Archive for July, 2010
New sort and listing history tools now on Zoopla
We have just rolled out two great new features on Zoopla.co.uk. They’re designed to make your search for property for sale or to rent even easier and provide you with up to date information on the property market. Ultimately, they exist to help you make the best possible property related decisions.
Sort by: ‘Most Reduced’ or ‘Most Popular’
When you search property to buy or property to rent on Zoopla.co.uk you can now sort your results by ‘Most Reduced’ or ‘Most Popular’. You’ll find these clever little tools at the top of the search results, right next to our existing sort features: Highest Price, Lowest Price and Oldest Listings – see the images with the highlights below.
Sort by: ‘Most Reduced’
Sort by: ‘Most Popular’
Listing History
The other feature, the first of its kind in the UK, is a powerful listings history information box. We’ve done all the hard work and in this box you’ll find the history of any property for sale or to rent which includes: when the property was first listed on Zoopla, asking/rental price changes, the number of page views the property has received and last sale date where applicable and where we know it. This clever little box can be found on the right hand side of the property details page – see the image below.
‘Listing History’ information box
As always, we welcome your feedback, so leave us a comment at the bottom or find us on twitter or facebook.
Zoopla Rent v Buy Index – buying cheaper than renting in 74% of Britain
We’ve just released our Rent v Buy Index which reveals the top places across Britain where renting a property beats buying and vice versa in current climate. This was done by comparing current asking prices to the average rents for two bedroom flats in the top 50 locations around the country.
What may come as a surprise to many is that buying a home beats renting in 74% of cases around Britain with average monthly mortgage repayments being 8% lower, on average, than the cost of renting (assuming interest-only mortgage at 5% interest p.a.). Perhaps the biggest surprise is that it is still cheaper to buy than rent in London, despite high prices.
Topping the list of places where renting is a better option than buying currently is Huddersfield, where the average two-bed flat costs only £493 per month to rent versus £146,898 to buy. Renting is also cheaper than buying in a number of other places including Oldham, Brighton, Swansea and Edinburgh.
At the other end of the scale, Dundee comes in top of the list of places where buying is currently the best option with average asking prices for two-bed flats at only £88,263 versus £530 per month in rent. Other locations around Britain where buying is by far the better choice at current asking prices include Birmingham, Derby, Cambridge and Milton Keynes.
Even in London, which has the highest rents in the country, buying is still the more cost-effective option, with average rents on two-bed flats currently at £2,155 per month versus average asking prices at an eye-watering £446,345.
While buying wins out over renting today, the impact of a rise in interest rates cannot be ignored. If interest rates were to increase by 1% and rents to remain the same, renting would become more cost-effective in 80% of the locations studied.
Zoopla.co.uk Top 50 Rent vs Buy Index July 2010
| Rank | City | Average Asking Price 2-bed flats |
Average Monthly Rent 2-bed flats |
Rent/Buy Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huddersfield | £146,898 | £493 | 1.24 |
| 2 | Oldham | £153,228 | £549 | 1.16 |
| 3 | Brighton | £274,231 | £1,035 | 1.10 |
| 4 | Swansea | £185,925 | £702 | 1.10 |
| 5 | Edinburgh | £179,583 | £693 | 1.08 |
| 6 | Bournemouth | £181,772 | £711 | 1.07 |
| 7 | Bristol | £189,691 | £743 | 1.06 |
| 8 | Cardiff | £153,741 | £614 | 1.04 |
| 9 | Plymouth | £157,546 | £630 | 1.04 |
| 10 | Stockport | £143,721 | £579 | 1.03 |
| 11 | Warrington | £127,178 | £526 | 1.01 |
| 12 | Bedford | £140,139 | £583 | 1.00 |
| 13 | Wigan | £115,820 | £482 | 1.00 |
| 14 | Liverpool | £151,860 | £640 | 0.99 |
| 15 | Lincoln | £130,535 | £555 | 0.98 |
| 16 | Leicester | £130,679 | £558 | 0.98 |
| 17 | Bolton | £114,301 | £493 | 0.97 |
| 18 | Wolverhampton | £118,078 | £515 | 0.96 |
| 19 | Bradford | £109,315 | £491 | 0.93 |
| 20 | Stoke-on-Trent | £100,387 | £451 | 0.93 |
| 21 | Aberdeen | £171,379 | £770 | 0.93 |
| 22 | Middlesbrough | £109,493 | £493 | 0.93 |
| 23 | Reading | £197,513 | £907 | 0.91 |
| 24 | Colchester | £135,658 | £626 | 0.90 |
| 25 | Barnsley | £96,327 | £444 | 0.90 |
| 26 | Sheffield | £125,576 | £580 | 0.90 |
| 27 | Hull | £118,527 | £549 | 0.90 |
| 28 | Newcastle | £131,978 | £613 | 0.90 |
| 29 | Leeds | £144,749 | £675 | 0.89 |
| 30 | Doncaster | £104,072 | £490 | 0.88 |
| 31 | Swindon | £119,549 | £568 | 0.88 |
| 32 | Manchester | £142,508 | £677 | 0.88 |
| 33 | Ipswich | £127,043 | £609 | 0.87 |
| 34 | Preston | £116,626 | £562 | 0.87 |
| 35 | London | £446,345 | £2,155 | 0.86 |
| 36 | Southampton | £163,207 | £790 | 0.86 |
| 37 | Glasgow | £116,271 | £567 | 0.85 |
| 38 | Rotherham | £100,021 | £491 | 0.85 |
| 39 | Coventry | £113,532 | £558 | 0.85 |
| 40 | Northampton | £116,267 | £574 | 0.84 |
| 41 | Norwich | £130,729 | £655 | 0.83 |
| 42 | Peterborough | £116,481 | £589 | 0.82 |
| 43 | York | £174,225 | £891 | 0.81 |
| 44 | Nottingham | £123,160 | £633 | 0.81 |
| 45 | Walsall | £94,437 | £493 | 0.80 |
| 46 | Milton Keynes | £135,633 | £728 | 0.78 |
| 47 | Cambridge | £193,577 | £1,046 | 0.77 |
| 48 | Derby | £100,483 | £562 | 0.74 |
| 49 | Birmingham | £131,546 | £765 | 0.72 |
| 50 | Dundee | £88,263 | £530 | 0.69 |
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Zoopla.co.uk Rent vs Buy Index – Key and Methodology
The Rent/Buy Ratio indicates the degree to which renting is less/more expensive than buying in each location. A figure above 1.0 indicates it is cheaper to rent than buy and the greater the figure the more expensive buying is versus renting. Similarly a figure below 1.0 indicates it is cheaper to buy than rent and the lower the figure the more expensive it is to rent versus buy.
Current active property listings on Zoopla.co.uk have been used to compare the relative costs of buying versus renting two bedroom flats in the largest 50 cities/towns across Britain. The cost of buying is based on repayment costs of an interest-only mortgage at 5% interest per annum.
All 27m UK homes listed on the new Zoopla.co.uk property app
Ever walked past the home of your dreams and wondered if it’s for sale or what it last sold for, or even what it might be valued at right now?
Perhaps you’re just naturally curious or a bit of a nosey neighbour?
Well, the new Zoopla property app caters for everyone – property addicts, home-hunters, owners and estate agents.
It’s the ultimate, highly addictive, free resource for the residential property market giving you access to much more than just property for sale or to rent listings. Our app has over 15m sold prices (who paid what for what), allows you to generate current value estimates on any UK home (27m of them!) as well as access to essential local market information (what’s happening in my area), all available on the move!
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| List view | Map view | Augmented reality |
There are a few property related apps out there, but we have some genuine points of difference; the main one being that we do more than just for sale or to rent listings. Here are some more:
1. Map-led search as well as list view and Augmented Reality*
2. Free, instant value estimates for all 27 million UK homes – yes, your home will be on our app
3. Over 15 million house prices paid dating back to 1995 – who paid what for what?
4. Local market data including average home values by area – essential research
Download the Zoopla.co.uk app FREE from the iTunes store today
More information can be found here and images here
As always, we’d love to hear your views and feedback, so leave us a line in the comment box below, or better still, write a review on the Apple site!
*Augmented Reality available with iPhone 3GS and 4 only
Homes recover 50% of value lost during housing downturn
We have reached an important point in a market seeking direction and despite the most recent 16 months of gains, only half of the value lost in the prior 16 months has been recouped.
This juncture may well determine the direction of house prices for the months to come. Our data show us that we have come through two periods of equal length and opposing directions. UK house prices have risen steadily for the past 16 months, bouncing off their lows of March 2009 and recovering half of the value lost during the prior 16 month period of price declines from the November 2007 market peak.
It is entirely possible that we may now have a similar length period of time where the market hovers without a clear direction.
The average UK home is now worth £218,705, up £21,667 (11.02%) since March 2009. However this figure remains more than £20,000 below the November 2007 peak, when average house prices reached £239,063, showing that, despite the rebound over the last 16 months, only half the ground lost over the prior 16-month period has been made up.
England - prices have recovered more ground than elsewhere, having climbed 11.46% since March 2009, with the average home in England now worth £226,342, but still well below the level reached in November 2007 of £246,714.
Wales – prices have been much slower to rebound, up only 7.07% since March 2009 to a current average value of £154,521, a long way short of the £173,388 peak in November 2007.
Scotland – property values have climbed 9.12% on average to £156,217 over the past 16 months, having fallen 18.1% in the prior 16-month period when they reached a high of £174,805.
Whilst the dramatic fall in house prices during the 16 months from the November 2007 high to the March 2009 low affected all areas of the country, the rebound in the 16 months since has been far more selective.
South East – property prices have bounced back strongly and have regained most of the value lost during the downturn. House prices in the South East, which peaked at £291,120 in November 2007 had fallen sharply by 18.24% to £238,017 by March 2009, and have since risen by 17.57% to £279,848.
North East – in contrast the North East saw average house prices drop 16.11% from £182,390 in November 2007 to £153,002 in March 2009, and have since only managed to regain 4.98%, standing today at £160,627.
London – the market has seen the most dramatic turnaround, with average house prices today at new highs and above the levels seen in November 2007. Having fallen by 16.06% from a high of £410,577 in November 2007 to a low of £344,635 in March 2009, London house prices have made up all the ground lost in the downturn and now stand at £418,802. London house prices have risen by a remarkable 21.52% over the past 16 months.
Looking at property type…
The rebound in house prices since March 2009 has been strongest for semi-detached properties, which have risen by 12.83% over the past 16 months. The average semi is now worth £191,019. At the other end of the scale, flats across the UK have been much slower to rebound and have only gained 7.78% in value over the past 16 months, having fallen by 17.34% in the prior 16-month period. The average flat in Britain is now worth £199,573, down from a peak of £224,021 in Nov 2007.
Average house prices by Country
| Country | Jul 2010 | Mar 2009 | Last 16 months | Nov 2007 | Prior 16 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | £226,342 | £203,077 | +11.46% | £246,714 | -17.69% |
| Scotland | £156,217 | £143,166 | +9.12% | £174,805 | -18.10% |
| Wales | £154,521 | £144,315 | +7.07% | £173,388 | -16.77% |
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Average house prices by Region
| Region | Jul 2010 | Mar 2009 | Last 16 months | Nov 2007 | Prior 16 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £418,802 | £344,635 | +21.52% | £410,577 | -16.06% |
| SE England | £279,848 | £238,017 | +17.57% | £291,120 | -18.24% |
| E England | £233,776 | £208,322 | +12.22% | £259,967 | -19.87% |
| SW England | £225,773 | £194,662 | +15.98% | £238,044 | -18.22% |
| W Midlands | £174,269 | £165,332 | +5.41% | £202,139 | -18.21% |
| E Midlands | £161,919 | £153,204 | +5.69% | £184,474 | -16.95% |
| NE England | £160,627 | £153,002 | +4.98% | £182,390 | -16.11% |
| NW England | £160,071 | £142,532 | +12.31% | £170,199 | -16.26% |
| Yorks & Humber | £145,783 | £134,758 | +8.18% | £164,654 | -18.16% |
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Average house prices by Property Type
| Property type | Jul 2010 | Mar 2009 | Last 16 months | Nov 2007 | Prior 16 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £317,957 | £291,125 | +9.22% | £349,528 | -16.71% |
| Semi-detached | £191,019 | £169,304 | +12.83% | £204,522 | -17.22% |
| Terraced | £171,637 | £153,566 | +11.77% | £186,032 | -17.45% |
| Flats | £199,573 | £185,170 | +7.78% | £224,021 | -17.34% |
Source: Zoopla.co.uk
Housing market confidence dips as mortgage concerns remain
Our latest Zoopla.co.uk Housing Sentiment Survey reveals whilst 78% of homeowners think that property prices will rise by 5.5% from current levels over the next six months, this figure has fallen from 81% three months ago as concerns grow around the availability of mortgage finance persist.
Confidence amongst homeowners remains high for the time being, but the dip does signal a directional shift and that concerns are building again around the outlook for the property market. The fear remains that the revival in the housing market will be derailed unless the banks make a concerted effort to increase lending. With job cuts looming in the public sector and interest rate hikes expected at some point, the new government has its work cut out for it to ensure that home ownership remains affordable and attainable for most people.
Key points:
- Number of homeowners expecting house prices to rise drops from 81% to 78%
- 77% surveyed say mortgage funding is no easier to get now than 3 months ago
- Worry about job losses and interest rate hikes hangs over the property market
However, although confidence remains relatively high, concerns remain around mortgage availability with one in three (34%) of those surveyed citing this as the biggest continued threat to the health of the property market and more respondents (27%) saying it is now harder to get a mortgage than 3 months ago than those saying it is easier (23%). Other key concerns to a continued recovery in the housing market were a potential rise in interest rates for 25% of respondents and the impact of job losses in the public sector for 21%.
The Scots appear the most upbeat over the prospects for their local property market, with 84% expecting house prices in their area to rise over the next six months, compared to 79% in England and 73% in Wales. Residents in Northern Ireland are least optimistic, with only 67% predicting house prices will rise over the next six months.
Please feel free to share and use these findings, all we ask is that you credit the source as the Zoopla.co.uk Housing Market Sentiment Survey and link to Zoopla.co.uk.
