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Morning Briefing: first-time buyers overtake movers for first time since mid-1990s

New buyers overtake movers for the first time since 1995, and the rest of the morning’s housing news 

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Morning Briefing: first-time buyers overtake movers for first time since mid-1990s #ukhousing

In the news

The Press Association Newswire carries a story about the rising numbers of first-time buyers, based on statistics from household bank Lloyds. The story, covered in several news outlets, notes there were 170,000 home movers against 175,500 first-time buyers in the first half of 2018 – the first time new buyers have outweighed movers since 1995.

Elsewhere, Shelter has a blog on ‘grey renting’ – the growth of elderly people in the private rented sector. Relying on figures from the recently published English Housing Survey it says: “There are now more than three times the number of middle-aged private renters, aged 45-64, than there were in 1996/97.

“If over the next 20 years they were all simply to roll over into the 65+ age group it would add a vast 1.1 million older renting households, taking the number to 266% the current total.”

The Guardian reports on the government’s confirmation that Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) will end without replacement at the end of this financial year. The FIT is a subsidy paid to generators of renewable energy and had been used to bankroll the growth of residential solar panels in the UK, including among social landlords.

A fairly unpleasant story in the Mail Online about large private sector landlord Fergus Wilson who, the website has claimed, has vowed to evict single mothers from his properties. He will face action from human rights campaigners, who previously challenged his comments about ethnic minority tenants, the website says.

In Poole, after a row about plans to potentially fine rough sleepers earlier this year the BBC reveals that no fines have in fact been handed out.

The Northampton Chronicle & Echo reports on the local council’s plans to set up a housing development, setting aside £20,000 from its reserves to do so.

Over on the HuffPost, Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse writes about the need to bring empty homes back into use. “Regions with the highest number of vacant dwellings are often also the areas that have been left behind in terms of economic growth,” she writes.

And in The Independent, Dr Thomas Moore, an academic from the University of Liverpool, writes that James Brokenshire’s refusal to allow government funding for the “unjustified use” of leasehold properties could deter affordable housing providers – who seek to retain the freehold to ensure the property remains in the affordable sector – from bidding.

The Metro runs a comment piece complaining about the popular money diaries which explain how someone in their 20s saved to buy a house and inevitably ended up getting a vast loan from their parents to help along the way:

“Most people don’t have parents who are so flush that they can afford to chuck a few grand in their direction willy-nilly; some don’t have any parents whatsoever. The implication that such parental help is just a side-note (especially when it amounts to sums like 10 grand) is baffling at best,” it says.

And if you woke up this morning hoping to find out how much (on average) private rents have gone up in Britain according to the official metric, it’s your lucky day. The answer is 1%.

 


READ MORE

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Homeownership rises for first time in 12 yearsHomeownership rises for first time in 12 years

On social media

Paul Hackett, chair at G15, has his say on the above mentioned Fergus Wilson:

And a housing sector rounders tournament has raised £16,000 for Women’s Aid:

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