Number of homes bought for cash at a 12-year low
THE proportion of homes being snapped up by cash buyers has fallen to its lowest level since at least 2007, a report has found.
Across Britain, 28 per cent of homes were bought with cash rather than a mortgage in the first half of 2019, Hamptons International has estimated.
This is down from a peak of 36 per cent recorded in 2009 and the smallest proportion of cash sales since Hamptons’ records started in 2007.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said: “The fall in cash purchases not only reflects tighter affordability, but also a decrease in activity amongst downsizers, the group of people most likely to have built up enough equity to purchase property with cash.
“It also reflects a drop in the number of homes bought by investors, many of whom used cash to purchase their properties.”
Despite the decline in the proportion of home buyers purchasing with cash, the report also identified some cash-buyer hotspots.
More than half (58 per cent) of homes purchases in west Somerset in the first half of this year were in cash. Ceredigion (57 per cent), Torridge in Devon (53 per cent), west Dorset (53 per cent) and north Norfolk (53 per cent) followed as the top cash hotspots. Kensington and Chelsea was the only borough in the capital to feature in the top 10.
Some 53 per cent of homes in the borough were purchased with cash in the first half of 2019 – at an average price tag of £1.26million.
Hamptons International analysed data from its parent group Countrywide as well as official statistics to make the findings.
It found that, within the group of home buyers paying in cash, there had been a significant fall in the proportion who were investors.
Investors accounted for less than a quarter of cash sales in the first half of this year, compared with nearly a third 10 years ago. The majority (68 per cent) of homes bought with cash this year were purchased by home owners wanting to live in the property – up from 61 per cent 10 years ago.
Every area of Britain has seen cash sales decline over the past two years.
The south west of England remains the region with the highest proportion of cash sales.
More than a third (34 per cent) of homes were purchased with cash in the first half of 2019.
‘The South West has the highest proportion of cash sales’
THE Royal Mint has unveiled a new five-kilo (11lb) coin – the largest it has ever minted.
Just one of the exclusive coins has been made, but it has already been sold for an undisclosed amount. The coin has a denomination of £5,000.
It is part of a new “Great Engravers” series, that celebrates artists who have worked on British coinage.
The collection also includes a smaller, two-kilo coin, which will have a mintage of just four.
The smaller coins will be sold for £119,950.
The series begins with Royal Academician William Wyon’s Una And The Lion design. Wyon was the chief engraver at Royal Mint from 1828 until his death in 1851 and was most famous for his coin and medal portraits of Queen Victoria.
He is also well known for his design of Una And The Lion for a £5 coin, considered by collectors as one of the world’s most beautiful.