I hope you have had a fantastic week. We have been keeping our eye on the property market statistics as they continue to explode up and down the country.
It’s important to know that there are incredible deals to be found in any market, no matter how hot. Remember that exploring options outside of your comfort zone with the help of a trusted expert in the sector can yield you some surprising results.
Now, let’s take a look at all the headlines that caught our attention this week. I always try to summarise the links to save you having to click through.
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- International Investors Boosting Dubai Property Market – Developers at Cityscape Global have confirmed that International investors played a crucial part in boosting Dubai’s property market this year. Their running consensus is that Dubai’s swift and decisive handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, with no draconian-style lockdown and firmer implementation of precautionary measures, has made more people than ever consider Dubai as a good place to live, work and raise a family. CEO of Azizi Developments remarked that cities that thrived during Covid times will now benefit from strong foreign investment interest. Indeed, statistics show that most sales are coming from overseas. Cityscape Global is the UAE’s biggest real estate exhibition, where developments such as Sobha Realty’s newly-launched Waves Grande are proving particularly attractive to overseas investors.
- Landlords Prepared for New Energy Rules – Specialist Savings and Lending bank Shawbrook has commented that landlords are already reacting to the energy efficiency rules set to come into play in 2025. Once implemented, properties with an EPC rating of D or lower will be deemed unfit for tenants. Data reveals that 17% of landlords have already taken steps to improve their property’s energy efficiency rating, with 22% of portfolio landlords also having done so. A more energy-efficient home is an attractive feature for prospective tenants, with a significant number being happy to pay more for this, especially as it may save them money on their energy bills. The downside of this, besides the initial cost of improving properties, is that older properties may prove difficult or even impossible to bring up to code. This could result in some properties being essentially ‘unrentable’ and ‘unsellable’.
- Councils Accused of Failing to Take Action on Rogue Landlords – The National Residential Landlords Association has issued a warning to English councils over their failure to take action against rogue landlords as data shows that over the past 3 years, two-thirds of English councils have prosecuted zero landlords for offences related to standards in, or the management of private rented housing. The NRLA has told councils that a failure to take action against the criminal minority destroys the sector’s reputation and risks weakening any further reform within the sector. Of those councils who responded, it was revealed that only 937 successful prosecutions of criminal landlords had taken place over the past three years, as the government estimated in 2015 that there may have been some 10,500 rogue landlords in operation.
- UK House Prices Soar over Falling Supply – A lack of housing supply has caused UK house prices to skyrocket in October 2021, according to a RICS UK residential market survey. In the survey, 70% of respondents observed a marked increase in property prices, with this unsettling trend predicted to continue for at least the next three months, and very possibly into 2022. Even though there had been a 10% increase in the number of new enquiries, estate agents still have a low average of 37 properties on their books at any one time. The report also revealed that 20% of contributors reported a fall in the number of new properties being listed for sale. It is becoming apparent that any monetary relief provided by the Stamp Duty holiday is being quickly eaten up by these inflated house prices.
That is all we have for you this week. If you have any comments or questions on this week’s news summary then please feel free to send us an email at [email protected] – if not, see you next week.
