ROOF Blog

The number of people moving house has fallen to its lowest level since the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ survey began in 1978. RICS said the squeeze on mortgage availability continued to dampen the market, while the ‘confused messages’ over a stamp duty holiday had also hit confidence. There were just 14.4 completed sales per surveyor on average for the three months to the end of July.

And the number of new loans approved for house purchases in June fell to half the figure for June 2007. Just 47,000 home loans were approved in June, compared with 98,000 last year. The figures from Council for Mortgage Lenders indicate the slowdown in mortgage lending was likely to continue.

Housebuilder Barratt has announced that it will scrap stamp duty on certain properties irrespective of what the chancellor decides to do to try to get the market moving again. Managing director of Barratt West London said that ‘we don’t want our homebuyers to worry about whether they should buy now or wait to see…’ It may also pay legal fees and moving costs in some cases.

A new report out by the Chartered Institute of Housing and Housing Corporation has found that the proportion of people living in social housing who are unemployed is increasing, driven by the shortage of housing as only those with the most acute needs are qualifying for homes. The average housing income of those entering social housing is between £100 and £300 a week. The report also found that 85 per cent of private rented households with incomes of less than £25,000 had not applied to social housing, either because they aspired to home ownership or because of the stereotype of social estates.

Regeneration areas have been the hardest hit by the property market slump than other types of development, according to the IPD regeneration index. In the past, regeneration schemes have given higher returns than schemes outside regeneration areas, but in 2007 the return for a regenerated property fell by 6 per cent compared with an average of 3.4 per cent for the property market as a whole. A spokesperson said that long-term returns are expected and regenerated areas remain a good investment.

And finally, a 93-year-old woman who has just had her first novel published has bought a house with the proceeds so she and her friends can stay out of nursing homes. The author has one friend staying with her already and says she hopes to buy other properties so more people could live with her ‘in dignity’, and avoid moving into a nursing home, which she says she dreads.

TENANTS IN GRAVESHAM have overwhelmingly rejected stock transfer. The result of a ballot announced today by the Kent authority shows 86% voted against a move to Thameside Housing Association with just 14% in favour on a 70% turnout. The council is set to decide what to do next at meetings over the next two weeks.

Want a bet that we’ll ever pay the Lib Dems’ new environmental taxes? Thought not. Ming Campbell’s victory today at the party conference is not going to lead to a slump in sales of Chelsea Tractors any time soon. But it’s important nonetheless: the Lib Dems may be part of a coalition government in just two years’ time and its policy debates mirror those in other parties.

What’s this all got to do with housing? Quite a lot if you scratch beneath the surface of the debate over scrapping the 50 per cent tax rate for high earners. The policy document proposes a series of changes to Britain’s absurd system of property taxation:

• Scrapping the council tax in favour of local income tax
• A property tax not yet specified but perhaps based on the Danish system of a 1 per cent national property tax with a threshhold below which it is not payable
• Reforming stamp duty to remove the slab system under which the rate escalates dramatically at £250,000 and £500,000

The policy paper does leave plenty of wriggle room but at least it kicks off the debate.