Monthly Archives: August 2017

Making the Private Rented Sector Work for People in Poverty

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The following write up is from a summer 2017 event held by social policy research and development charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) – principally exploring how the private rented sector can work better for lower income groups and those in poverty.  Timely in nature in terms of its proximity to the Grenfell Tower disaster, Campbell Robb, chief executive of the organisation, started the event by reasoning how the social / affordable housing crisis continues to elicit opinions from all sides.  However, the broad consensus remains that both policy making and market dynamics are not keeping up with the changes necessary to improve the current landscape. After some real-life quotes from tenants across the country, Robb went on to describe the Private Rented Sector (PRS) as the “home of poverty” – with current estimations pointing to 4.7 million people living in poor... [Read More]

Commentary on the August 2017 Property Investor´s Factfile

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August 2017 Property Investor´s Factfile The Property Investor Blog´s monthly factfile presents a range of relevant data from national / London house prices, the latest buy-to-let Limited Company (SPV) loan rates, LIBOR / SWAP rates and rentals to mortgage debt figures and information on the first-time buyer sector.  Some noteworthy observations from the last month are outlined below: Both the Halifax and LSL / Acadata house price indices reported drops between May and June of 1.05% and 0.69% respectively. During the same period, however, Nationwide reported 1.24% growth in prices. Land Registry slightly lagged, although arguably more accurate, data pointed to average prices across England and Wales growing by just 0.28% (from £220,094 in April to £220,713 in May); Rightmove asking prices slightly recovered from a 0.37% drop in June, yet only marginally rose to 0.1% in July.  According to Rightmove director Miles Shipside: “prices are in the summer... [Read More]