Survey: House moving costs up 225 percent in a decade by Elaine Frei

Survey: House moving costs up 225 percent in a decade by Elaine Frei
Filed under: Property, News
Survey: House moving costs up 225 percent in a decade

According to a new survey from Propertyfinder, it will cost you an average of 225 percent more to move house in the UK now than it did ten years ago. The exact amount will vary depending on where in the UK you have bought your new home, but on average the cost of moving house now stands at around £9,500, according to the website. The highest cost of moving comes in London, where it will cost around £16,242, a gain of 366 percent over a decade ago. The smallest hike in moving costs came in the North West, at 131 percent, for an average cost of £6,510.

The biggest cost in moving home comes from stamp duties, which have gone up to an average of £5,481, a rise of 527 percent in a decade. In London, the average stamp duty now comes to £11,766, and even in the North West the average stands at £2,033. A decade ago, the average for England and Wales was just £679, when the stamp duty was at 1 percent on properties sold for over £60,000, and many buyers did not have to pay at all, as the average house price in 1996 was at £64,441, compared to current averages that stand at over £200,000. Other costs include lawyers fees, agents fees, and removal costs.

Real estate sector lower in London by Elaine Frei

Real estate sector lower in London by Elaine Frei
Filed under: Investments, Economy, News

Real estate sector lower in London

London equities markets were lower on Monday, led down by the real estate sector. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 percent to 6,194.2 and the FTSE 250 was 0.3 percent lower to 11,156.

Despite the general losses, some sectors saw gains. Miners were up after a bad week last week. Anglo American was 1.6 percent higher to £23.68, helped by the possibility that it could sell some of its 42 percent stake in South African gold miner AngloGold. Xstrata added 2.2 percent to £23.14 after dropping 11 percent last week, while Lonmin gained 3.2 percent to £28.90.

In the energy sector, Cairn Energy was 3.3 percent higher to £17.25 on positive comments from Man Securities, which said that Cairn could see advances if the debut of Cairn India on the stock exchange in Mumbai on Tuesday is fairly successful.

Declines in the real estate sector were explained by nervousness among investors ahead of a meeting by the Bank of England, scheduled for Thursday, when the Bank will make its latest decision on interest rates. The sector was also hurt by a sector wide downgrade to “underweight” from HSBC. Liberty International dropped 1.5 percent to £13.45, Slough Estates fell 1.7 percent to 770p, and Hammerson was 2.5 percent lower to £14.97. British Land was down 2.9 percent to £16.04, while Land Securities dropped 3.2 percent to £22.10.

Real estate, homebuilders in global equities focus by Elaine Frei

Equities markets were mixed in the Asia Pacific region and were lower just about everywhere else on Monday as the real estate and house building sectors took hits in many areas, seemingly excluding on the UK house building sector, which benefited from mergers news.

In the Asia Pacific region, the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.54 percent to 5,965 and the Hang Seng index and Tokyo gained 0.37 percent to 19,765.85 but the Strait Times index in Singapore dropped 0.6 percent to 3,204.55, while in India the Sensex fell 1.22 percent to 12,124.32. Meanwhile in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.2 percent to 17,521.96, while the Topix index held steady at 1,741.37.

In Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 0.89 percent to 1,510.21, while the Xetra Dax fell 1.02 percent to 6,828.82 and the CAC-40, in Paris, was 1.04 percent lower to 5,576.30. The London equities markets were also lower, with the FTSE 100 dropping 0.75 percent to 6,291.9 and the FTSE 250 falling 0.4 percent to 11,655.6.

At midday in New York, Wall Street was behind, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.7 percent to 12,394.49, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4 percent to 2,439.47 and the S&P 500 was 0.6 percent lower to 1,427.67.

Oil prices reached their highest point so far this year as tensions over the taking of 15 British naval personnel continued. Metals prices were also mostly higher on the session.