News
Research reveals hundreds of thousands facing eviction in England
More than 148,000 renting households in England were put at risk of losing their home in the past year, equivalent to 350,000 renters, according to new research. The figures from housing charity Shelter come from an analysis of statistics from the Ministry of Justice. Shelter identified 'home threat hotspots' across the country where renters face the greatest risk of losing their home, which comes as a result of the chronic shortage of affordable homes combined with crippling welfare cuts. Enfield topped the list with one in 23 rented homes under threat of eviction. This was followed by Barking and Dagenham with one in 23, Havering with one in 27 and Croydon also with one in 27. But Shelter says that the problem stretches far beyond London. Areas such as Luton, with one in 28 rented homes at risk, Thurrock one in 34 and Peterborough with one in 35 also made it into the country's top 20 home threat hotspots. Additionally, the volume of people facing eviction who are coming to Shelter for advice is getting higher and higher. In the past year alone, over 9,800 people facing eviction have called the Shelter helpline for advice and 500,000 people have visited the Shelter website's eviction advice pages. An example is Angela, is a 35 year old mum from Bristol. Last year, her landlord increased the rent which she couldn't afford to pay so was evicted, and she's been sofa surfing with her five year old son for the past eight months. ‘I'd managed to really build a home for my son, where we felt part of the community. It was really scary going from that to waiting for the bailiffs to throw us out. I desperately wanted to be in a position to tell my son that we were moving house but instead, we've been sofa surfing and relying on the good grace of friend's to let us stay,’ she said. ‘For me, home is the start of everything. It gives you more than an address; it gives you a life and a community base. For my son, it's just as important. I'm so worried about him and how this will affect him long term. Luckily, we're still getting ongoing support from Shelter so I know we've always got someone to turn to for advice,’ she added. According to Nadeem Khan, helpline adviser for Shelter, every day the charity is contacted by people who are struggling to keep up with their rent. ‘Many are in total desperation after the court papers land on their doormat and the threat of being evicted becomes very real,’ said Khan. Further research from Shelter shows that some 59% of adults aged 18 to 44 in Britain say they will be forced to put their lives on hold because of housing problems, new research has found. Overall the current housing shortage is reshaping how millions of people live their lives and creating entirely new timeframes for when they hit traditional… Continue reading
Call for housing and property skills shortage in Ireland to be addressed
A skills shortage is set to affect Ireland’s ability to address its housing crisis and infrastructure deficit, it is claimed. In particular there is a shortfall of qualified graduates coming into the profession, according to the newly elected president of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) Claire Solon, a chartered planning and development surveyor. Research carried out by the Society earlier this year revealed that over 2,000 new job opportunities are expected to be created across the surveying profession in the next four years. However, based on current enrolment numbers, there will only be enough construction and property related surveying graduates to fill just over half of them and Solon it was imperative to have the qualified personnel to meet the needs of the Irish economy. ‘It’s not only the construction of homes that we need these qualified graduates, it’s also for the delivery of infrastructure that our country needs to keep pace with the growth of the economy, such as office buildings, hotels, roads and bridges,’ she explained. ‘I will be looking at several ways in which we can combat this shortage to get graduates into the workforce faster such as on the job training programmes as well as accelerating routes for those interested in becoming surveyors,’ she added. This will included a media campaign to encourage students to choose construction and property courses. ‘We’re working with accredited colleges and in-house to develop part time and and modular programmes which enables people to work while studying or to convert graduates from other areas like business or economics into the property & construction sector,’ Solon pointed out. She also said that women only account for one fifth of the Society’s membership and that needed to change. ‘When speaking with female graduates, they often say that they were unaware of the vast array of professions that exist within the surveying umbrella. So I believe communication is key here, to really highlight the variety of careers within surveying,’ said Solon. She pointed out that a chartered planning and development surveyor can be involved in managing teams from the initial viability study to the delivery of major building projects while a chartered facilities manager could be tasked with organising the operation of high spec office premises for technology companies such as Facebook, Google or Ebay. ‘If you prefer the outdoor life, chartered geomatic surveyors spend most of their time on site, now using high powered drones and sophisticated technology to map and survey land,’ she added. Continue reading
London office market strong in uncertain time for commercial property market in UK
Commercial property rental values grew by 0.1% across the UK in May, slightly down on 0.2% per month for the last three months, according to the latest index. Capital values grew by 0.2%, continuing the growth trend seen since the start of the year, the data from the CBRE monthly index also shows. Rental growth in May was weighed down by West End and Midtown offices and these two submarkets recorded rental value growth of 0.1%, their weakest since October 2013, leading Central London offices rental values to their weakest growth of 0.2% since June 2013. Although some parts of London demonstrated flat or slightly negative performance, parts of the capital performed well, such as the City, where office rental values grew by 0.6% last month, compared to just 0.1% in both March and April. Meanwhile capital values across the UK grew by 0.2% in May, in line with the level of growth seen throughout the year, with the exception of March when values were hit by the one-off impact of stamp duty tax changes. Total returns followed the same pattern as capital values, demonstrating a steady growth of 0.6%, maintaining the level seen since January. ‘Commercial rents and capital values continue to grow in a period of great uncertainty. The London office market has seen some volatility, but the fundamentals of the market are strong,’ said Miles Gibson, head of UK research at CBRE UK. ‘This time next month, we’ll have a clearer idea of the direction capital values and rents will go in the second half of the year, and a flavour of the pace at which they will get there,’ he added. Meanwhile, 2015 saw a marked increase in banking and finance leasing activity in Central London according to another report from CBRE which says that a relentless drive to cut costs has forced financial services occupiers to focus on reducing real estate costs and adopting strategies to occupy their space more efficiently. Using a combination of offshoring and nearshoring, there has been an ongoing move by big banks to relocate non-core functions outside of Central London, as seen in HSBC’s decision to move 1,000 head office staff from London to Birmingham, the report points out. Indeed, financial services firms are also turning to outsourcing. Areas such as risk management, trade reporting, compliance and IT are increasingly being outsourced. Last year alone, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Commerzbank, JPMorgan, Société Générale and Standard Chartered joined forces last year with Swift to develop and use a centralised due-diligence system. However despite the inherent challenges, banks continue to cite client needs, recruitment, profile and presence as key reasons to keep office space in London. This is reflected in last year’s leasing figures with banking and finance occupiers leasing 3.2 million square feet, some 4.9% above the 10 year average. There are a variety of compromises companies may make as part of… Continue reading
