BREAKING NEWS – top 5 stories 01/07/2021
Daily bite-sized proptech and real estate news in partnership with Proptech-X. Today, Stanton looks at Rightmove, Virtual Reality, Freeths, and more.
- Rightmove analysis shows 1.3 million benefited from SDLT holiday
- Is Virtual Reality becoming the homebuyer’s best friend?
- Propertymark ratifies its two new Presidents
- Freeths annual survey throws light on tech use in Real Estate
- Chris Whitty’s assailant was an estate agent
Rightmove analysis shows 1.3 million benefited from SDLT holiday
In recent research just announced by Rightmove, a huge swathe of buyers have had some if not all of their stamp duty offset by the Chancellor’s initiative when buying a primary property. Rightmove also points out that in the last year house prices have moved skyward, increasing by over £15,000 on average. It begs the question, is huge house inflation during a pandemic a sign that the Chancellor missed the mark? An overheating market causes many problems.
Is Virtual Reality becoming the homebuyer’s best friend?
Perhaps sped up by the pandemic, 27% of buyers would feel comfortable experiencing their next home for the first time through the use of Virtual Reality, a study has just shown.
As Strutt & Parker have documented previously, “Virtual Reality, or VR, is an artificial, computer-generated environment that you experience as if you were inside the image. By encompassing your field of vision, and being responsive to movement, wearing a VR headset tricks your brain into thinking you’re in a completely different place. Basic virtual reality headsets have been around for a while, but with the technology improving in leaps and bounds, the applications for its use are increasing … all from the comfort of your own home.”
Investment in VR and ‘gamification’ for tech natives has increased by 320% in the past 18 months, with a raft of proptech companies looking to build and offer the definitive solution.
Propertymark ratifies its two new Presidents
It’s that time again… the rotation of Presidents at Propertymark. For the NAEA side, we have Liana Loporto-Brown moving into the post, and on the ARLA side of things, we have Maxine Fothergill.
Interim CEO Nathan Emerson said that the c-suite team and the board are “looking forward to working with both Maxine and Liana in order to drive Propertymark further forward.”
Freeths annual survey throws light on tech use in Real Estate
Freeths, a legal services company extremely switched on to the application of tech, annually look into how tech is expanding within UK Real Estate. It recently stated that during lockdown the biggest winners were video conferencing, specifically the huge uptick in Microsoft Teams and Zoom. The biggest takeaway was that over 70% of those asked said that, moving forward, having meetings in this way rather than face to face would be the norm.
Chris Whitty’s assailant was an estate agent
After the news broke that Chris Whitty was manhandled whilst out in the park in London, many chalked it up to a couple of drunken yobs enjoying the sun. It’s now come to light that one of the persons involved in the manhandling was an estate agent based in Essex.
Apparently, Lewis Hughes, who has since lost his estate agent job, protests that he was just taking a selfie, and was not in any way wanting to cause distress when he made contact with Mr Whitty.
You May Also Enjoy
The ‘Rentvesting’ Strategy: Owning a Home Where You Can’t Afford to Live
Momentum gathers for retail investment as Bank Rate cut again
Surge in first-time buyers’ preference for cheaper homes subsides as market adjusts to April’s stamp duty changes
UK House Price Index summary: August 2025
Breaking Property News 22/10/25
