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House prices in York – still bargains to be had

Several properties in Acomb sold for less than £120,000 recently.

With most people on the housing waiting list seeking one bedroomed properties, these homes represent an opportunity for the Council to add to its stock of socially rented property. They should at least consult home choice registered applicants to see whether the properties would meet their needs.

Recent sales have included

Address	Sold price	Sold date	Type
15, Eaton Court, YO24 3NJ	£110,000	31 Jan 2014	1 bed semi-D
10, Invicta Court, YO24 3NN	£116,500	20 Feb 2014	1 bed terraced
78, Cornlands Road, YO24 3EA	£146,500	31 Jan 2014	3 bed terraced
7, The Knoll, YO24 3EB	£140,000	07 Feb 2014	3 bed semi-D
144, St Stephens Road, YO24 3EF	£126,000	08 Jan 2014	3 bed semi-D
150, Askham Lane, YO24 3HR	£145,000	29 Jan 2014	3 bed terraced
73, Cornlands Road, YO24 3DX	£119,000	21 Feb 2014	2 bed semi-D
24, Girvan Close, YO24 2XR	£325,000	17 Jan 2014	5 bed detached
29, Troutbeck, YO24 2RE	£177,000	24 Jan 2014	2 bed semi-D
2, Ryecroft Avenue, YO24 2RR	£201,500	31 Jan 2014	3 bed semi-D

Some larger properties are being advertised for sale

Foxwood Lane
£205,000
4 bed Semi-D

The Reeves
£165,000
5 bed Semi-D

Ashbourne Way
£239,950
4 bed Detached

Alness Drive
£295,000
5 bed Detached

Properties without a chain include:

The Reeves, Acomb, York
£165,000
5 bed Semi-D

Moor Lane, York
£389,950
4 bed Detached

Hamilton Drive West, Holgate, York
£170,000
3 bed Semi-D

Green Lane, Acomb, York
£105,000
1 bed Flat

Properties where the asking price has been reduced include:

Aldersyde
£210,000 -6%
2 bed Flat

Goodramgate
£250,000 -9%
2 bed Flat

Oakdale Road
£230,000 -6%
4 bed Detached

Brecksfield
£165,000 -5%
3 bed Semi-D

The rental market remains buoyant with the following currently available

Westfield Place
£675
3 bed

College Court
£825
2 bed Flat

Tadcaster Road
£3,000
5 bed Detached

£625 pcm Invicta Court, Acomb, YO24 2 Bed Terraced

£675 pcm West Bank, York 2 Bed Flat

The latest House Price Index from Land Registry shows that house prices increased by 0.7 per cent in February.

The annual change in England and Wales stands at 5.3 per cent. In York values have yet to return to 2008 levels.

The number of property sales has increased over the last 12 months.

£1.9 million from Council house sales unused in York

The Council has been forced to reveal, in a response to a Freedom of Information request, how much it has received in income from “right to buy” Council housesales

Over the last 2 years the Council has received over £4 million from sales.

Part of this has to be returned to central government but £2.5 million was available for the Council to spend on replacement properties.

Right to buy sales in York

It has so far only committed to invest £520,624 on new properties (Mainly those scheduled for sites like Beckfield Lane).

The information was released only a day after the Council Leader had been forced to agree to consider whether some of the £13 million surplus on the housing account could be used to purchase properties on the open market.

Liberal Democrat Councillors have pointed out for months that, with the majority of applicants on the housing waiting list seeking single bedroomed accommodation, the quickest way to address their needs would be to purchase empty homes from the open market.

Instead of using the considerable resources available to the Council to provide additional social housing, the Councils Leadership have engaged in an ultimately pointless ramble about introducing a cap on private sector rent levels.

Such a “cap” would require Parliamentary approval and would not ultimately be of much help to the less well off, who have at least part of their rent paid through housing benefit

Lower rent levels could, therefore, reduce government expenditure on benefit payments but would also drive many “buy to let” landlords from the market (as they would be unable to repay their mortgages)

The Council Leader has also claimed that house prices have increased in York.

Although there are “hot spots” in the City and some growth in house prices over recent months, as the graph shows, prices have still not returned to their 2008 peak.

House price trends in York area

New options for tenants looking to downsize

The Council is encouraging tenants, of properties which are too large for them, to apply for new homes which will shortly become available in Clifton.

In the main, the new homes will have two bedrooms though, so offer little relief for the majority of people on the York Housing waiting list who are looking for one bedroomed properties.

An artist’s impression of the finished scheme Council and housing association tenants in York who are considering moving to a more manageable and affordable home, are invited to find out more about a new scheme for 23 affordable homes in the city.

Broadacres Housing Association in association with City of York Council, is holding a public information event at Clifton Green Primary School on Wednesday 12 March from 4.30-7pm.

The event will feature a new scheme to be built on the site of the former YWCA hostel in Water Lane. There, Broadacres is building 16, two-bedroom apartments for affordable rent. Priority will be given to people aged 55 and over who would benefit from moving to a smaller property.

(more…)

York Council house rents up 5% despite record surplus

Despite having a record high £13 million surplus on the housing account, Labour plan to increase rent levels by 5%.in April.

The Council have stubbornly refused to use the surplus to buy additional homes on the open market.

Meanwhile new figures released by the Council confirm that most of the 2333 people registered on the housing waiting list are single and are seeking one bedroomed accommodation.

856 of these are aged under 30.

Local Plan and York immigration numbers

Cllr Laing was challenged at the last Council meeting to justify her claim that 22,000 additional homes were required to house existing York families.

A few weeks ago she published numbers which suggested that there were around 1000 more births in the City, than deaths, each year.

Year	Births	Deaths	Dif	Housing Rqmt (2.2 people per dwelling)	Housing completions
2003	3021	2381	640	291	525
2004	3270	2236	1034	470	1160
2005	3311	2292	1019	463	906
2006	3247	2247	1000	455	798
2007	3255	2240	1015	461	523
2008	3565	2320	1245	566	451
2009	3495	2408	1087	494	507
2010	3404	2303	1101	500	514
2011	3461	2416	1045	475	321
2012	3481	2378	1103	501	482
Total	33510	23221	10289	4677	6187
Ave	3351	2322	1029	468	619
Census 2001 -2011 Ave			1691	769
Forecast growth pa to 2026 (16 years)Base 2010 197K 2026 216.8K Total population increase 19,800 (source Council Local Plan/ONS)			1238	563
Additional homes required to meet natural population growth in perod to 2026				9000

This would have produced a net requirement for around 500 additional homes per year.

This is very much in line with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures which show the City to have grown in population size by 1% pa over the last decade.

The ONS forecast is similar for the next 2 decades, confirming that the Council, in its Local Plan, needs to allocate land for around 12,000 additional homes over the next 25 years.

This would allow for some inward migration given the need to attract people with the right skills to sustain the buoyant York economy.

The Councillor was unable – or reluctant – at the meeting to explain who would occupy the other 10,000 homes that Labour hopes to build. While admitting that the figures were not influenced by the numbers of the housing waiting list, Cllr Laing – who has responsibility for housing policy in the City – said that it was Cllr Merrett who made the decisions on building numbers!

So, although they are desperate not to admit it publicly, Labour plan to accommodate the largest number of inward migrants to the City since Eric Bloodaxe sailed into view on the river Ouse.

When will residents get their chance to express their views to the Councils Local Plan working group?

That also attracted a stonewall response from Cllr Merrett. “Officers are currently analysing and summarising all of the responses received”. Residents will be able to address the committee when proposed changes to the draft plan are debated.

This is the clearest indication yet that Labour plan to backtrack on some of their plans.

Every planning permission granted over the last 6 months, for sites mentioned in the Draft Local Plan, has produced many more housing units than forecast.

There is no reason why green belt sites should be developed, a sentiment that 89% of residents responding to our survey agree with.

Council house rent arrears in York

Council house rent arrears in York click for source document

The increasingly ubiquitous Cllr Burton has taken to the York Press today to tell us that rent arrears have increased since the abolition of the spare room subsidy (bedroom tax).

Sadly for him that simply isn’t true.

The actual figures can be found on the Councils web site (click graphic).

They show that, with the improvement on the economy, fewer tenants are now in arrears than was the case 3 years ago.

In total 1017 tenants were affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy.

The government awarded the York Council £88,730.96 to offset any hardship that may have been caused by the change to benefit arrangements.

The total amount of discretionary housing payment spent on ‘removal of the spare room subsidy’ cases this financial year is £42,344.74.

154 tenants received payments.

NB. The Labour Council recently arbitrarily removed 2400 people from the housing waiting list.

195 new apartments for Hungate

A planning application for the next phase of the Hungate development has been submitted to the Council.

Click here for details

The Foss side application – a mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroomed flats – is unexceptional save in one respect.

No offer is made of affordable units either on site or off site.

Instead a viability study is being prepared which will indicate “at a later date” what – if any – “affordable units” can be provided.

A precedent for a zero affordable contribution was established by a planning inspector who determined a York planning appeal recently.

The design of the flats proposed suggests that they would not address social housing needs anyway (although most of the waiting list is now made up of residents seeking 1 bedroomed accommodation).

If this means that payment to the Council, in lieu of homes, is planned then that could be a step forward.

As we have pointed out previously, there are many properties for sale in the City for around £100,000.

If the Council was a “cash in hand” purchaser they could buy up some of these and make an immediate impact on the housing waiting list.

The last batch of Hungate properties were relatively expensive (starting at over £200,000 for a small flat).

So the willingness of the developer to proceed with the next stage does provide further evidence that the country’s economic recovery is gaining momentum in York.

York Council refuses to buy empty flats despite increase in homelessness

The York Council won’t use any of its government “New Homes Bonus” payments, housing reserves or developer planning levies to buy homes on the open market.

In total over £10 million is available to supplement rental stocks.

The disappointing announcement came at the last Council meeting when the Labour Councillor responsible for housing (Tracey Simpson-Laing) claimed that empty properties currently on the market in York “are poorly insulated”.

St Stephens Square £65,000 click for details

Instead the Council intends to spend around £7 million constructing new Council flats at sites like the former Beckfield Lane recycling centre. These properties are likely to cost around £170,000 each including the value of the building plot (which is already owned by the Council).

The decisions comes at a time when a Freedom of Information request has revealed that the housing waiting list – now amalgamated for the whole of North Yorkshire – has over 2800 applications SEEKING ONE BEDROOMED PROPERTIES.

This is more than half the total number on the list, which has now reached 4600. Many of these, though, have been added since the list was “opened up” and includes people from other parts of the country who want to move to York. It also, for the first time, includes many teenagers who had previously rented accommodation in the private sector, lived with relatives or in shared accommodation .

The only planning application so far made for the new Council houses (on Beckfield Lane) is for 6 two bedroomed and 3 one bedroomed flats. In additional the site will accommodate 6 two bedroomed homes as well as several “for sale” units. Approval of the planning application has been delayed.

Birch Copse £115,000 click for details

Potentially the Council could purchase 70 empty flats on the open market for the £7 million. They would be available immediately to ease the demand for more rented property.

In turn this could free up the same number of larger properties (there are 354 existing Council tenants seeking a move to a smaller property).

And there are bargains around.

A modern two bedroomed terraced property in Birch Copse is advertised for £115,000.

A 2 bedroomed (former) Council flat in St Stephens Road is advertised for £65,000.

As a cash buyer the Council would be ideally placed to secure properties like this.

NB. The latest Council report on “homelessness” in the City concedes that the number of rough sleepers in the York has increased. The quarter 3 submission to government identified 8, an increase from the previous year of 2.

The number of households in temporary accommodation remains high despite a reduction in homeless acceptances and the opening of Howe Hill for Young People. The target for 2012/13 was 85. The final number in temporary accommodation as of 31/3/12 was 99

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