LONDON: The supply of homes for sale across the UK has tumbled to its lowest level since records began in 1978, a report suggested.
And the ‘acute shortage of supply’ continues to push house prices up, with surveyors expecting prices to rise by 25 per cent in the next five years.
The number of properties coming on the market has fallen for four consecutive months in a row this year and there has been no marked increase in the number of homes up for sale since the end of 2013, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said.
London and the North East have seen the sharpest drop in the supply of properties for sale, while Scotland is the only area across the UK where the number of homes for sale has risen, the findings reveal.
Surveyors ‘expressed surprise’ that the number of properties for sale had not increased in the aftermath of the general election.
6, Vodafone launches its first ever home broadband service with prices starting at £5 a month
Vodafone is launching its first fixed-line home broadband service today, pitting itself against rivals already offering packaged internet and phone deals such as BT and Virgin Media.
The service is initially being rolled out to existing Vodafone customers in Manchester, Berkshire and parts of Hampshire and Surrey, followed by Essex, Hertfordshire and Yorkshire in the next few weeks.
Offering broadband speeds of up to 76Mbps, Vodafone’s broadband prices will range from £5 to £25 a month, with non-Vodafone consumers charged higher prices than existing ones.
New service: Vodafone is launching its first fixed-line home broadband service today, pitting itself against rivals already offering packaged internet and landline deals such as BT
The new service, called Vodafone Connect, will be offered to all existing Vodafone customers across the country later this summer. Customers new to Vodafone will have to wait until later in the year to access the deals.
For non-Vodafone customers, the slowest 17Mbps service will cost £10 a month, while the 38Mbps and 76Mpbs will cost £20 and £25 per month respectively.
Households will also need to factor in the added cost of line rental, at £16.99 per month, with some discounts available for paying 12 months upfront.
Vodafone’s chief executive Jeroen Hoencamp said: ‘This is a really exciting move for Vodafone in the UK as we move our business into a new phase.
We’re looking forward to bringing our consumers the benefits of our experience in providing fixed and mobile services, both here in the UK and elsewhere around the world.’
Hoencamp added: ‘We are looking forward to the year ahead, including our move into offering TV services, as one which will prove to be a step-change in our customers’ lives.’
Vodafone’s move into fibre optic broadband marks its latest bid to close ground on rivals like Virgin Media, which are already offering packaged ‘quad play’ deals, offering customers internet, mobile, landline and television services.
Having plunged significant investment in its broadband network, Vodafone claims the new service will create hundreds of jobs over the next few years.
Vodafone says its broadband can reach nearly 20million premises in the UK, rising to 22million later this summer.
