BREAKING PROPERTY NEWS – 09/12/2022
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
Second Century Ventures Opens Applications for 2023 REACH U.S. Programs, Appoints New Executive Director
PRESS RELEASE: Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors®, opened applications today for the 2023 U.S. REACH and REACH Commercial technology growth programs. SCV, the most active global venture fund in real estate technology, operates the award-winning REACH program across North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacific.
“Real estate technology continues to undergo a significant transformation, and the startups selected for the REACH program will play a critical role in helping to drive that change,” said NAR CEO and SCV President Bob Goldberg. “REACH companies get access to resources and expertise to help expand their network and accelerate their growth. Their ideas and ingenuity will help ensure that Realtors® continue to have access to the latest technology and remain in the best possible position to serve consumers here in the U.S. and across the world.”
NAR’s REACH program aims to select and help scale the most promising new technology companies in real estate and adjacent industries, including banking, insurance and home services. Participants in the program receive premier access to the following:
- Mentorship from real estate, venture capital and technology sector leaders;
- Education on how to navigate the trillion-dollar global property industry from top experts;
- Exclusive opportunities at the most impactful conferences, trade shows and networking events;
- Unique access to top media and academic organizations; and
- A global network of highly talented, like-minded entrepreneurs from more than 200 REACH portfolio companies and curated program sponsors.
REACH recently expanded its operations to Latin America, and this week appointed a new executive director to the helm of the U.S. NAR REACH program. Ashley Stinton, who previously served as SCV and REACH’s head of marketing and communications, will lead the organization’s U.S.-based team focused on technology that serves residential and consumer markets. Stinton brings more than a decade of sales, marketing and business development expertise from some of the world’s most influential real estate and consumer goods organizations.
“Ashley has been instrumental to the growth of the REACH brand and in the expansion of our flagship program across geographies and verticals,” said Dave Garland, managing partner, Second Century Ventures. “She has worked closely with our global team and portfolio, helping accelerate more than 100 companies during her tenure and time spent previously as a REACH mentor. We have immense confidence in Ashley’s ability to lead the NAR REACH program through the next decade of innovation and to further amplify the depth of transformative technology REACH helps cultivate.”
“REACH offers an unmatched level of support and growth to the proptech community,” said Ashley Stinton, executive director, REACH. “I am honored and excited to lead the NAR REACH team as we continue to elevate the role of technology in and beyond real estate. As we look to the year ahead, we will embrace the market’s most pressing challenges as an opportunity to source new ideas and evolve existing solutions to benefit consumers, real estate professionals and the economy as a whole.”
The REACH Commercial program, led by executive director Bob Gillespie, is now in its fifth year of operation and will run a congruent curriculum, supporting entrepreneurs developing innovation across all asset classes of the commercial sector.
Rents to rise because of falling house prices, property expert warns
FALLING house prices will push up rents due to a “perfect storm” in the property market, a leading expert has warned.
Jonathan Rolande, director of House Buy Fast, told GB News: “It’s a very strange market out there at the moment.
“We’re seeing results yesterday from Halifax which say that prices have dropped around 2.5%, knocking about £5,000 off the average house price in just a month.
“What we’re seeing is a kind of perfect storm for the property market. And surprisingly, it’s to do with rental and sales prices because, of course, they’re very closely intertwined.
“Landlords keep an eye on property prices, not just the rent that they’re receiving, but also the amount that their property value is going up or down, and actually that’s where most landlords make their money.
“It’s not from the £100 pounds profit a month that they might be getting on the rent. It’s actually from the capital growth.
“If that starts to disappear, and not grow, or worse, still be eroded, they’re going to be quitting the market, putting the market means there’s a smaller supply of property. And that will lead to an increase in rents.”
He told Isabel Webster and Andrew Pierce: “The Kwarteng Budget was really the catalyst for all of this.
“We saw rates rise so rapidly, well over 6% for a five-year fixed rate. It has now come down to just under six, perhaps 5.9% but compare that to a year ago and it was half the price.
“What it’s done is to take buying power away from purchasers of property, be they’ve owner occupiers or investors. So the investor market is actually now putting the market we’re seeing
“My company, House Buy Fast, we’re seeing huge amounts of inquiries from landlords. We had very few in the early part of this year or in the last 10 years.”
Mr Rolande told GB News: “Frankly, people have hung on to properties, but now they’re exiting and it’s not just that prices are falling. Landlords have been hit by the increase in mortgages, so that’s eroded their profit, there have been tax changes that have hit them hard in the wallet.
“They’re also suffering with increased maintenance costs, if you think they must pay for boiler like all of us in homes, boiler repairs, roof repairs and managing agents fees and so on. All of those things have been hit by inflation.
“We’ve seen huge inflation in the property building sector. Labour and materials have increased partly due to COVID supply and demand, so they’re being hit in every way.
“And of course, if they’re looking at the value of their property and that’s producing, they’re just going to think ‘why am I bothering’ and they are going to sell.”
If you have a view – please let us all know by emailing me at editor@estateagentnetworking.co.uk – Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X
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