Clearview National February 2017 - Issue 183 | Page 6

INDUSTRYNEWS

UK property supply falls

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THE SEASONAL SLOWDOWN IN property supply was sharper than usual in December , with new property listings across the UK down by 46.9 %, according to the latest Property Supply Index from online estate agents HouseSimple . com .
The UK as a whole saw new property supply fall in almost every ( 98.4 %) town and city in December , with new listings lower than at any point over the course of the past year . In Southport , for example , new property listings fell by more than 71 %, while supply dropped by 70.1 % in Rugby during the last month of the year . Only Salford and Telford saw property listings increase – up 8.5 % and 4.1 % respectively in December .
To compile the Index , HouseSimple looks at data on more than 500,000 listed properties to
Town City
Region
% fall in new listings in December vs . November
South Port
North West
-71.2%
Rugby
West Midlands
-70.1%
Edinburgh
Scotland
-66.6%
Bootle
North West
-65.8%
Inverness
Scotland
-64.9%
Crawley
South East
-59.3%
Newquay
South
-58.3%
Aberdenn
Scotland
-57.8%
Southend-On-Sea
East
-56.2%
Watford
East
-56.2%
track the number of new properties marketed every month in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all London boroughs .
The table shows the UK towns and cities that experienced the biggest falls in new property listings in December versus November .
The capital saw a larger than average drop in new properties being advertised , with the supply of new homes down by 53.6 %. In London , the boroughs of Bromley and Enfield saw the sharpest drop-off in new listings , down 62.3 % and 60.2 % respectively .
Alex Gosling , CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple . com , comments : “ The run-up to Christmas is chaotic , so most people wait until January to put their house on the market - as a result , a slowdown in new listings is pretty typical . But the December just gone was particularly slow and the fear is that this steep drop-off could hail the start of a more tentative market as inflation starts to rise and people feel less confident financially . How the job market and economy perform will be critical for the property market in the months ahead .”

HIGHLIGHTING KEY ACHIEVEMENTS IN MUNICH

European Association for Passive Fire Protection ( EAPFP ) members , representing some eleven countries across Europe , met in Munich , Germany on 29-30 November to discuss the Association ’ s aims and objectives for the coming year .
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DURING TWO DAYS OF wide-ranging debate the delegates looked in detail at the main concerns and activities within each state to identify where progress could be made by sharing knowledge and experience and through campaigning at a pan-European level .
The delegates highlighted influencing standards and regulation as key to improving levels of passive fire protection in buildings across Europe . They declared that setting the highest possible standards and requirements for products and installers , as well as educating society about the vital role of passive fire protection is key
to improving fire safety in the built environment . They also saw tackling the misuse of fire safety engineering to reduce levels of fire protection , particularly passive fire protection , as a key campaigning issue .
‘ several key areas of concern ’
A key activity during 2017 will be participation in the relevant CEN Technical Committees involved in drafting harmonised standards for fire protective products . EAPFP has long campaigned for further harmonisation and
has been invited to comment on the recently released draft Standardisation Request for fire protective products . This will affect reactive ( intumescent ) coatings for ferrous substrates ; fire stopping and fire sealing products for penetration gaps and linear joint seals ; and other fire protective products , including boards / slabs , mats , renderings .
Commenting on the Association ’ s activities , EAPFP President Joric Witlox declared : “ Discussions from our meetings have helped us to identify several key areas of concern across Europe , as well as to highlight the EAPFP ’ s achievements to date .
“ The Association is actively involved in influencing European standards and regulations that affect the safety of our built environment . Our key aim is to improve the quality of passive fire protection products and to ensure they are correctly installed and maintained and we will continue to promote initiatives which aim to advance product performance and increase the competence of installers .”
The EAPFP acts as the European voice for passive fire protection . EAPFP members are national associations representing manufacturers , contractors and other institutions involved in passive fire protection .
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