Friday News #055 – 1st May 2020
Another week in lockdown has passed, speculation continues to surround the UK property market in terms of the expected landscape for the remainder of 2020. The key, reliable sources in the industry maintain that the effects will be limited and that longer-term forecasts remain unchanged.
As the UK lockdown currently shows no signs of easing, and due to the pandemic Brexit negotiations have made little progress – the exchange rate is favourable for overseas investors. Furthermore, a decision to invest in bricks and mortar over less tangible assets, especially in periods of uncertainty, has previously proven to be successful for discerning investors.
Here’s what we’ve seen in the news this week:
Will House Prices Remain Stable Despite Property Market Lockdown? As weeks settle into months under the coronavirus lockdown in the U.K., the latest analysis from Zoopla and Hometrack suggests that the pause button has been pushed on 373,000 property transactions, with the combined estimated value of this figure rounding out at approximately £82 billion. Read more from Forbes.
Chinese interest in UK property soars despite Covid-19: A Chinese-led house buying boom is on the way in the UK, the recent drop in sterling (caused by both Brexit and then Covid-19), and the emergence of China from the virus crisis, has sparked a new high in the level of Chinese interest in buying residential property in Britain. Read more.
85% of buy-to-let lenders still lending: Some 42 of the 49 buy-to-let lenders operating at the beginning of March are still lending despite the impact of coronavirus, analysis shows. Read more.
First Friday out of lockdown is going to be big: The first Friday out of lockdown is likely to be one of the biggest moving days in the lettings industry’s history, ARLA’s David Cox has predicted. Read more.
Property Investment Magazine Issue 1 Q1 2020: In case you missed it – we released Issue 1 of our property magazine earlier this week; sharing information about our team, interviews with developers, updates from Q1 and useful insights for investors. Read our magazine online.
