Octagonal Properties Limited

Chancellor aggressively doubles stamp duty to £250,000

The Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in his September 22 ‘mini-budget’ announced that the price at which stamp duty rate applies has been doubled from £125,000 to £250,000 – representing a potential saving of £2,500.

This will benefit first time buyers and investors alike with the price at which first time buyer start paying SDLT increasing to £425,000 from £300,000 and investors pay stamp duty of 3% up £250,000 on residential and 0% on commercial and semi commercial an increase from £125,000 previously.

However, investors looking to take advantage of these tax cuts with fixed rate deals will have to wait until lenders launch new products as banks pull mortgages causing the fixed rate mortgage market to freeze up. Some have said Lenders are unlikely to do this until the financial markets stabilise.

The BLT market has also seen some newer entrants withdraw their products, as they have been unable to source their funds from institutional lenders, which will cause the cost of mortgages to rise due to reduced supply and competition.

Check out Octagonal Developments, our property refurbishment and renovation division.

Contact us at https://octagonalproperties.com/quote-form for a free quote on any work you have.

We undertake all building and property renovation and maintenance works.

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Shojin Research shows that most investors believe real estate has become less appealing

Research by Shojin has found that the majority of the UK retail investors believe buy-to-let (BTL) investments have become far less attractive in recent years mainly due to tax and regulation changes. Only 61% of respondents said BTL had become less appealing in recent years following.

However, 59% still believe that property is a strong asset class to invest in at present. While the same number of respondents (58%) expect that house prices to continue rising in the coming 12 months. Half of all respondents (51%) said that the current supply and demand imbalance in property is the factor behind the appeal of real estate as an investment.

Most interest to us at Octagonal Properties was those that were not positive about real estate investing, said they would be inclined to invest in property if property ownership was not so complicated and among younger people, those aged 18-34, the figure rises to 67%.

Property investing is the simplest and easiest way to create inter-generational wealth. If two thirds of young people believe property investing is too complicated, there is a need for more investing education in schools and colleges.

Check out Octagonal Developments, our property refurbishment and renovation division.

Contact us at https://octagonalproperties.com/quote-form for a free quote on any work you have.

We undertake all building and property renovation and maintenance works.

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The number of people employed by the construction sector in 2021 has risen to 2.66m, of according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) employment survey. This is up from the previous month but is 2% down from the high of the previous year of 2.71m and pre pandemic high of 2.73m.

The growth in the workforce was driven mainly by homeowners choosing to improve and increase the space their homes spurred on by low interest rates and cheap mortgages.

Also in the second quarter of 2022, the gross value added (GVA) of the construction industry in the United Kingdom reach £36.75 bn up over £4bn from the same period of 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, this industry& #39;s GVA reached its lowest point of the decade in the second quarter of 2020 at £20bn.

However the industry is current facing challenges as inflation reaches double digits and the BoE raise interest rates. This will temper damper as gross profit margins continue to be squeeze by rising costs.

Check out Octagonal Developments, our property refurbishment and renovation division.

Contact us at https://octagonalproperties.com/quote-form for a free quote on any work you have.

We undertake all building and property renovation and maintenance works.

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Recent reports show rents in the UK have risen by an average of 8.3% over the last 12 months – pushing rents to 15.7% above pre-pandemic levels. According to Hamptons lettings index, July 2020 and July 2022 showed the two largest increases in rent, rising by 16.2%, or an average of £165 a month.

Inner London saw the fastest rental price hike in the UK over the past year as rents climbed 33.6% compared to the same time last year. Making it now the least affordable areas for renters under 30 who spend an average of 35% of their monthly earnings on rent.

This is as the National Statistics (ONS) reports that the annual rate of growth in UK house prices has taken a sharp fall, from 12.8% to 7.8% in a month, bringing the average house price in the UK up to £294,845.

This means that house prices have risen every month over the last year as the supply-demand imbalance continues to be the main contributor to this.

At Octagonal Properties, we advise investors to buy property as their first steps to creating long-term wealth. These figures are very interesting as it shows what are the average returns an investor can expect to receive on the average UK property so when buying to ensure the property, they are purchasing are equal or better than those returns.

The average property price for London is £ £496,000, the average annual price increase is 6% and an average rent is £1,832. This gives the average London investor a total return of £51,720 or year or 10.4% on investment.
Compared to the UK averages of price £294,845, annual price increase is 7.8% and rents £695 This gives the average UK investor a total return of £31, 338 or year or 10.6% on investment.

Therefore, while prices and rent vary with location and size of the property, investors should benchmark an annual 10.5% return on investment.

Check out Octagonal Developments, our property refurbishment and renovation division.

Contact us at https://octagonalproperties.com/quote-form for a free quote on any work you have.
We undertake all building and property renovation and maintenance works.

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