Housing rebound coming in 2012

Firstly from all at Grant Property Investment, we would like to wish all our clients and suppliers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Attached and below is a fantastic article from Barclays outlining their forecasts for the 2012 housing market. As we expected they have forecast a bumper year for 2012. We have further press articles relating to a positive outlook for 2012 within our website, please Click Here to see more.

Barclays Capital (BCS: 10.17 0.00%) analyst Stephen Kim predicts a housing recovery buoyed by improving jobs numbers and the fact prices for nondistressed homes will have stabilized without government support.

"In the absence of a government homebuyer incentives, prices for non-distressed home sales have stabilized for almost a year," Kim said. "This is the most important trend in the housing industry right now, and we are amazed at how little attention it has been getting from the media and the street. This stability on the part of nondistressed prices has occurred despite a very high share of distressed activity and continued declines in overall prices."

Barclays said recent economic data — including higher job creation in November, housing starts and improved homebuyer traffic — point to some improvement potential in the sector.

In mid-2010, the federal homebuyer tax credit expired, leaving the housing market without training wheels for the first time since the 2008 economic meltdown. Yet, prices in some housing markets remained stable on the back end.

With its new outlook in the market, Barclays upgraded D.R. Horton's (DHI: 11.76 0.00%) stock to buy and raised price targets for D.R. Horton, Lennar (LEN: 18.51 0.00%), Toll Brothers (TOL: 19.26 0.00%) and Meritage Homes(MTH: 20.28 0.00%).

At the same time, the investment bank raised its 2012 earnings-per-share estimates for D.R. Horton, Lennar, Meritage Homes, Pulte (PHM: 5.59 0.00%) and Toll Brothers, while lowering its estimates for KB Home (KBH: 7.03 0.00%).

"Thus, the key to timing housing’s recovery depends primarily on when these first-time buyers decide it is safe to buy a house," Kim concluded.

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What makes residential property a good investment?

Hi All,

I thought it worth giving a brief update on what’s happening in the world of property. It’s an interesting picture!

While the world around is going through turbulent times, with high stock market volatility, the property Investment market has grown on several fronts.

1. Property prices rose by 0.8% in October, compared to October 2010, according to Nationwide 
2. The number of mortgages written in October rose to a three year high, helped by a strong growth in the mortgage products available. 

In fact it’s not unusual. History shows that residential property has very low volatility. When I look back at the major events of the past 15 years, (such as the 1991 recession, 9/11, the dot com bubble), while the stock markets invariably crashed, property either rose, or worst case went flat for a period. The attached graph shows the big picture.

The big impact was when mortgage lending was pulled back in 2008. The market went back by around 18%, and then rebounded by around half that figure. It’s been flat for the past 18 months, but now seems to be rising again.

But let’s not forget it’s a buyers market. On the ground we are finding several things.

1. We can drive a bargain. House sellers in need to sell quickly are more likely to accept a lower price, because of the Euro zone headlines. 
2. Yields are at a record high. Even in Prime areas we are able to get 7% - 9% yields (and 100% occupancy). 
3. Smart investors can smell a bargain. In November so far enquiries and purchases are up at record levels. 

I hope this helps paint a useful picture of what’s going on. It’s certainly a good time to cherry pick a bargain. If we can help, we’d be delighted to do so. The headlines all indicate investors becoming more active. The press has even been highlighting property as a safe haven – with high returns.

Visit our website for further information about us.

Kind Regards,

Peter Grant
CEO

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Buy-to-Let growth continues as lending hits three-year high

Buy-to-let lending has climbed to its highest level in almost three years, figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders have revealed.

In the three months to September 34,500 buy-to-let loans worth £3.8bn were advanced, up 16% by number and 19% by value compared with the previous quarter. This is the highest level by either measure since Q4 2008.

Q3 saw 18,580 buy-to-let purchase loans 12% of all house purchase loans up from 9% in Q3 2010.

Charles Haresnape, managing director for residential mortgages at Aldermore, says: “The buoyancy of the buy-to-let sector confirms that investor appetite for residential property remains strong, which has been fuelled by tenant demand.”

For further information on this article please visit our website www.grantpropertyinvestment.com or call us on +44 (0)131 247 3131 

To view this full article through the original author please visit Mortgage Strategy http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/b2l-growth-continues-as-lending-hits-three-year-high/1041506.article

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UK Property Investing - Buy to let

We’ve had a big response to our update on bank lending, and we’ve been asked a lot of questions around the Investment Market. I’m pleased to share some general advice around buying and investing.


1. Timings. In general it’s a good time to invest. It’s still a buyers market, and there’s great value to be had.

2. Areas. The best areas to head for are city centre. They are experiencing the best yields and the highest occupancy. The more prime the better.

3. Type of property. Traditional property has always been the best performing compared to new build (measured across both yield and capital appreciation).

4. Rental Market. There have been lots of headlines around a strengthening rental market. Scotland is generally performing better than England. The Student Market is particularly buoyant. Prime city centre areas are best.

5. Yields. Average yields in the industry are 5%. Larger traditional property in city centres gives a yield of 7% and above (that’s an improvement of around 20% due to lower prices and higher rents).

6. Capital appreciation. The long term average is 7% pa. On a geared return that’s a 28% return.
Banks are more active again. The number of buy to let products rose by 26% in the last quarter. B2L lending has increased by 40% on the previous year.

Everything seems to point to investing – but investing wisely. Buying in good areas and at a good price is key.

If we can help, let us know. www.grantpropertyinvestment.com

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UK Property Buy to Let Bank Lending

We've had a number of clients ask us where the banks are with property lending.

By way of background, many banks pulled back their lending on property when the financial crisis hit in 2008. They reduced their LTV's and put up their rates. The volume of lending fell significantly. So how have things changed, since 2008?


The short answer is that things have changed, very much for the better.

A number of lenders are offering 75% LTV and even 80% LTV on investment property -  back to the levels pre 2008.

• Base rates are now at 0.5%, down from 5%. 

• They are forecast to remain low for some time to come

• The margins that banks are charging are once again falling, as more lending competition creeps back in.

• The number of B2L products rose by 26% last quarter

The amount of lending has risen significantly as a result. The last quarter showed an increase of 40% on the previous year, according to CML.

There has been a 'golden period' for investing these past few years, although many investors held off. Investors are now piling back in - demonstrated by increased bank lending, and the greater levels of competition we are noticing on the ground, when buying.

There is still good value to be had. Prices fell in 2008. They then rose again and have been pretty stable since. Prices overall are still around 10% down from their peak.

If we can help with any questions on lending and / or investing, we'd be only happy to help. For further information or just a general chat please contact us on +44 (0)131 247 3131. Alternatively please visit our website for more information and view our current featured property lists.

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75% Loan to Value Mortgages now available!

Hi all, great Monday for us - and our investors! We now have lenders offering 75% LTV mortgages for our investors. Furthermore they are offering highly competitive rates! Please get in touch with us so we can refer you on. As you know we do not take any commissions for referrals and we can provide impartial advice.

We have recently noticed a huge response through our website and current marketing campaigns. We believe this is down to the stock markets taking a significant plunge last week, people are concerned where to invest their money nowadays. Property has always provided a more secure investment throughout the history books, now with the volatility of the stock markets we have seen a surge of property investment inquiries. Our aim is to demonstrate how property returns are much more sustainable and are a secure investment short term/long term.

For any further information about us or just for a general chat please do not hesitate to contact us on +44 (0)131 2473131

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Beta Version Website now Live!

Today we launched our beta version of our new website. We have implemented loads new features and optimized the browsing functions to give our clients a new look and feel. Part of the upgrade, we now have a "Featured Property" carousel on our landing page making it easier to view our latest investment offers. A further new feature to our site is a  "Property List" which will feed live property investment opportunities straight to the site, please sign up to have these offers sent directly to you!
                                                                                                                     
The site now also offers live feeds from Blogger, Twitter, Linkedin and Youtube, ensuring all our clients are up to date with the latest investment opportunities and Grant Property Investment news updates!


Please visit or contact us on +44 (0)131 2473131 for any of your property investment queries!

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