BREAKING PROPERTY NEWS – 18/10/2022
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
Fine & Country expands global marketing presence
Premium estate agency, Fine & Country has partnered with ListGlobally to feature all of their UK property listings on 106 international portals worldwide. According to the brand’s Chief Marketing Officer, Emilie Despois, the partnership will support the brand’s international growth and marketing strategy, while increasing the UK network’s exposure to an international audience.
“From October 2022 our agents will have access to ListGlobally’s management system allowing them to feed their UK property listings through to a network of 106 international portals, which will expose their properties to approximately 295 million buyers across 54 countries. To ensure that as many people as possible can read the property descriptions, the information will be automatically translated into the appropriate language for the country, with the system currently supporting over 25 languages. This will provide massive exposure to listings, as well as the brand, on a worldwide level,” says Despois.
The UK property market has always attracted the interest of international buyers. An analysis from the Centre for Public Data showed a steady increase in the number of overseas buyers over the past 10 years, with 250,000 residential properties in England and Wales registered to individuals based overseas, which amounts to approximately one percent of the total housing stock. This is compared to less than 88,000 homes in 2010.
“Fine & Country already has an international presence with plans to continue global growth. We recently launched our new global website, improving customers’ experience, website performance and brand exposure around the globe. We are working on further brand exposure through international marketing, which will open further opportunities for our UK based network, while paving the way for expansion and building brand recognition in countries we currently don’t yet have an office in,” Despois concludes.
London Rallies While Prices Slide in Several Regions
The London sales market finally returns to strength while the overheated regional markets indicate more realistic pricing, according to Home.co.uk’s Asking Price Index for October.
Sterling weakness, in US dollar terms, is now making the UK capital’s property market more attractive, but the recovery has been on the cards since before the lockdowns wreaked havoc. Rapidly rising rents have brought yields back up significantly and worsening scarcity of available properties to let will ensure that the trend continues. The total stock of property for sale in the capital region is down 4.7% since October last year.
Meanwhile, stock levels are recovering after the rabid buying frenzy that drove sales agents’ portfolios down to unprecedented levels. The greatest increases in sales stock over the last twelve months are in Wales (+49%), the South West (+46%) and the East of England (+42%). The drought is now over and the inevitable rebalancing of supply and demand is underway. More cautious pricing is apparent across most English regions, Wales and Scotland, as evidenced by small dips in average prices. Panic selling appears unlikely while strong rental demand continues to support property values.
Remarkable momentum remains. Property continues to move through the marketplace at a spritely pace. The Typical Time on Market for unsold property is lower now than it has been throughout the previous four years. This important fundamental measure seems to have been completely ignored by the irresponsible doomsters in the property media. Howling and gnashing of teeth is no substitute for keen and accurate analysis. Every single region in England, Wales and Scotland indicate shorter marketing times (both median and mean) compared to October last year.
Overall, the UK market is returning to a healthier state. Market forces are bringing back balance to supply and demand that was seriously out of whack. Although interest rates have been raised in a vain attempt to curb rising prices, they are still a gift that keeps on giving when compared to inflation.
The real dark clouds on the horizon for the UK property market are further fiscal and regulatory interference in the sector by central and local government. Absurd proposals by left-leaning pressure groups like rent capping and expensive bureaucratic licensing schemes are existential dangers to the proper functioning of the Private Rented Sector and the property market. Increased taxation of landlords has already taken its toll and discourages investment when the sector needs significantly more.
Furthermore, irresponsible fiscal policy is also a threat to the housing market. The recent mini-budget presented by the new Truss cabinet was enough to trigger chaos in the UK debt markets and it required massive intervention by the Bank of England. Such a reaction by market players serves to indicate what a precarious position the UK is now in, having raised interest rates against a backdrop of massive government debt and a failing economy. The pain threshold has been reached and it’s just a matter of time before the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street realises her blunder and backtracks.
In London, rents continue to rise over and above official inflation. What began in Prime Central London with the exodus reversal is now spreading out wider towards the M25. These now high-yielding residential investment properties are looking very attractive, especially to US investors. Given the size and value of the Greater London property market, a return to growth in the sales market will support the entire UK market going forward.
The annualised mix-adjusted average asking price growth across England and Wales is now at 3.9%; in October 2021, the annualised rate of increase of home prices was 7.9%.
Headlines
- Asking prices across England and Wales have dipped for a second consecutive month (by just 0.2%), bringing the year-on-year rise to 3.9%, broadly in line with both seasonal expectations and post-boom price corrections.
- The total stock of property for sale in England and Wales ticked up yet again, affording more choice for potential buyers. Despite recent increases, the stock total is still a long way below what might be considered normal.
- Greater London is the only region where the stock of unsold property has fallen over the last twelve months (by 4.7%).
- The much-forecasted slowdown is yet to appear. The Typical Time on Market (median) for unsold property is up just two days at 67 days since last month but 13 days less than in October 2021, despite pricier mortgages. The average time on market fell two days since last month, continuing its downward trend.
- Record-high prices and a negative outlook for landlords are motivating more vendors to commit, thereby increasing the supply of new instructions. 16% more properties were placed on the market last month compared to September 2021.
- Yorkshire and Welsh property markets now lead in annualised regional price growth (+7.0% and +7.2% respectively).
- Monetary inflation remains very high at 13.9% (RPI ex. housing), making current real growth around -10% year-on-year. Moreover, despite rising mortgage costs, the real mortgage interest rate remains around -8%.
- London rents continue their skywards trajectory. Demand has decimated supply and this is driving annualised rental growth to a phenomenal 28.2%.
- Central London rents rose the fastest at first, but the current new growth leaders are the boroughs of Bexley, Hounslow and Newham (+42.6%, +39.7% and +39.1% annualised respectively).
- Correspondingly, yields across the entire capital region are vastly improving and this has not escaped the notice of investors.
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