitter.com/sotonbelvoir

 

LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlinehan

 

Website, https://www.belvoir.co.uk/offices/southampton

16% Drop in Southampton Homes ‘For Sale’ in Last 4 Months

What does this mean for Southampton property owners?

With most Southampton families home schooling their children in lockdown and the forthcoming Stamp Duty Holiday deadline on the 31st March 2021, less Southampton properties have been coming onto the Southampton property market since the new year. This has prompted a 16% drop in the supply of Southampton homes for sale compared to October 2020.

For the past couple of decades, like clockwork, Southampton estate agents’ busiest times for putting property onto the market is the new year to Easter rush, with a smaller flurry of new properties coming onto the market in the mid/late summer. Yet, since the ending of lockdown 1.0 in the late spring 2020, nothing has been normal about the Southampton property market.

Throughout the summer, the number of properties coming onto the market in Southampton steadily rose to its peak in October and the number of properties then becoming sold subject to contract (stc) rose even higher (and whilst statistics don’t exist for the properties sold stc, anecdotal evidence suggests there were just under 50% more Southampton properties sold stc in the last six months of 2020, compared to the same 6 months in 2019). 

However, back to the number of properties for sale…

The peak in the number of Southampton properties on the market in autumn was 2,213 – it now stands at 1,866.

The first lockdown caused many Southampton homeowners to want to move with the need for extra space to work from home and in some cases larger gardens. This was further exacerbated by Southampton home movers also trying to take advantage of the Stamp Duty holiday to save themselves some money on this tax. 

This meant many more Southampton properties came onto the market (more than a “normal” year) in the last 6 months of 2020. However, those Southampton home movers motivated to move for the extra space/save money on the tax, did so in the summer/autumn and have already placed their Southampton home on the market (and are probably by now sold stc rushing to get their house purchases through before the deadline on the tax savings). 

So, how does Southampton compare to other property markets, and what does this reduction in Southampton properties on the market mean to Southampton homeowners and landlords?

There are 8% more properties on the market today in Southampton, compared to 12 months ago.

When I compared that to the national picture, according to Zoopla, there are 12% less properties on the market today (compared to a year ago). 

However, the complete opposite is taking place in London. There are currently 47,900 apartments for sale in London compared to January 2020, when there were only 32,600 - a massive rise of 46.9% … all the more interesting when there are only 15.1% more London semi-detached houses for sale and 1.8% more London detached homes over the same 12-month period. The jump in London apartments for sale is being pushed by an upsurge of London up-sizers eager to trade their city living apartment up to suburban houses, and a small handful of panicky London buy to let investors who are wanting to exit the London property market following falling rents for apartments. Looking closer to home, there are…

33% more apartments for sale in Southampton than a year ago, whilst there are 33% less detached homes.

So, whilst there are some differences between the supply of individual types of property in Southampton (e.g. apartments vs detached houses), the overall reduction in the number (i.e. supply) of properties for sale can only mean one thing, when there is a reduction in the supply of anything and demand remains stable, this will mean continued upward pressure on Southampton house prices in the short term (although I suspect there will be some downward pressure on Southampton apartments with that level of increase in supply - maybe some interesting ‘opportunities’ for all you Southampton landlords?).

Will overall demand for Southampton property continue to be stable?

Lockdown 3.0 will probably cause another wave of Southampton people who want to move home (thus increasing demand). The last property crash (the Credit Crunch in 2009) was caused by a huge increase in the supply of properties for sale when people lost their jobs and interest rates were much higher. People couldn’t afford their mortgages and so dumped their homes onto the market all at the same time – causing an oversupply of property for sale and hence house prices dropped.

Compared to the 1,866 properties for sale in Southampton today, at the height of the Credit Crunch in January 2009, there were an eyewatering 3,641 properties for sale in Southampton

It was this increase in the level of property for sale in Southampton (mirrored across the whole of the UK) that caused property prices to drop between 16% and 19% (depending on the type of property) in Southampton over the 12 to 14 months of the Credit Crunch. So, as long as there is no sudden change in the demand or supply of properties and interest rates remain at their current ultra-low level – the medium-term prospects for the Southampton property market look good.

If you are a Southampton homeowner or a buy to let landlord and want to chat about the future of the Southampton property market – do drop me a line.

   CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOUR SOUTHAMPTON PROPERTY IS WORTH

 

If you would like to pick my brains on the Southampton Property Market – Just drop me a line on social media or email me @ brian.linehan@belvoir.co.uk you can also call me on 023 8001 8222.

 

If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative, then contact me to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

 

 

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Southampton Property News.

 

Blog, http://southamptonproperty.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/belvoirsouthampton/

 

Twitter, https://twitter.com/sotonbelvoir

 

LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlinehan

 

Website, https://www.belvoir.co.uk/offices/southampton