UK Property News Round-Up: Autumn 2021

Welcome to the UK property news round-up from RWinvest.

In our new series, we’ll take a look at the latest and most impactful news stories every property investor should know about.

Here, you’ll find breaking stories from the UK’s top news sources, including the BBC, Guardian, Property Wire, and more – all in one location.

You’ll also find information on some of our latest news releases, with links to all the articles if you want to learn more.

Without further ado, let’s get right into it.

• New Prices of Property Coming to Market Hits All-Time High of £338,462 –Rightmove found that the price of new properties entering the market reached an all-time high of £338,462. This was £1,091 higher than in August and £15 higher than the previous record set in July 2021. In the same report, the property portal found that there was the hottest ever competition to buy, with demand per property over double pre-pandemic levels.
• UK House Price Growth Slowed With Ending of Stamp Duty Holiday – As the end of the stamp duty holiday drew near, UK house price growth grew by just 0.1% in September 2021, according to a report from The Guardian. The data comes from Nationwide, which found that the average property price was £248,742, with annual price growth of 10%, down from 11% in August and 13% in June.
• UK Rent Reaches Record-High – According to HomeLet Rental Index data, average UK rent reached an all-time high of £1,061 PCM, increasing 7.50% year-on-year. It was 0.76% higher than in August.
• Rental Arrears Not Enough to Deter Portfolio Expansion – In a report from PropertyWire, it was revealed that the average rent arrears owed to landlords were valued at £2,523. Despite this, a quarter of all UK landlords planned to invest in at least one more property in 2021.

• Price of Property Coming to Market Has Biggest Rise Since 2015 – For October, Rightmove revealed another growth in prices, with an increase of £5,983 over September. The portal says this is the biggest rise at this time of year since October 2015. The number of sales agreed was also up by 15.2%.
• Stamp Duty Holiday Ends – After 15 months, the stamp duty holiday finally ended on the first of October. It now means that buy-to-let investors will pay a 3% charge on properties worth between £0 to £125,000. You can check out the latest stamp duty rates in this report.
• Manchester Rental Market Property Supply Reaches Lowest-Ever Level – With more and more people choosing to live in Manchester, Urbanbubble found that the available supply of Manchester rental property was now fewer than 500 in October for the first time ever.
• Rental Demand in the UK Hits All-Time High – RWinvest reported that the time it takes for a rental property to let was now just 8.9 days, down from 31.9 days in 2019.

• Autumn Budget 2021 Revealed – An additional £24 billion was set aside for the housing market as part of the Autumn Budget 2021. Around £11.5bn is set to be spent on 180,000 new affordable homes. Other changes include a new 4% levy on the UK’s biggest property developers and the capital gains tax deadline extending from 30 days to 60.
• Big Increase in Affordable London Homes – PropertyWire revealed that since the Mayor of London’s appointment, affordable homes schemes doubled from 22% in 2016 to 40% in 2020.
• House Prices Still Rising But Demand Set to Cool – In a report from the BBC, Halifax found that UK house prices reached an average of £270,027, 8.1% higher year-on-year, and 7.4% higher than a month prior. The mortgage lender predicts that demand may cool slightly due to rising interest rates.
• Average House Price Now More Than £250,000 – Differing from the Halifax findings, Nationwide reported that a typical UK home costs more than £250,000 for the first time ever, with prices rising 0.7% over the previous month. The building society found that house prices have increased by over £30k since the start of the pandemic.

If you want any property news, RWinvest is the source for you.

Check out our investment news page to find the latest news releases and round-ups over the coming months.

Alternatively, if you want to learn more about property investment, you can read our in-depth guides.

Examples include:

• How to invest 100k 
• Best places to invest in UK property
• Best property investment strategies
• Top 25 Property Investment tips for getting started in property investment