BREAKING NEWS – top 5 stories 26/05/2021

WHY ARE PROPERTY PORTALS SUDDENLY BECOMING PROPTECH INNOVATORS?

Since early 2017 I have been a great advocate of Proptech, having formally been an analogue agent for the previous three decades, I went on to be a Proptech Influencer and analyst, then setting up Proptech-PR. Since then I have met and listened to over 370 Proptech founders and their tech-solutions, or SaaS (Software as a Service).

Though technology in real estate has been much derided, and the education and selling into the real estate nexus from the proptech side has been a slow go. It now seems that the property portals are now at the vanguard of the movement into tech.

We have seen ZPG, or Zoopla set up Innovation inniatives with large corporate agencies, we have just heard that Boomin are putting together a strategic board to look at agency innovation and the journey of the general public client.

Will then this increasingly become the pattern, or will agents form associations to pull resources and fund their own technology to keep them ahead of the curve, estate agency for sure is entering a new digital place – pushed on by the pandemic.

EVICTION BAN ENDS NEXT WEEK – WHAT NOW FOR THE PRS?

Despite the Ministry of Housing stating there is no panic, and there will not be a huge spate of repossessions in the PRS, other organizations and indexes seem to suggest that well in excess of 800,000 tenants have not paid the full amount of their rent during the pandemic.

Some feel that as many as 60% of tenants who are behind with rent, may owe over two months of payments to their landlord.

The government is pointing to the lack of applications at court as a barometer to there being no problem, but as the court system has been frozen, it is likely that landlord’s and letting agent’s have been sitting on their hands until the end of the eviction ban which comes into play next week.

HEADLINE MORTGAGE RATES, RATHER THAN EARLY REPAYMENT CHARGES ARE THE FOCUS

A recent analysis say that only a little over 10% of mortgage borrowers look at the small print, to gauge the downside of taking out a mortgage, with over 60% being more interested in the headline rate, or the monthly cost of servicing the mortgage.

It has been calculated that if a person wanted to exit early from a five-year fixed mortgage, the exit fees could be over £10,000.

BOOM OR BUST WHICH WAY WILL THE HOUSING MARKET GO?

Last September, as reported in The Times, the Centre for business and economics research predicted a 14% drop in property values in 2021. As we know this did not happen and in fact the Chancellor then extended the SDLT holiday deadline by three-months until the end of June.

At that time, the CBER felt that,

‘Our analysis suggests that prices will start to fall significantly towards the end of the year and the first half of 2021, though there might be a short spike as the stamp duty reduction comes to an end, with average house prices forecast to be 13.8 per cent lower in 2021 than 2020.’

The CBER pointed to the fact that the SDLT holiday has over heated the housing market, with 90% of sales likely to attract no SDLT at all on main residence purchases.

So a giveaway Chancellor, may if this scenario plays out – have doomed some recent property buyers to instant negative equity, especially first-time buyers with small deposits, or buying new homes with 20% help to buy loans.

Well, CBER’s prediction did not come to pass, and property prices are spiralling upward daily, but is it just a matter of time before the steam does come out of the market – especially when the SDLT impetus is no longer in place.

JULY 30^TH, 2022 SAVE THE DATE BORIS & CARRIE GET HITCHED

In a little over a year Mr Boris Johnson will be marrying Carrie Symonds, and though not strictly a property related item, of course traditionally many setting up life together look to buy a property together. Though of course they do have temporary accommodation in Downing street and Mr Johnson is looking to rent his other property.

I wonder with his landlord hat on, and many in the House of Commons and the Lords are landlords, some with huge historic portfolios, if this in any way shapes the way new proposals in the rental sectors are dealt with.

If you have a view – please let us all know by emailing me at [email protected] – Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward.