While there has been plenty of uncertainty surrounding the UK economy, the property market has remained strong in the 2 years since Brexit.

Many homeowners and potential movers became unsure and hesitant when it came to making decisions on their home, however, new data suggests that confidence in the market is on the up.

A recent Housing Market Sentiment survey from Zoopla hoped to discover how confident each region in the UK is about their home and their expectations for next 6 months.

The survey revealed that 84% of homeowners in Britain expect property prices in their area to rise over the next six months, when the same survey was taken 6 months ago, this figure stood at 70%, which is quite the change in such a short space of time.

This is the largest increase in confidence since before the Brexit vote and on top of this, homeowners expect rises by an average of 6.9% in their area, another figure that has seen a jump, as it stood at 4.9% 6 months prior.

In terms of individual regions, the East Midlands was the most optimistic, with 93% of survey participants from this region believing that house prices will rise over six months. Showing a similar sentiment was the East of England with 90% feeling the same way about house prices.

On the opposite end of the scale, the North East was the least upbeat regarding house prices, with 63% feeling confident in price growth, but this region has seen a huge 22% boost in confidence since November 2017.

When looking at the rate at which survey participants expect prices to rise, the West Midlands had the highest expectations throughout the UK, predicting a 10.6% increase in property values by the end of the year. The East Midlands wasn’t too far behind, forecasting a 9.2% increase.

Director of Communications at Zoopla - Lawrence Hall – commented on the uptick in positivity, he said; “It’s encouraging to see a bounce-back in consumer confidence in the market – it’s the largest increase we’ve seen since 2016,”

In a recent statement from the Land Registry, it was announced that they have a new target of reaching as close to 100% of land registration as possible by 2030.

The initial focus over the next 2 years is to highlight all publicly owned land in England and Wales, which could be used to build new homes and pinpoint which areas in the UK are in need of new homes the most.

With the Government hoping to hit their target of building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s, the ability to identify a surplus of public land available for housing developments could be quite the boost to the construction process.

Long-term the Land Registry aims to reach 100% land registration by 2030, as comprehensive registration could not only improve the construction of new homes, but also make property transactions “simpler, faster and cheaper” according to Deputy Director Maggie Telfer.

“Comprehensive registration makes buying and selling homes easier as all the information necessary for conveyancing will be in one place, the Land Register. This will mean it’s easier to check who owns property and there is more transparency about who owns what,” said Telfer.

It was detailed that work is already underway and that her team is dealing with approximately 400 first registrations so far, these are homes that have never been registered as the properties have not changed ownership since 80s, before registration became compulsory.

Telfer stated “So, some people may be living in an unregistered property if they haven’t moved house or re-mortgaged their current one since the 1980s or before”

The statement also mentioned other benefits of achieving comprehensive registration, which include providing proof of ownership and protecting property from fraud.

Telfer also commented that “We also have a Public Sector Engagement Team who will be contacting local authorities throughout 2018, helping them to identify if any of their land or properties are yet to be registered and working with them to make the registration process as streamlined as possible.”

If you own a home then there is a very strong chance that at one point or another you’ve considered making some changes.

While decorating a room can be relatively cheap and straightforward, it appears that homeowners in the UK are underestimating the cost of some of the larger scale changes to a home.

Direct Line Home Insurance’s latest research investigated just how much people spend on house renovations and how much they are overspending.

According to the data, almost 1 in 4 homeowners spent more than they planned or intended on a change to their home and as a collective across the last 5 years, home extensions and upgrades have cost an extra &3.4 billion.

On average, each renovation cost &7,427 (278%) more than the owner thought it would when planning their original budget.

It was revealed that the younger demographic were the most likely to be caught out by unexpected costs, 30% of 18 to 34 years olds end up going over budget. In comparison to those aged over 55, this figure is almost half at 17% with Direct Line suggesting that this age group could have much higher aspirations for their home.

Regionally, it appears that property owners in the capital top the list for misjudging a budget, starting a project with an average budget of &6,278 but paying out &11,128.

The most commonly renovated room within the first year of purchasing a home was the kitchen (32%) followed by the bathroom (29%) and the living room (17%).

The living room is the most popular area of the home when it comes to redecorating (43%) with the bedroom (42%) not too far behind and the hallway taking 3rd place (35%).

Head of Home Insurance – Dan Simson – spoke on the finding of the research, he said; “Many home renovation shows have given people a false impression of the real cost of remodelling a property, so before you bite off more than you can chew it’s important to research and price the work accurately, building contingency costs in to the budget, to ensure your home improvements come in on time and meet your expectations,”