Recent Articles in Kate's guide to individual indices

What's the latest news on the London property market?
Dec 3, 2019

London is made up of 32 boroughs, some of which are host to some of the most expensive properties in the world, which reside next to social housing, owned by the state and rented at around a third of the cost on the open market.  London continues to see demand move onwards and upwards as the population is ever increasing from a mix of people who have lived there all their lives, through to those around the UK and abroad looking to find their own fortune! Because of the huge area London covers and the vast differences within it, we don’t like reporting just on ‘London’, so instead have created our own monthly London property report. Read more to find out what's happening to the London prices and rents.

How savvy are the UK's teenagers when it comes to buying a home?
Nov 5, 2019

With much of the press regularly reporting that it’s impossible for youngster’s to get on the housing ladder today, I thought it would be interesting to see what teenagers in my local area – Nottingham – thought about their chances of getting on the property market. Rather than interrogate budding buyers myself, I thought it best to let one of their peers run the research – and film the results.

Time to replace licensing with a Property MOT – let’s look after tenants, not keep failing them!
Nov 1, 2019

A while ago I started, on behalf of The Lettings Industry Council, to look at how well licensing was working, and at that point was fairly happy to remain neutral on whether it was a good idea or not. Sadly, though, my research has resulted in my feeling that licensing is an utter waste of time and money, and not really helping tenants at all. Few councils have prosecuted at anything like the level Newham have achieved, and some have introduced schemes and granted licences without ever having seen the property! Read my article to find out the reasons for taking this view  and take a look at  the TLIC’s solution/alternative - the Property MOT.

A return to a more sustainable pace of price growth?
Oct 17, 2019

Regionally, huge differences still remain with London, despite the recent falls still showing almost double the price growth since 2007. For those investors ‘leaving’ London for more ‘northern’ climes, they need to seriously think if this is the right decision. At the other end of the scale, affordability for those in the Midlands and North and even some in the South since the falls, has improved for many first time buyers – at least from a mortgage lending vs average wage front. Not something you’d think had happened with the constant ‘it’s impossible to afford a home’ headlines! Read my article to find out more.

Properties are more affordable today than 12 years ago
Oct 3, 2019

I never quite understand why many property companies and much of the media think that only ‘bad news’ stories about property sell.  I also don’t understand why very few property companies, charities or property organisations aren’t telling people how affordable property is today, particularly for first time buyers, and still insist on making tenants feel so ‘miserable’ if they rent. I was asked to present at the recent RICS Housing Hub and chose the topic ‘how we can afford to put a home over everyone’s head’. To me that’s a question we should be asking and answering, rather than constantly shoving out ‘bad news’ stories. To find out more, read my article.