Property/Conveyancing

The housing price boom has subsided slightly with a drop of 0.5 per cent in residential transactions in June, according to the latest House Price Index from the Halifax.

Annual house price inflation stood at 8.8 per cent compared to 9.6 per cent in May, while the average UK property price now £260,358.

UK seasonally adjusted residential transactions in May 2021 were 114,940 – down by 3.8 per cent from April (down 8.7 per cent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis).

The latest quarterly transactions (March-May 2021) were approximately 7.1 per cent higher than the preceding three months (December 2020-February 2021).

Despite the slowdown, demand for new homes, while still high, appears to be slowing, according to the latest UK Residential Markey Survey from The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor (RICS).

That survey revealed that 14 per cent of correspondents reported an increase in new buyer enquiries throughout June, down from 43 per cent in April.

“What’s more, this easing in momentum,” wrote RICS in its report, “is visible across virtually all regions/countries of the UK covered by the survey. Nevertheless, the latest feedback continues to signal a clear excess of demand over supply.”

Russell Galley, managing director at the Halifax, said: “The average UK house price slipped by -0.5 per cent in June, the first monthly fall since January.”

“As a result annual house price inflation also eased back slightly from May’s 14-year high of +9.6 per cent to stand at +8.8 per cent in June.

“It is important to put such a moderate decrease in context, with average prices still more than £21,000 higher than this time last year, following a broadly unprecedented period of gains.”

Government support measures over the last year have helped to boost demand, particularly amongst buyers searching for larger family homes at the upper end of the market. The average price of a detached home has risen faster than any other property type over the past 12 months, up by more than 10 per cent or almost £47,000 in cash terms.

At a cost of over half a million pounds, they are now £200,000 more expensive than the typical semi-detached house.

Nicola Tubbs, a Department Director with Palmers Solicitor and Head of the Residential Conveyancing team, said: “The past few months have been non-stop, not only for our team but for the other solicitors, estate agents, surveyors and mortgage advisors that we work with.

“Although the £500,000 stamp duty holiday has now ended, there are still many homebuyers who will be keen to ensure than they take advantage of the tax free incentive still available on homes up to £250,000 and we expect that it will be a race to the finish to complete before the 30 September deadline.”

For help and advice with all residential property matters including conveyancing, please get in touch with our expert team today.

The new Help to Buy scheme for buyers wishing to purchase a new-build home launches in April, with substantially different terms from those available under the previous iteration of the scheme, which ran from 2013 and ends in March this year.

Nicola Tubbs, a Director with Palmers Solicitors who heads up our residential property team, explained: “Unlike the current scheme, the new scheme is limited to first-time-buyers and is subject to regional caps on the value of the property it can be used towards, ranging from £186,000 in the North East to £600,000 in London.”

Buyers can use Help to Buy to access a loan worth between five and 20 per cent of the purchase price on properties outside London and up to 40 per cent of the purchase price in the capital.

Additionally, buyers will need to have saved up deposits worth between five and 25 per cent of the purchase price to access a Help to Buy loan.

The Help to Buy loan is interest-free for the first five years, although buyers will need to pay a £1 a month management fee. From the sixth year of the loan, buyers will be charged interest of 1.75 per cent that increases annually through multiplication with the consumer price index, plus two per cent.

Loans must be repaid on the sale of the home or, otherwise, after 25 years. This amount is tied to the value of the home on sale, meaning that buyers who borrow five per cent of the value of their purchase would have to pay back five per cent of the later sale price, even if that is significantly higher than the value of the original loan.

At Palmers, our large Residential Conveyancing team have over one hundred years’ combined experience.

We provide high quality, tailor-made advice and we are never more than a telephone call or e-mail away.

To ensure you do not miss out on stamp duty holiday savings, get in touch with our conveyancing team today.

HM Land Registry has confirmed that it will begin accepting electronic signatures for transfers of property ownership, leases, mortgages and other property matters.

Once a conveyancer has uploaded the deed to the online platform, an email will be sent to the signatories, with a two-factor verification code sent to them by text message. They can then sign the documents electronically in the physical presence of witnesses.

Once the document is signed, a notification is sent to the conveyancer, who can then submit the completed document to HM Land Registry.

Simon Hayes, Chief Executive at HM Land Registry, said: “What we have done today is remove the last strict requirement to print and sign a paper document in a home buying or other property transaction.

“This should help right now while lots of us are working at home, but it is also a keystone of a truly digital, secure and more efficient conveyancing process that we believe is well within reach.

“The more sophisticated qualified electronic signatures are a part of that vision and encouraging those is where our attention will be directed next.”

It will remain possible for a signature page to be printed for signing and witnessing in pen.

Nicola Tubbs, a Partner with Palmers and Head of Residential Property Services, said: “This is a welcome development and will hopefully speed up the conveyancing process.

“It follows a similar move to allow electronic signatures for the witnessing of Wills and demonstrates how the effects of social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in organisations embracing the use of digital technology.”

For help and advice with all aspects of conveyancing including land registry matters, please contact us.