The prices of homes in the North West are expected to rise by 4% this year.
This figure has been revealed after global real estate services provider, Savills, has released its upgraded forecasts for the “second hand” housing market in the year ahead, which is based on Nationwide Building Society’s house price index.
Researchers at Savills had previously expected house prices to remain flat in 2021 across the UK, but a number of measures to support the market which were included in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget announcements last week, combined with the easing of lockdown measures, have led them to revisit their forecasts.
Lucian Cook – Head of Residential Research at Savills – said 2021 had initially been set to be “a complex and uneven year” for the housing market, but added that “the outlook has improved since the beginning of the year given the speed of the vaccination programme, the expected relaxation of social distancing measures and government support for both jobs and the housing market”.
The property group has calculated that nearly £50,000 will be added to the average UK house price between December 2020 and the end of 2025.
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And by the end of 2025, house prices should have increased by 28.8% in the North West of England.
As is to somewhat be expected nowadays, Savills has predicted that housing markets further away from London – such as in Greater Manchester and the North West as a whole, where house prices tend to be lower – have more potential for prices to grow.
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Savills said that a key reason for larger price rises in parts of the country, like the North West, was simply that there was more capacity for growth, with Lucian Cook adding: “The expectation that interest rates will stay lower for much longer than was predicted pre-pandemic means there remains capacity for medium-term house price growth despite the unexpectedly strong performance of last year.
“Across the country as a whole, five-year price growth of around 20% looks sustainable without unduly depleting mortgage affordability.”
Over the next five years, we expect prices in prime central London to grow by 21.6%, as buyers are drawn to its good value in a historical context with the expectation of a strong rebound when international restrictions ease.
During last week’s 2021 Budget, it was announced that temporary lifting of the stamp duty threshold in England and Northern Ireland is to be extended until the end of June, and a new government guarantee for lenders to support the return of 95% mortgages will be introduced.
“With the introduction of the mortgage guarantee scheme, [it] underpins our expectation of 1.4 million transactions in 2021,” Mr Cook concluded.
Property
Molly-Mae Hague revisits first Manchester flat, now on the market for £185k
Daisy Jackson
Molly-Mae Hague’s first Manchester flat is now on the market for £185k – and the star herself has paid a visit to her old digs.
Those who have been following Molly-Mae since before she shot to serious fame on Love Island will have recognised the backdrop of her recent TikTok video.
The 27-year-old reality TV star and businesswoman posed around the one-bedroom flat, dancing to Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘House Tour’.
The apartment is where she lived just before entering Love Island, and where she and now-fiance Tommy Fury lived briefly when they left the show.
And now that exact flat where she really launched her social media career has been listed for sale, at £185,000.
The corner apartment stands on the 17th floor of Islington Wharf, overlooking New Islington tram stop and right on the doorstep of Ancoats.
Her former landlord, who arranged for Molly-Mae to have one look around her old flat before it’s sold, said that she was a ‘lovely, polite and down-to-earth young woman, and an excellent tenant who looked after the apartment extremely well.’
The one bedroom apartment has double-aspect floor-to-ceiling windows which look across Manchester on one side, and out towards the Pennines on the other.
It’s listed for sale with no chain and the option to include existing furnishings (which seems to include the same couch Molly-Mae had at the time).
The flat also has a kitchen/living space, a communal garden, superfast broadband, and is within walking distance of Manchester Piccadilly.
New measures announced to tackle ‘rogue’ landlords across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
A cohort of trained enforcement officers are set to hit the streets in all 10 boroughs to help improve the lives of the region’s renters.
Forming part of Greater Manchester‘s commitment to the highest-quality housing standards alongside the Good Landlord Charter, the newly trained enforcement officers will be tasked with protecting tenants, joining Council teams in checking rental properties, bringing enforcement action against bad landlords, and cracking down on illegal practices.
The introduction of the new enforcement officers comes after what has been ‘years of sustained pressure’ on local budgets.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says it is working with the 10 councils across the region to strengthen local teams, rebuild in-house skills and expertise, and ensure that powers can be applied with consistency in all boroughs.
As mentioned, this is happening alongside the Good Landlord Charter – which is GMCA’s ‘bold approach’ to drive up standards for renters across the region.
Landlords of more than half of rented properties in Greater Manchester have now signed up as supporters of the Charter, and as supporters, they have committed to going above and beyond legal minimums to improve the renting experience for hundreds of thousands of people.
“A safe place to call home is the cornerstone of a happy, healthy life,” explained Mayor Bev Craig. “But for years, people have felt trapped in poor-quality housing, and cash-strapped councils were unable to step in to help. I’m putting an end to that.
“We know there are plenty of good landlords in Greater Manchester, and many of them have already signed up to our Good Landlord Charter, but too many are just not good enough.
“That’s why we’re deploying a new generation of expert housing officers onto the streets of our towns and cities.”
Mayor Bev Craig declared that she ‘won’t stand by and let rogue landlords take advantage of people’.
She continued: “By empowering renters, working with responsible landlords, and using our powers to crack down on the bad ones, I will make sure everyone in Greater Manchester has the foundation for a good life.”
Emily Sergeant -
10th March 2021 
