Hello,
I hope you’ve had an enjoyable week. This week, we have been speaking to some of our investors about their own take on what it means to be a landlord.
There can be many reasons to enter the property market and the approach you take to looking after both your properties and your tenants can vary immensely depending on your time, skills, budget and personal preferences.
I would love to hear what your vision of property investment looks like. Please feel free to hit ‘reply’ to this post and tell me your thoughts.
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 from having to click through.
Episode 43: The Next Investment Hotspot? – The latest episode of the Pure Property Podcast is out now. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts and all other major platforms.
Remember, you can also listen to this week’s newsletter on the podcast as well.
We would really appreciate it if you could subscribe and leave feedback for our Podcast on Apple.
Property News This Week
- Welsh Tory Leader Speaks Out Against Rent Controls – The high-profile Welsh Shadow Minister for Climate Change has recently spoken out against last winter’s collaboration between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru. Their desire to impose rent controls across Wales was strengthened in a bid to tackle housing issues. Referencing other global markets that have suffered under such state control, Finch-Saunders has urged for a “realistic and supportive approach” to the private rental sector, citing fears of more landlords being persecuted out of the market, increasing supply shortage. In opposition, prominent Welsh Labour member Carolyn Thomas has recently voiced her support for state-issued rent controls, writing that rent increases are becoming untenable for most renters and pushing for the PRS to take a more socially-oriented path.
- Landlords in England Ordered to Rent Out Empty Shops – The Queen’s Speech on Tuesday was heard to cover many aspects of the new Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill set to revolutionise many fundamental aspects of socio-economic influence in the UK. Among these was a new power to be given to local councils to force landlords to enter their empty shops into mandatory rental auctions to bring struggling local high streets back to life. However, this move has already drawn criticism from the Chief Executive of the British Property Federation, who described the move as having no real benefit and accused the government of skirting around the true issues that have caused shops to remain empty in the first place, such as unaffordable business rates and rising occupational costs.
- Understanding the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill – The Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill has been formed as part of a nationwide government drive to give every part of England an equal share in the nation’s prosperity. The ambitious plan aims to pass many governmental powers on to local leaders, allowing them more control over their own communities. This includes control over transport, budgets and skills. However, there will still remain many policies in place regarding issues that apply to the majority of areas that will remain centrally regulated. The government intends for improved digital powers and gateway checks to provide easier access to standardised planning data and general help with decision-making. The Bill will also opt for a new Infrastructure Levy that will see fairer contributions from housing developers towards funding local amenities. It is hoped that the new white paper will provide a strong basis for reinvigorating brownfield and neglected land to create better, greener living spaces and increased opportunity across the country.
-
- RICS: House Prices Predicted to Keep Climbing – According to the most recent Residential Market Survey by the RICS, over 10% of survey participants noted a rise in buyer enquiries. In contrast, both new instructions and new listings appeared to continue following a negative trend, with just 20% of respondents reporting a decrease in house prices – down from 26% in March alone. Although surveyors claim that house prices are continuing to rise due to lack of supply, the long-term picture looks quite different as the increased financial burden on UK households wears down affordability for potential buyers and prevent them from entering the market. These results all suggest that the UK housing market will hit an inevitable wall, once prices rise well beyond what the average buyer can afford and inflation rises continue to heavily influence budgets.
-
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.
