Selective Licencing is coming back
Great Yarmouth Borough Council have decided that selective licencing should be reinstated and expanded over a wider area.
The proposed area would cover the majority of Great Yarmouth and will bring additional costs for Landlords (licence fee to be in excess of £700) and additional responsibilities with no tangible benefit.
Many landlords would certainly look at the last incarnation of licencing scheme and question the success of the outcomes it set out to achieve.
Within the industry many are looking at this and wondering how many more straws can local and national government add to landlords backs. This, if actioned, would come into force shortly after the Renters Rights Act becomes law. Landlords will then start to prepare for tax changes in 2028 and EPC changes in 2030. Only time will tell how many landlords decide to sell up and invest elsewhere.
The council are going through a consultation process, therefore any landlord has the right to their say on this matter, please see https://have-your-say.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/selective-licensing-consultation .
High loan-to-value lending hits highest level since 2008
Statistics from the Bank of England indicate that high loan to value lending is at highest levels since early 2008 just before the banking crisis and credit crunch.
With gently falling interest rates, this is another indicator that the housing market is going to be moving forward through 2025 into 2026 as buyer confidence and ability to buy improves.
This coupled with the positive news from the property websites reporting increased activity and sales numbers, points towards increasing activity and sales in the second half of this year.
Reasons to be very optimistic!
Thinking of moving in 2025 – call your local Aldreds branch today
Performer of the Month for May!
Well done to Louis who is our Performer of the Month.
Nominated by Gorleston office manager Melissa from her holiday! That is how impressed she was!
Louis handled an extremely complicated and valuable sale to completion in May and is also nearing completion on a very contentious matter that actually started as a sale in August! He has stayed focused but also given excellent customer service in both of these matters,
Deserved and well done Louis.
Are we in a ‘normal’ housing market?
If you listen to the press the housing market is either booming or crashing…but that isn’t the reality.
For long periods of time, it can be operating with well priced, well marketed properties selling but not necessarily flying out the door.
That may be where we are at the moment.
Looking at the data. In East Norfolk and North East Suffolk, about 35% of houses listed as sold stc. We have seen this as low as 15% and as high (straight after covid and during the stamp duty holiday) as 80%. This 35% mirrors the national average. This means the 65% of houses are looking for buyers giving house hunters choice which is why we have seen house prices quick stable over the last 18 months with only small rises and falls recorded.
What may happen in the future? Interest rates have been falling but the surprise rise in inflation may slow this. It certainly seems like the normal and healthy housing market we have now will continue for the rest of 2025 with supply and demand quite consistent and good levels of sales being recorded.
Inflation rises to 3.5%
The battle with the cost of living is back with inflation rising to 3.5% way above the governments target of 2%. But still way below the double digit inflation we experienced a few years ago.
The rise has been put down to the recent rise in household bills. However, the rise in National Living Wage and higher National Insurance Contributions for employers will have also had an effect as businesses raise prices to cover these increases.
We must wait to see if this changes the Bank of England stance on reducing interest rates. There had been hopes that the base rate would continue to fall through 2025.
