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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Many first-time buyers can’t leave behind their ‘reluctant renter’ status

The scales are tipping in the UK towards a greater number of private renters compared to owner-occupiers, as reflected by the decline in homeownership levels.

Residential property transactions decreased in July, according to the latest statistics from HMRC, which shows that the number of homes changing hands last month dropped 12.4% year-on-year.

The provisional seasonally adjusted UK residential property transaction count for July was just 86,630, leaving many people with little alternative but to rent instead, which is good news for buy-to-let landlords.

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Despite a challenging couple of years for the buy-to-let market, characterised by tax and regulatory changes, investment in buy-to-let continues to outperform most major asset classes, supported by record-low mortgage borrowing rates, stable yields, and solid demand from renters.

The widening supply-demand imbalance in the market is placing upward pressure on rental prices, with the latest data from ARLA Propertymark showing that the rent prices increased to the highest level on record in June.

Josef Wasinski, co-founder of Unmortgage, said: “This fall in property transactions indicates the continued struggle of many people still unable to buy their own homes. These figures do little to disguise the grim reality that, for many, the dream of stepping onto the property ladder is still out of reach.

“The ability of first-time buyers to leave behind their ‘reluctant renter’ status and become homeowners is proving difficult for many.

“Unless there is real change and a long-term effort to provide new and alternative routes to homeownership, people will continue to struggle.”

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

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    Dream of stepping onto the property ladder, that's exactly what GR are, dreamers, want their expensive life styles and own a house as well, well wake up that isn't how it works.

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    I do feel your 100% in many cases. We used to run a successful letting agency and had many couples as tenants who had, the 2 leased new cars, went out most weekends and on foreign holidays...but they “just couldn’t afford a deposit, because renting was so expensive”! Waken up!! When we got our first house, I had 4 jobs, my wife had 2, rarely went out, got paving slabs for my birthday as we couldn’t afford them and our path to the house was a death trap. Holidays..never heard of them!

     
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    And yet FTBs are increasing year on year and almost back to their all-time highs of c.400,000 transactions a year. The govt said they wanted to slow the property market and they have, so presumably they’re pleased to be taking less in tax off the reducing transactions? 🤔

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    Hey reluctant renters, GR, Shelter fans its your lucky day I'm selling a three bed house in Leeds £100k. Is that cheap enough? So now that Section 24 tax kicks in I'm thinking sod this I'll sell it make a little money on the 12 years of utter grief renting this house to people who arn't in a position to buy only rent. However it hasn't got granite worktops, could do with a kitchen update & another bathroom. Also painting & decorating & best of all a garden to maintain.
    Thinking about it that's you first time buyers out of the equation!!

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    • 22 August 2019 17:14 PM

    There is no grim reality of an alleged inability to buy.
    In most of the UK GR can easily afford to buy..
    Where there is an affordability issue it exists only in London and the near SE.
    Whiney SE GR will just have to accept they can't afford to buy near the 'bright lighfs' to be near mummy and daddy.
    There are plenty of eminently affordable properties to buy.
    Some of them though might need a bit of work doing on them so GR might have to get their hands dirty!!
    Of course GR wants everything handed to them on a plate.
    The mere idea of them using a paintbrush is beneath them!!
    They want it all now and for somebody else to pay for it.
    Well they can achieve this now by remaining tenants!!
    I keep all my properties in good order.
    Tenants haven't needed to pay anything for upkeep.
    I do that!!

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