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

It’s Halloween month! And there’s nothing scarier than not knowing the latest property news. That’s why we are back with another monthly round-up of some of the stories hitting the headlines in September.

60,000

That’s the number of students that Liverpool receives from the UK and abroad. With many finding it increasingly difficult to find accommodation in the city, the Liverpool Echo spoke to Kieran Maloney as he embarked on project set to deliver 44 student bedrooms.

The £500,000 purchase and subsequent refurbishment of a former ironmongers featured on the BBC’s Homes Under the Hammer, with Together providing a £1.5 million development loan to help Kieran and his team complete the unique development of the abandoned city centre plot.

3 in 4

Manchester has been named the first-time buyer capital of the UK, with 75% of all properties bought with a mortgage in the city being purchased by people who hadn’t owned before. According to This is Money, Manchester beats the national average of 49% thanks to its rich cultural scene, strong job market and ongoing urban regeneration, attracting a young demographic of buyers that include many of the city’s university alumni.

23%

The appetite for shared ownership mortgages has jumped by nearly a quarter in the last year, our Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Etchells told Modern Lender this month. The statistic was mentioned as part of a discussion on what’s in store for the specialist mortgage market, and points to a growing need for alternative and affordable routes on to the property ladder as cost of living challenges continue to affect affordability and credit.

13

Unlucky for some, but for homebuyers that are less superstitious, there may be potential savings simply by choosing a home with the house number 13. That’s what new research from property website Rightmove suggests, with the average house numbered 13 selling for £358,618.

Whilst these properties aren’t cursed or haunted, some prospective buyers are put off, which in turn reduces the amount of competition. Using this house number trick, homebuyers could grab themselves an affordable treat in a more desirable location.

Here’s the average for a few more house numbers:

• Second lowest is house no. 21 at £359,538
• Lucky no. 7 averages at £369,770
• House no. 1 is the most expensive on average at £397,632

44%

As the latest Bank of England announcement confirmed that the Base Rate will stay at 5% until at least November, an article in Mortgage Introducer suggested that as many as 44% of UK adults thought the economic conditions are right for another rate cut.

Tanya Elmaz, Director of Intermediaries at Together, said, “Inflation is always key when considering base rate changes. While this is much lower than at the peak of the cost-of-living crisis in 2022, we’re probably looking at it coming down closer to the Bank of England’s 2% target later in the year, when we’d expect to see base rate cuts.”

1.5 million

Yes, we finish on what’s becoming a familiar figure but we are starting to hear more about how the new Labour government intends to hit its ambitious five-year target on new builds. In this article in The Guardian, extracts from an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer introduce the idea of ‘planning passports’ designed to speed up the planning process for projects that meet high standards for design and quality, and expands on the redevelopment of brownfield and grey belt land.

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