Debate over housing stock crisis gathers momentum, AFVE begins to provide solutions.

Speaking at a Social Market Foundation debate, Professor Stephen Nickell of Nuffield College, Oxford was reported to have said “There are fewer vacant houses in England than in nearly any other country”.

Industry experts gathered at a Westminster location last week to discuss the chronic lack of housing facing this generation and what could be done to address this.

Professor Nickell said “People can’t get on the ladder these days when the houses aren’t there and prices are high because of a lack of competition”.

“Even in the boom times of 2006 not enough houses were being built where people wanted to live and there was no incentive to allow development. Then Labour constructed a control system for house building targets related to population growth and new building in England was up 170,000 in 2008; then the crunch came.”

Nickell pointed out that there are acres of space in places such as Oxford where houses could be built but they are on a green belt, planning permission is restricted or locals object.

“We know everyone would be opposed to developments in places where land is available, like Tumbridge Wells. You would need money to bribe people to agree to it. You would need to give them details of facilities that would be provided if they agreed to it.”

However, he also argued that no amount of money would lead residents to want more housing in their area. “Some people don’t see the housing stock problem as they believe there are a lot of empty houses in Britain, left by the deceased or second homes, but there are actually fewer vacant houses than nearly any other country, so it’s a red herring.”

He suggested that a proposal to increase social housing was “pie in the sky, as there’s no money there.”

Good news then that Armed forces and Veterans Estates (AFVE) are developing projects across the UK making use of disused properties for our military community and veterans to buy or rent.

Not only that but AFVE negotiate deals and discounts that are directly passed on to the client buying the property, often these are not available through normal channels, sometimes the discount is as high as 25% on certain property purchases.

Supporting our Armed Forces and Veterans Community has always been our key goal. We are planning for their future offering those people who have given so much for this country an opportunity like no other, getting them into housing, on the property ladder and offering financial discounts and support in the shape of our pre pay Mastercard ® Armed Forces and Veterans Privilege Card.

Click below for information on the Armed Forces and Veterans Property and Privilege campaign for our Forces Community.
Property and Privilege

First-time buyers in Scotland hits post-crunch high

The number of first-time buyers in Scotland rose to the largest annual total in four years, according to new data released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders in Scotland.

A total of 19,000 first-time buyers purchased a property in Scotland in 2012, an increase of 13 per cent on the previous year.

Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of last year lending to first-time buyers rose to 5,200, up by 18 per cent on the same period in 2011.

By value, loans to first-time buyers totalled £490 million in the fourth quarter, up from £460 million in the previous quarter and £400 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

In the fourth quarter 62 per cent of first-time buyers bought a property for less than £125,000 compared to 39 per cent in the UK as a whole.

First-time buyers also borrowed less relative to their income than in the UK overall, and spent a smaller proportion of their income on mortgage payments. First-time buyers in Scotland typically borrowed 2.88 times their income, considerably lower than the 3.26 times borrowed by their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

While there was an increase in lending to first-time buyers in Scotland, there was a fall in lending to home movers in the fourth quarter for the second consecutive quarter. A total of 7,100 loans were advanced to home movers, compared to 7,300 in the third quarter and 7,200 in the same period in 2011.

Despite the slight easing in the second half of the year, there was a small increase in lending to home movers for 2012 overall. A total of 27,600 loans were advanced to home movers (worth £3.66 billion) up marginally from 27, 500 loans (worth £3.6 billion) in 2011.

As a result of the increase in first-time buyer activity but slight fall in loans to home movers, overall house purchase lending rose slightly in the fourth quarter.

Following a similar pattern to the UK overall, remortgage lending increased in the fourth quarter when £700 million was advanced – a 6 per cent increase compared to the third quarter but still 20 per cent lower than the fourth quarter in 2011.

Overall, a year-on-year fall in each quarter resulted in a 19 per cent fall in remortgage lending in 2012 compared to 2011.

Chair of CML Scotland, Iain Malloch, was reported to have commented,: “The Scottish housing market showed positive signs of recovery in 2012, broadly following the pattern seen in the rest of the UK. The availability of mortgages at more than 90 per cent loan-to-value has more than doubled in the last two years and lenders expect to offer more, high loan-to-value mortgages this year. This, and the fact that the number of first-time buyers is at a post-crunch high, suggests that lenders really are open for business.”