Breaking Property News – 04/03/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.

 

Spring Budget – what has Jeremy Hunt got in store for the property sector?

Two important things happen this coming Wednesday the 6th of March at 12.30pm, Zara my co-director goes for her six weekly groom, and the Chancellor of the exchequer Mr Hunt will let the nation know the contents of his Spring 2024 Budget.

There is much speculation as to the content of Jeremy Hunt‘s budget, made more difficult as he has less cash to giveaway and of course officially the UK is now in recession, so the tempation to help the Conservative General election campaign must be tempered by the need to get a positive response from the City and the nation as a whole.

There had been until the last week a lot of spin around bringing in 1% mortgages, backed by the government, but it seems that the reality that mortgage lenders would still only lend relative tiny amounts to buyers, and would in fact be even more stingent on the lending criteria probably means this ‘inniative’ will be sidelined.

In contrast there is much speculation that landlords who have holiday homes, may now become the new tax target for this Chancellor, with a two-pronged approach, raise more cash for the government coffers, and suposedly deter Landlords from ‘gaming’ the present tax laws – making it hard for local people to find property to rent. My thoughts are that if you penalise Landlords further they exit the market, and the amount of inventory in the Private Rented Sector decreases, which means higher rents – brilliant.

Hunt has been a Chancellor since October 2022, he replaced Kwasi Kwarteng who only survived for just 38-days in post, and during that period inflation has lowered, though probably in line with other global economies rather than as a direct result of his prudent handling of the public finances. One thing is sure, he will not be repeating the playbook of a certain Rishi Sunak who as Chancellor super charged the housing market with his SDLT giveway, which led to a huge bubble of sales followed by last year’s disastorously low amount of completions.


Technology won’t solve your problems, you will, with the support of a tech solution.

These comments were taken from the latest episode of The Home Stretch.

On the first Friday of each month, The Home Stretch podcast has begun launching special tech episodes with well-known and respected guests from the industry. Hosted by Ben Sellers, Co-Founder of Starberry and Brand Director at nurtur.tech, the first guest to appear on the new series is Ian Preston, Director at Greenhouse OS and Founder of Preston Baker. On the episode they discuss the transformative technology landscape in the estate agency world, starting with the increasing popularity of the self-employed model.

Commenting on the more recent evolutions of Preston Baker, Preston remarks, “estate agency is a high fixed cost business with a relatively low margin, operating in a world of high volatility. So, in other words, the market can go forwards and it can go backwards on a six-pence. And so how do estate agency owners create value both for the people who work for them, for their consumers, and also protect themselves?”

“I’ve been really attracted by the self-employed model and this associate model, so, using technology, we transformed the business by running a pilot in November 2022, where we gave seven of our employees the opportunity to become self-employed, and then, gradually, as 2023 developed we’ve now rolled that out across the whole business.”

The pair go on to discuss the involvement of prop tech in estate agency, with Preston commenting, “technology without a plan is useless. So don’t think that tech is going to solve your problems. It’s not. You’re going to solve your problems, but you need to decide how you want your business to run, understand what your requirements are and then create a tech solution to support that.

We have been limited by prop tech. I am actually not a big fan of it, and I know that’s a really awful thing to say on this podcast!” Somewhat in agreeance with Preston’s comment, Sellers responds that it is the “association with prop tech which isn’t right, there is this feeling that it sorts everything out for you, which it doesn’t.”

Ben Sellers then asks Preston about the motivation behind his latest prop tech combatting venture, Greenhouse OS, to which Preston replies, “so many forward-thinking agents have got parallel systems which run alongside their CRMs. When they approach their CRM provider with a business initiative they would like integrated into the system, the answer is often no, as it is not a part of the provider’s roadmap.

So, the agent then goes back and starts building things which run alongside their CRM, not integrated into it. And as AI is now implemented, this is a massive problem because there has to be a single source of truth. AI plus data is the thing that is going to change the world, and if you don’t have your data where your AI is, the AI can’t work because it doesn’t have all the data. And so why did we set up Greenhouse OS?

Because we believe that agents need to be free to pursue their own business ideas. So, it’s about freedom and the way that Greenhouse works is it’s part of the Salesforce world. It’s called a managed package, which basically means we maintain and update the Greenhouse application, but each agency gets their own environment that they can customise independent of other Greenhouse agencies.

What we’ve done is built all of the estate agency and letting agency functionality, so that the day you set off, it works as a market leading CRM, with the option of customising it in whichever way you want.”

 

Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X

Andrew Stanton

CEO & Founder Proptech-PR. Proptech Real Estate Influencer, Executive Editor of Estate Agent Networking. Leading PR consultancy in Proptech & Real Estate. Want to contact me directly regarding one of my articles or maybe you'd like a chat about future articles? Email me via editor@stagingsite.estateagentnetworking.co.uk

You May Also Enjoy

Home and Living

How to Protect Your Property from Flooding and Water Damage

Flooding and water leaks can cause significant damage to your home or office. However, many issues can be prevented by taking proactive measures to protect your property. In this article, we’ll explain how to minimize risks and prepare for potential water-related threats. 1. Inspect and Maintain Your Plumbing System One of the most common causes…
Read More
Breaking News

ONS House Price Index – November 2024

Headlines Average UK private rents increased by 8.7% in the 12 months to October 2024 (provisional estimate); this is up from 8.4% in the 12 months to September 2024. Average rents increased to £1,348 (8.8%) in England, £766 (7.9%) in Wales, and £976 (6.6%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to October 2024. In Northern…
Read More
Breaking News

Foxtons Lettings Market Index October 2024

Headlines October saw the highest level of new stock entering the market, with an 8% increase from last year, the highest increase in four years October’s demand is marginally lower than last October and decreased 32% from September, as expected during this time of year Following a yearly high of £593 per week this September,…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 20/11/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Proptech powered lettings service for BTR developers needing pre-approved, quality tenants at speed gets funding A proptech-driven letting agent has secured close to £500,000 during its first equity investment raise. Property Sense, headquartered in Stockport but operating nationally, secured the half a million pounds in…
Read More
Kerb appeal
Estate Agent Talk

Why November and December are the best and most affordable months to buy

Buyers and sellers looking for the right time to move can consider top reasons from property experts to start the process this November and December. The autumn and winter months may not be the first that come to mind when considering a move, but potential buyers and sellers can be reassured by the experts that…
Read More
Breaking News

Farmers protest outside Westminster today in anger at the IHT ongoing debate – expert legal view

With today’s news about farmers set to protest outside Westminster in anger at the IHT ongoing debate, Tom Gauterin, Director at national law firm Freeths, said: “Although it is good to hear Mr Reed last week suggest that the Government is listening to farmers, today’s protests would suggest otherwise with the extent of their concerns…
Read More