Page 13 - Redbrik: Lifestyle Magazine Autumn and Winter 2018

FACEBOOK PROPERTY LISTINGS
MORE LONDONERS MOVE FOR A BETTER LIFE IN YORKSHIRE
More people are moving out of London and heading north in search of affordability and quality of life, according to a recent report in the Yorkshire Post.
This lack of affordability is just one of the reasons why more London dwellers are packing their bags and leaving the capital.
The number of Londoners who bought homes outside the city rose to 30,280 in the first half of 2018, which is a 16 per cent rise on the same period last year.
The new figures published by Hamptons International also show that compared to ten years ago there was a 61 per cent rise in people leaving the capital to buy homes elsewhere.
In the first half of this year, one in five London leavers moved to the north or Midlands – up from just six per cent a decade ago. Many Londoners leave to buy a bigger property and spent an average £424,610 on their new home, which is 1.6 times more than a buyer from elsewhere.
More than one in ten, 12 per cent, of first-time buyers left the capital to move to the north or Midlands, four times the proportion in 2010. The numbers moving to Yorkshire are also increasing.
Property prices and a better lifestyle are two of the main drivers as to why Yorkshire is proving so popular.
Leading social media platform Facebook has entered the UK property listings market.
The listings – rentals only at first – are on Facebook’s Marketplace and are supplied by OnTheMarket (OTM) and Zoopla.
Both OTM and Zoopla are stressing that exposure on something as well visited as Facebook can only benefit their agents.
The stated goal of Marketplace is to connect people through commerce. More than 800m people globally each month go to Facebook Marketplace to buy and sell things (as at April this year).
In the UK, a total of 40m people access Facebook every month, including 37m on mobiles.
The UK venture follows Marketplace’s
property for rent offering in the US, which is said to be highly successful.
It is expected that property searchers will be able to filter property by type, price range and bedrooms, as well as make enquiries and book viewings through the Facebook pages.
John Milsom, Brand Director of
OTM, said: “We believe the quality of OnTheMarket agents’ property content integrated with the considerable scale and reach of Facebook Marketplace’s brand and service is a perfect fit.
“We look forward to working with Marketplace to create world-class value for property-seekers and value for both of our businesses.
“This integration is another example of how we shall be increasing the exposure of our letting agents’ properties.”
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HELP TO BUY HAILED “UNMITIGATED SUCCESS”
The Government’s Help to Buy equity loan scheme has been declared an “unmitigated success” for enabling more than 170,000 households to purchase a home.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) said 81 per cent of those assisted had been first-time buyers, while the scheme had led to a 74 per cent jump in housing supply since it was launched in 2013.
The Help to Buy equity loan scheme is part of a package of Government measures to help people buy property.
It enables people to purchase a new-build home with just a 5 per cent deposit, with the Government contributing an interest-free equity loan of 20 per cent, rising to 40 per cent in London, for the first five years.
But one out of five people who have used the scheme are not first-time buyers, suggesting more than 32,000 people have used it to buy a bigger home.
The Government is reported to be considering whether to close the scheme in 2021, when funding is due to end, or change it to ensure only first-time buyers benefit.
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