I hope you have had a productive week.
This week at Track Capital, our team members set off on the train to Manchester to visit some of our most exciting upcoming developments firsthand, in the hopes of bringing you back some footage of their latest construction progress.
We had high expectations for Manchester Waters and Paragon – and I’m pleased to confirm that those expectations were absolutely blown away!
We look forward to sharing our findings with you over the coming days.
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.
Episode 38 – Staff FAQ’s – What is Help to Invest??? – The latest episode of the Pure Property Podcast is out now. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts and all other major platforms.
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Property News This Week
- London’s Private Rental Sector to grow 13% by 2030 – This week, Foxtons released its ‘Winter 2022 London Lettings Report,’ which consists of all its latest trading updates, covering data from the London letting market collected up to year ending 31 December 2021. Among the statistics is evidence that 27% of Londoners are housed by the private rented sector. Foxtons anticipates that this number may increase to 40% by 2030. The report also reveals that the number of lettings applicants in 2021 increased by 57% when compared with 2020. This is understandable considering that many potential renters were prevented from finding their own homes during the pandemic as strains on the economy and laws regarding non-essential movement constricted activity across the entire property sector. With average rents this week being nearly 10% higher for managed residences, it is clear that tenants are happy to pay for a more structured living environment.
- New Year Housing Demand Grows by 50% – The latest data from property giant Zoopla has shown that the New Year has triggered a staggering 49% demand for property, with numbers approaching that of the stamp duty holiday boom of 2021. Combined with the so-called ‘race for space’ amidst the pandemic and accompanying lockdowns, there is more pressure than ever on the government and on homebuilders to provide affordable housing and a lending system that actively encourages new buyers onto the ladder. The unprecedented shift to WFH has also resulted in a record demand for larger homes farther afield. Hybrid working models for office-based workers are becoming more common, with a push toward a better work-life balance and housing that suits this new focus. Despite the difficulties experienced over the last two years in the house-building sector, there are signs of an easing here, suggesting that the imbalance between supply and demand is starting to ease.
- Property Expert Predicts House Prices to Continue to Rise – X-Press Legal Services have predicted that house prices are likely to continue rising in 2022, as several government-backed schemes, combined with historically low interest rates, will continue to lend much-needed support to first-time buyers and those with limited deposits. For example, the mortgage guarantee scheme which sees participating lenders supporting those with just a five% deposit will be active until December 2022. The much-lauded Help to Buy Equity Loan will also remain available right up to March 2023. X-Press suggests that the property market as a whole will continue to bounce back in 2022. UK housing developers have been feeling the squeeze on completing their projects due to workforce and material undersupply and this was bound to have the negative effect demonstrated by the supply-demand imbalance in housing.
- High Court Judge Rules in Favour of Landlords – To the sound of countless sighs of relief from landlords across the UK, a High Court judge has made a landmark ruling in their favour following a Section 8 notice dispute between a letting agent and their unpaying tenants, who had argued that the manner under which they were served violated section 44 of the Companies Act 2006. Had the court ruled in the tenants’ favour in this instance, it would have opened a can of worms for both management companies and independent landlords. Instead, it has now been confirmed that a single authorised employee of a landlord or letting agent can sign a section 8 notice, a section 21 notice or a tenancy deposit certificate without fear of legal repercussions.
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.
