Rents have been in the news this week thanks to the Government’s Housing White Paper. Now the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says that rents will continue to rise with shortage of stock a key factor.
ThisisMoney reports that rents will soar by 25 per cent over the next five years. Meanwhile, as far as house prices are concerned, chartered surveyors say they anticipate a rise of just under 20 per cent.
A recent stamp duty increase for landlords and other tax changes have combined to make buy-to-lets as potential investments less attractive. According to the January 2017 RICS UK Residential Market Survey, 28 per cent more surveyors said they felt landlords are more likely to decrease rather than increase their portfolios over the next 12 months.
In other housing news, the BBC reports that ‘fewer homes were repossessed last year than in any year since 1982 – but lenders are warning that mortgage rates will not always be so favourable’. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reveal that 7,700 UK homes were repossessed last year compared with 10,200 in 2015. The CML said that falling mortgage interest rates had eased the burden.
Open-ended funds The Telegraph reports that the Financial Conduct Authority has decided against a total ban of holding illiquid assets in open-ended funds. This is despite the fact that following the vote to leave the EU, many funds had to temporarily close.The City regulator announced that it would still review the way the funds work. Broadband Broadband users whose contracts have expired are unnecessarily forking out £1.5 billion a year due to the massive difference between in-contract and out-of-contract pricing by UK broadband providers, according to new research from uSwitch.com. Consumers languishing on now-expired deals are paying, on average, £105 a year more than those who are still in contract. Meanwhile, fibre broadband customers who are out of contract are missing out on average annual savings of £79. While in-contract prices have barely changed since 2011 – by just £1.12 for copper broadband and 54p for fibre – out-of-contract prices have increased by 38 per cent for copper and 19 per cent for fibre. This means those who don’t move to a new provider or sign up to a new deal once their contract ends are paying well over the odds. Earnings The Resolution Foundation says that young men today will earn £12,500 less in their 20s than the generation before them. This is partly due to this group assuming low-paid jobs previously done by women. The Guardian reports that, later today, Torsten Bell, the director of the think tank, will argue that evidence showing Generation Y, also known as millennials, earn less than their Generation X predecessors in every year between 22 and 30. Energy The Times reports on a regulatory shake-up being considered by Ofgem which would mean that new energy suppliers could face strict financial checks and existing companies could be subjected to stress tests. The paper says: ‘The energy watchdog is expected to announce today that it will carry out a review of the rules governing suppliers, amid growing concern that they can be set up too easily and that more could go bust after the demise of GB Energy Supply last year. About 50 gas and electricity suppliers are operating in the UK market, double the number of three years ago.’
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