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UK commercial property investment set to reach new record high in 2015
Investment volumes in UK commercial property are set to exceed £70 billion in 2015, the highest on record, according to the latest research to be published. Almost £50 billion of transactions were completed in the first three quarters of this year and, with a healthy pipeline of deals, quarter four volumes should exceed £20 billion, as they did in 2013 and 2014, says the report from Carter Jonas, the UK property consultancy. Based on an analysis of Propertydata figures, total deal volumes for the first nine months of this year were up by 17% against the same period in 2014 when they were £41.7 billion. Much of this capital came from overseas investors, up 45% on the same period last year at £24.2 billion in 2015 up from £16.6 billion in 2014, accounting for nearly 50% of total investment. By the year end, international investors will account for over 50% of the UK market for the first time, compared with a market share of less than 25% some 15 years ago, the report points out. Most of the growth in activity has been driven by a sharp rise in deals involving hotels, leisure and specialist property assets, with investment volumes boosted by a number of sizeable portfolio deals. Investment volumes in offices and retail warehousing rose by 12% to 13% over the same period. ‘There is still plenty of capital chasing commercial property, with this year set to be record breaking. However, with the market edging towards its natural peak in the cycle, a pause for breath seems likely in 2016,’ said Darren Yates, head of research at Carter Jonas. ‘Moreover, investors will need to factor in headwinds such as the anticipated interest rate rise and the EU referendum may start to play on investors’ minds,’ he added. The report also points out that significant yield compression is already a feature across the mainstream sectors. As such, good value investment opportunities are becoming difficult to source, particularly in central London and, increasingly, in the large regional cities. Investors are therefore considering value-add investments and development as a means of generating better returns. Assets outside the mainstream sectors such as student accommodation and the private rented sector (PRS), which offer higher yields and diversification benefits, are also seeing significant interest. Demand for the smaller established cities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Bath has also risen sharply, in recognition of their strong performance, particularly in 2014. However, supply is also restricted in these locations, which could add to downward pressure on yields. ‘Whilst we will continue to see further yield compression in some parts of the market, this could taper off in the next three to six months. However, when viewed against current bond rates, property yields still offer good value and, with rental growth coming through, there is still an incentive to invest in UK commercial property,’ said Mike Prosser, partner in the investment team at Carter Jonas. Continue reading
Buyers and estate agents in US embracing new technology new study shows
Even though more consumers in the United States are using the internet as a tool during their home search and are therefore more connected than ever before, says new research. It means that home buyers are increasingly utilising the knowledge and expertise of a real estate agent, according to the study published by the National Association of Realtors. ‘Consumers have the ability to do more home buying research online and be more connected during the home search process than ever before, but research proves they are still seeing the value a Realtor® brings to the transaction, from the initial search to well after the closing,’ said NAR president Chris Polychron. ‘Agents bring great value to buyers from every generation, demographic and location as well as in every financial and familial situation. So while consumers have more technological tools available at their fingertips, realtors are now more than ever a part of the home buying and selling equation,’ he added. The study found that finding the right property was ranked as the most difficult step in the home buying process. Since the internet is now the first place many people go for information, it's not surprising that four in 10 buyers looked for properties online as a first step in the home buying process, up from 36% in 2010. However, the data also shows that 88% of buyers in 2014 purchased their home with assistance from a real estate agent, up from 83% in 2010. While 94% of millennials and 84% of baby boomers used online websites in their home search, only 65% of those aged 69 to 89 years did the same. Older boomers, those aged 60 to 68 years, used a mobile device to search for properties at less than half the rate of millennials at 30% versus 66%. When it comes to website listing features, photos and online property information were more important to millennials, while virtual tours and direct contact with a real estate agent were more important to baby boomers. Despite visual content growing in popularity and importance, older homebuyers found virtual tours more useful than younger buyers at 45% compared to 36% among millennials. As for the length of time it takes for consumers to find a home, millennials typically looked for about 11 weeks, while baby boomers and members of the older generation searched for eight weeks. Internet use also impacted the length of a home search. Those who used the internet to search homes visited more homes and searched for longer, looking at 10 homes over a 10 week period versus four homes in four weeks for those not looking on the web. While not all consumers use the internet in their home search, a growing number are first finding their future home online. Some 43% buyers first found the home they ended up purchasing on the web compared to just 8% in 2001. In 2001 some 48% of buyers found the home they… Continue reading
Call for Build to Rent in the UK to be expanded and include more affordable homes
Build to Rent development in London is over double that in the rest of the UK, with a new manifesto calling for more affordable homes to be included in such schemes. There are over 14,276 units in planning, completed or under construction in London compared to 7,112 in the rest of the country, according to the new data from the British Property Federation. They also show that there are at least 3,404 completed units in London, compared to 240 in the rest of the UK. The organisation has published a new manifesto for the Build to Rent sector, in which it urges government to follow the lead of the Greater London Authority (GLA), and change national planning policy to stress that the appropriate affordable housing on new Build to Rent developments should be discounted market rent. It says that this helps development viability, but also allows the investor to manage the ‘affordable’ and ‘market rented’ elements as one, in a tenure blind manner. The BPF has long championed the role that Build to Rent has to play in expanding housing delivery, attracting long term investment that has the potential to significantly boost housing supply. Recent research has shown that Build to Rent can deliver homes at 2.5 times the speed of developments for sale, and that there is £10 billion of firm commitments and as much as £30 billion that the sector has ready to invest this Parliament. The £10 billion of investment identified for Build to Rent would create around £28 billion of wider economic benefit. ‘It has felt for a long time that Build to Rent has been on the cusp of becoming a sector in its own right. Today, we are proud to show that the sector has really taken off, and it is great to see how many fantastic projects are either underway or completed, and that residents have quality rented homes,’ said Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation. ‘There is more that can be done to encourage the sector to grow, however. The GLA has paved the way for Build to Rent, introducing both ambitious targets and supplementary planning guidance, and the map launched today shows that this has really paid off,’ she explained. ‘Government has everything to gain from encouraging this sector, which will attract significant institutional investment into UK housing supply, deliver new homes quickly, and drive up standards in the private rented sector, and we hope to see it continue to support it,’ she added. Andrew Stanford, residential fund manager at LaSalle Investment Management and chairman of the BPF’s Build to Rent Committee said that the momentum behind Build to Rent continues and it is moving firmly beyond theory and into reality. ‘With continued support from both national and local government this progress can continue. The growing number of long-term institutional investors in the sector will then find a suitable home for their capital, ensuring that housing supply and tenant choice… Continue reading
