Latest news with #propertyadvice
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House prices, stamp duty and stress: costs blamed for 3 million cancelled home moves across UK
In advance of the Government's Spending Review on Wednesday 11 June, and the publication of its much-anticipated housing strategy, the HomeOwners Alliance has revealed that 3.3 million homeowners have cancelled plans to move in the past two years. More than 800,000 potential moves were delayed or ditched due to stamp duty costs alone, according to a survey by the property advice website. The most common reasons for changing plans were costs — with high house prices the most signifcant barrier cited by 35 per cent of homeowners. The average London home now costs £552,000, according to the Office of National Statistics, which is almost 14 times the average London salary. Stamp duty tax was also flagged by almost a quarter (24 per cent) of surveyed homeowners as their main reason for putting off moves. While often referred to as a tax on buyers in London and the South East, where property prices are higher, stamp duty tax, which is paid to the government on completion, still seems to be an issue that concerns people across the UK. For a family wanting to upsize to a home worth £400,000, stamp duty adds £10,000 to upfront costs and, in London, where the average property price is over £100,000 more, this figure is significantly higher. Stamp duty on the average London home (£552,000), for instance, equates to a bill of £17,600. 'Stamp duty is acting as a handbrake on the housing market,' says Paula Higgins, CEO of HomeOwners Alliance. 'When a family faces a £10,000 stamp duty bill just to move to a £400,000 home — before they've even paid for surveys, legal fees, and removal costs — it's no wonder a quarter of potential movers are staying put.' The HomeOwners Alliance believes scrapping stamp duty tax for everyone buying a home to live in would do a lot to spur people into purchasing their next property and resurrect the housing market, freeing up much-needed stock for families and downsizers. Also highlighted as a factor was the stress of moving in itself, with 35 per cent of respondents saying this was deterring them from moving forward with their plans. Last year, according to Quick Move Now, 31.3 per cent of property sales fell through prior to completion. Stricter mortgage criteria, problems thrown up during conveyancing and surveys, plus issues and delays in getting essential paperwork from freeholders, make the moving process fraught and a stress that many people choose to avoid — even if their current housing situation isn't ideal. What's more, 28 per cent of respondents said that moving costs were too high; when you're paying out large sums for solicitors, surveys and removal companies, this only adds to the pressure of the process. 'Making the home buying and selling process less of a Russian roulette game and more certain and streamlined would give people the confidence to move,' explains Higgins. Other issues flagged in the survey include a lack of motivation, with 27 per cent highlighting the shortage of suitable homes as a reason for them ditching future plans. This shortage was seen across the board, from families looking for larger houses with more bedrooms, to step-free homes for older people wanting to downsize, as well as affordable properties for first-time buyers getting a foot on the ladder. 'Our research reveals a housing market in crisis — not because people don't want to move, but because they simply can't afford to. With over 800,000 homeowners shelving their moving plans [due to stamp duty alone], we're seeing families trapped in unsuitable homes, unable to upsize for growing children or downsize as they age,' adds Higgins. 'While house prices are difficult to control, the government does have levers it can pull, and we hope to see this reflected in the Spending Review and the long-awaited housing strategy.' The HomeOwners Alliance research surveyed a nationally-representative sample of 2,000 UK adults.
Telegraph
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
25 Years of Location, Location, Location, review: Phil and Kirstie reign as TV's premium presenting duo
Forget Ant and Dec, Claudia and Tess, Phil and Holly (definitely forget Phil). The greatest TV presenting duo of our times? It's Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp, of course. We've been taking their house-hunting advice for a quarter of a century and their act never gets old. 25 Years of Location Location Location (Channel 4) is a celebration of the show, but it would surely have petered out long ago if it wasn't for the presenters. This special aired after the beginning of the 43rd series, would you believe. It is a genuinely useful programme, showing house hunters what to look for (a house to which you can add value), what to ignore (the most expensive house on the street) and how to make a successful bid (get Phil or Kirstie to ring the estate agent for you while sitting in the pub). The most important thing they teach us is that, unless you have all the money in the world, finding a home will always be about compromise. They complement each other so well. Affable Phil is too much of a gentleman to tell buyers to their faces that they're being overly fussy, too blinkered or just plain idiotic. No-nonsense Kirstie moves into splendidly bossy mode and knocks the idiots' heads together. In this special, the pair looked back through the years and summed up their methods. 'We listen to what they want, we ignore what they want, we go hunting for the most suitable properties in their price range and location, and we browbeat them until they buy it,' said Kirstie cheerfully. 'Well, it's usually a little more subtle than that,' said Phil. But the key to their appeal is that they're authentic, and they take the job seriously. They appear to genuinely like one another, which is definitely not a given in the cut-throat world of television. Kirstie also summed up why viewers keep tuning in: to marvel at how little you get for your money in parts of the country. 'It's one of the things people love about the show. 'Oh my God, they're spending that much and they're getting that?'' Cut to archive footage of a dad from the North East, who had remortgaged his home to fund a deposit on his daughter's first home, measuring the couldn't-swing-a-cat dimensions of a London flat with an expression of utter dismay. The programme took us through the years and market changes: rising house prices, the financial crisis, Brexit and Covid. On the last of these, Kirstie admitted to a degree of regret that her standard advice to homebuyers – make your downstairs open-plan, don't buy the flat with the balcony because you'll hardly ever use it – wasn't best suited to lockdown when everyone was stuck at home. Clips from the pilot episode are a revelation. The chemistry is there from the start, the scripts and format pretty much the same as now. Kirstie's dress sense, though, amounted to drab jumpers and coats, rather than the fabulous frocks which have become her trademark. 'We were good at house-hunting, just terrible at presenting,' is Phil's verdict. Now, they're very good at both.
