Investors might be considering their next steps with an air of caution after reading the reports of a ‘heated’ market. Taking a closer look, investors might unintentionally be missing out on opportunities after being held back by the headlines which are largely being fuelled by the country house market where families’ plans to move to rural areas have been fast-forwarded following consecutive lockdowns – this is not the property type, nor the locations that are prime investment hotspots.
Seeking out locations that are on an impressive but sustainable trajectory for price growth, whilst also appealing to tenants, is the key to long term investment success.
Here’s what we’ve seen in the news this week:
Super-strong rental market will last through summer and beyond: The increasingly strong rental market is set to last throughout summer and beyond according to the latest analysis by PropTech platform Goodlord. The new market snapshot shows that voids dropped in seven of the eight regions monitored by Goodlord during May, reducing the average void period in England by a sizeable 15 per cent overall. Read more.
House prices jump 10.9% as ‘race for space’ intensifies: UK house prices soared 10.9% in the year to May, the highest level in seven years, according to the Nationwide. The average house price has risen to £242,832, up £23,930 over the past twelve months. Read more.
Why house prices are rising so fast in a pandemic: UK house prices are soaring. Official figures show they have been increasing at their fastest rate for more than a decade despite the country being gripped by a pandemic. The UK’s biggest building society, the Nationwide, has described the UK housing market as “buoyant”. Read more.
UK stamp duty holiday extension prompts rise in mortgage demand: Rishi Sunak’s six-month extension of the government’s stamp duty holiday prompted a fresh surge in demand for home loans, according to the latest figures from the Bank of England. Threadneedle Street data showed that in April – the month after the chancellor’s budget announcement – the number of mortgage approvals climbed from 83,400 to 86,900, the first monthly increase since November. Read more.
Change to eviction notice periods: The ban on bailiff-enforced evictions is now finally at an end and from today there is a change to the notice period for private tenants. The government introduced the ban back at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and it has remained, in varying forms, until yesterday, with bailiffs asked not to carry out an eviction. Read more.
