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In the news August

Your need-to-know news and numbers: August 2024.

01 Aug 2024 | 3 min

Not much happened in July… Just a historic election, a nail-biting Wimbledon, a shocking and disquieting turn of American politics, a global IT meltdown and football nearly came home, among other things.

With so much going on, it’s understandable that you may’ve missed some property and finance news stories that flew a little more ‘under the radar’. Here, we’ve curated some headlines that you might want to buff up on during August.

3 in 4

That’s the number of buyers in London attempting to lower their offer price at the last minute, according to a report in The Standard. It’s a process called gazundering and can take place at any time before contracts are exchanged.

Finding expensive issues after a survey on aging housing stock, such as damp, could be one of the reasons for Londoners to reconsider their initial offer. But, with high demand for residential properties, many buyers are using the technique to beat the competition (without any intention of purchasing at the higher price).

Regardless of the reason, gazundering (and gazumping) can cause chaos when buyers and sellers are in a property chain.

Find out how a bridging loan could help repair the chain and speed up purchases.

Fix a chain break

1.5 million

One of Labour’s key manifesto messages going in to the July election was the promise to combat the growing housing crisis in the UK, building 1.5 million new homes in their first term in office.

Whilst the positive step, made official in the King’s Speech, has been welcomed by property professionals, many are warning that it’s not as simple as just building. In this article in Mortgage Solutions, experts in the industry warn that we also need to revamp the lengthy buying process, incentivise buying by continuing the Stamp Duty exemption, and improve planning permission at a local level if we’re to meet the targets.

300,000 per year

Together CCO, Ryan Etchells, echoed these sentiments in another Mortgage Solutions article, stating that “now that there is certainty over the next administration, there is a need for strong leadership to show swift action and delivery on promises made” and “to achieve such ambitious numbers (300,000 new homes per year), we need to see real change.”

83

The redevelopment of a former Victorian girl’s school in Leeds is due to bring 83 new luxury apartments and 8 office spaces to the vibrant city centre, according to an article in The Business Desk. Property developer Priestley Homes breathed new life into the abandoned building on Great George Street, sympathetically converting the historic Leeds landmark with funds provided by Together.

Blonde woman smiling in front of a stained glass window door

Lucy Alexander, star of Homes under the Hammer and A Place in the Sun, recently joined our Hidden Gems campaign, where she urged developers to help combat the housing shortage by renovating the empty homes and properties plaguing Britain’s streets.

Read Lucy’s open letter to developers below.

3x

Research from property website Rightmove suggests that pricing a property too high is backfiring on ambitious sellers, with homes that haven’t had their prices reduced selling up to three times quicker. They are also 1.35 times more likely to sell, according to the data reported in This is Money.

To make their properties more appealing, sellers are now ‘staging’ their homes for viewings. It’s a growing trend in the UK, according to this interiors featurette in The Standard, where rooms are prepared, decorated and furnished specifically for sale, designed to help perspective buyers envision the property as their next home.

Want to get your property in tip top shape before putting it on the property market? Here’s our handy guide to getting your house ready to sell.

Read our top tips

Close up of a golf ball about to be putted into a hole

16th

There’ll be plenty of golf fans ‘putting’ their hands in their pocket for this property!

According to City AM, a beautiful four-bedroom semi-detached house in the middle of the Royal Troon golf course in Ayrshire, Scotland is up for sale for £1.5 million. Situated next to the 16th hole, the cottage offers unrivalled views of 5 holes on the championship course, which hosted the 152nd Open Championship in July.

£91

Rental price records continue to rise as This is Money report that the average tenant is now paying £91 more per month than last year. Rightmove, who collated the data, claim that the average advertised rent outside of London has reached £1,316 per month, whilst renters in the capital are paying £2,652 per month.


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All content factually correct at the time of publishing.

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