Friday News #087 – 18th of December 2020
Just one week to Christmas and the office phone continues to ring as investors are securing properties and making the most of the exceptional opportunities on offer – there’s been no seasonal drop off in activity in 2020.
As the vaccine is rolled out there’s new confidence amongst industry professionals and after the year that the markets have weathered there’s a feeling that Brexit will have much less of an impact. If you’d like to discuss the outlook further we’re available on +44 203 950 7939.
Here’s what we’ve seen in the news this week:
Sunderland and Liverpool lead the way on rental yields: Investors looking for the strongest rental yields should invest in Sunderland and/or Liverpool, which offer yields of 5.30% and 5.22% respectively. Despite leading the way, their average rental yields have fallen since lockdown. The research, from Rentround, also found that yields in Newcastle have risen to 4.47% – putting the city in the top 10 location for rental yields for the first time. Read more.
Real estate firms optimistic due to vaccine: News of the effective coronavirus vaccine buoyed real estate firms for the year ahead, the Lloyds Bank UK Recovery Tracker found. Two fifths (43%) predicted that their output would rise in the next 12 months, up from a third (30%) in October. Read more.
2021 house price growth to reach 4%: House prices should inflate by 4% in 2021, Rightmove’s House Price Index found. The firm said housing will be a high priority for people but price rises for newly marketed properties should be more modest than this year. Prices this year have jumped by 6.6%, while the first quarter of next year is expected to be very busy due to the stamp duty deadline. Read more.
Buy-to-let sales boom as landlords rush to benefit from stamp duty holiday: Buy-to-let landlords are joining the rush to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday, with the proportion of property sales agreed with investors hitting its highest level in four years. Read more.
Government says it does not plan to extend stamp duty holiday: The government has confirmed that it does not plan to extend the current stamp duty holiday beyond its current March deadline despite mounting pressure to do so. On 8 July 2020 Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak implemented a temporary stamp duty holiday that cut the rate of duty to zero for all properties £500,000 or under until 31 March 2021. Read more.
Brokers confident about 2021: Brokers are looking ahead to next year with optimism, after what’s been a challenging 2020, research from Masthaven Bank found. The survey of 265 intermediaries found that almost three quarters (71%) are confident about the market in 2021. Read more.
