This week we are pleased to announce that the popular UK real estate news channel PropertyWire has welcomed Track Capital’s own Founder and Director, Nick Hyland, to give his thoughts on the best UK cities for Buy-to-Let as post-pandemic recovery begins to unfold and the market continues to be red-hot for investors and home-buyers alike.
The article gives a full overview of the current BTL market prospects for major UK cities and is a great resource if you are wondering where best to invest for Buy-to-Let properties.
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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- UK House Prices Hit Another Staggering Record High – The latest Halifax House Price Index data reveals that October saw the average UK property price hit a record high of £270,027 which is a month-on-month increase of over £2,500 per property. This now puts the annual inflation rate at 8.1% across the UK – the highest level seen since June. The stamp duty holiday and a “race for space” have been cited as some of the key factors in property prices rising. Since April 2020, the average property value has increased by 13.2% – That’s an increase of over £31K per property. It is anticipated that the Bank of England will inevitably raise rates, perhaps as soon as next month, with further rises expected in 2022. The housing demand is predicted to cool as borrowing costs increase slightly, but the inability to successfully raise a deposit will still be the biggest limiting factor to many.
- Student Lettings Sector Booms as In-Person Attendance Resumes – The Deposit Protection Service has revealed that 25% more student deposits were registered between 01/08 – 26/10, suggesting that more students resumed university lessons in-person this year when compared with 2020. This is undoubtedly connected with the effects of the pandemic and the resulting restrictions on public services. For deposit registrations across England and Wales, August 2021 was the busiest month ever recorded. It was also the sixth month in a row for deposit registrations in student areas to be higher than those of their corresponding months in 2020.
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UK Construction Activity Continues to Accelerate – Data from the IHS Markit/ CIPS UK Construction Activity Index shows that in October, house building outperformed commercial work as the best performing category in the sector. After September hit Construction’s lowest point in eight months, October’s data comes as a relief to those operating in the sector and suggests a ‘robust and accelerated rise in output volumes.’ Q1 2021 saw the construction industry face problems of severe shortages of staff and materials. Although there have been improvements, issues stemming from driver shortages and shipping congestion have not been fully resolved. Despite this, the short term forecast for construction growth remains positive with further growth expected moving into 2022.
- Dubai Records AED 1.1 Billion-Worth of Realty Transactions – The Dubai Land Department has reported that on the 3rd of October, Dubai’s real estate market recorded a total of 343 sales transactions collectively worth AED862.73 million. Mortgage deals of AED168.87 million were also recorded, with 13 gift transactions totalling AED72.7 million.
The sales consisted of 314 villas and apartments worth AED645.92 million, with 29 land plot sales totalling AED 216.81 million. Mortgage transactions covered 52 villas & apartments worth AED123.74 million and 10 land plots that were valued at AED45.14 million. In total, realty transactions of Wednesday reached AED1.1 bn.
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.
