» Investment Private Rented Sector Update

Tendering, New Business & Austerity

May 15, 2012 by Neil Young Leave a Comment

: Francois Hollande

David Cameron is currently being bashed for focusing too much on austerity and not enough on growth.

Francois Hollande, the new French President, came to power with a promise to focus more on growth than austerity.

FTSE 100 companies are being criticised for hording cash and not investing for future growth.

There is a clear theme here, do you cost-cut, sit tight, and hope all is well. Or, try and grow your way out of an economic slowdown? Read more of this post

Filed under Finance, Investment Tagged with austerity, finance, new business, Private Rented Sector, property, prs, real estate, tendering, young group, young london

Environmentally Friendly Self Build

May 11, 2012 by Neil Young 1 Comment

: An Environmentally Sustainable Home from Baufritz

How serious are we about the environment?

The general comment is we must look after the planet, and therefore be as ‘green’ as possible. In the recent London Mayoral election the Green Party came third, ahead of the Liberal Democrats. Before the credit crunch, green issues were at the top of the development agenda, these days it seems to be further down the list. The government’s Green Deal is trying to move it back up the agenda once more – let’s see.

Sustainability used to be associated with environmental issues (just look at the language relating to the Olympic Park), but now it seems more about the financial sustainability of a business. Read more of this post

Filed under Investment, Research Tagged with Baufritz, build, building, construction, environmentally friendly, Grand Designs, home, huf haus, london, Private Rented Sector, property, self build, sustainable

Olympian Broadband for Stratford’s East Village

May 10, 2012 by Michael Oakes 1 Comment

High Speed FTTP Broadband

Infrastructure’s not just about roads and rail links these days. Equally important, especially to businesses and residents, is telecoms infrastructure.

With the Olympic countdown continuing, we take a quick look at the legacy that the herculean telecoms infrastructure project will leave to the future residents of Stratford’s East Village.

During the Games BT, the official communications partner, will be running a high speed broadband and wireless network across 94 locations expected to handle four times the amount of traffic as during the Beijing Games. Read more of this post

Filed under Asset Management, Investment Tagged with buy-to-let, east village, home, infrastructure, investment, olympics, Private Rented Sector, property, real estate, regeneration, stratford

Don’t Play the Games

March 5, 2012 by David Mackenzie 1 Comment

Last year, I wrote an article looking at the pros and cons of letting property for the short term with an eye to maximising rental income from the Olympics. At that time, a year ahead of the Games, I cautioned against trying to ‘cash in’ by highlighting the practicalities involved:

• Potential voids
• High agency fees for short term lets
• High turnover of tenancies (typically 3-4 nights at a time)
• Local authority short–term letting restrictions and licensing
• Leasehold restrictions on short –term lets at apartment buildings
• Potential for a glut of property coming back to the market post-Games

My recommendation was to think very long and hard before turning away from the security of an incumbent long-term tenancy as the pros looked distinctly outweighed by the cons.

But add to this the fact that demand for short term ‘Olympic’ rents is yet to materialise and it seems even more prudent to steer well clear.

Our philosophy is to always look at the big picture and to take a long term view of your property assets and associated returns; after all, property investment isn’t a game.

Filed under Asset Management, Investment Tagged with 2012, business, finance, investment, lettings, london, money, olympics, property, real estate, rent

Number of B2L Deals Doubles in Two Years

February 1, 2012 by Michael Oakes 1 Comment

Now, call me a cynic, but as soon as this headline popped into my inbox this morning (courtesy of Mortgage Strategy), I thought: ‘fair enough, but what impact has that actually had on lending?’

A couple of minutes on Google revealed the answer: Not a huge amount. Latest stats from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that the amount of buy-to-let lending (both by value and volume) has by no means shot-up over the last two years. Read more of this post

Filed under Investment Tagged with buy-to-let, finance, investment, property, real estate, statistics

1 in 5 Landlords Bought Additional Rental Property in 2011

January 25, 2012 by Michael Oakes 1 Comment

click above to download the full report (PDF)

The latest Young Index report of Private Rented Sector (PRS) sentiment shows that 19.1% of landlords added additional residential property assets to their portfolios during 2011. The activity was driven by strong positive expectations for both capital growth and income returns for the year ahead.

London clearly leads the way with 85.1% of respondents expecting rents in the capital to continue to rise throughout 2012 and a full 100% of landlords predict that property values in London will be at current levels or higher by the end of the year.

Interest rates are widely expected to remain low. 58.3% of landlords expect the Bank of England base rate to remain static throughout 2012. Of those who do see a rise on the horizon, their average prediction for Q4 2012 is less than half a percentage point higher than the current all time low of 0.5%, at 0.78%.

Undoubtedly, current low costs of finance represent a short term fillip but landlords clearly see the Private Rented Sector as a long term investment class. Data from Young Index Q4 2011 show that 36.9% of landlords intend to hold their property until 2031. The average future hold period across all respondents was 15.4 years. You can read the full Young Index report here.

Filed under Investment Tagged with Bank of England, business, finance, investment, landlord, money, prs, research, tenant

The PRS in Numbers: Q4 2011

January 18, 2012 by Neil Young 2 Comments

figure 1.

The latest Young Index research reveals the starkest difference in sentiment between London and the rest of the UK since the sentiment survey began in 2007 (fig. 1).

For the first time, a full 100% of active investors expect that capital values in the capital will rise or remain static throughout 2012 (an increase of 21.3 percentage points on Q3). Contrast this with the sentiment for UK property outside London: only 30.4% of respondents express a positive expectation for capital growth. Read more of this post

Filed under Investment Tagged with finance, investment, money, property, prs, real estate, statistics, work, young index

Leverage, Gearing and Debt

January 9, 2012 by David Mackenzie Leave a Comment

‘Leverage’, ‘gearing’ and ‘debt’. The terms may sound a bit esoteric but all essentially mean the same thing; borrowing money to buy an asset.

The person on the street typically uses leverage to buy property. Providing you have a cash deposit, banks will look at your employment/income and creditworthiness and can lend against this simple premise.

Debt can be considered a ‘bad’ thing to have. Generally homeowners look to pay off their mortgage, typically over a 25 year period, in order that they have an unencumbered (owned outright) property later in life. That is understandable and commendable for anyone purchasing a family home. Read more of this post

Filed under Investment Tagged with debt, finance, gearing, investment, leverage, money, property, real estate

Why Hold Residential Property?

January 5, 2012 by Neil Young 1 Comment

A question we are asked at Young Group quite often is:

“Should I hold my residential property investment(s) or should I sell?”

As with many questions I am asked regarding property and investing, I look at it from a personal perspective. I have my own property portfolio, so what is my personal approach? I have said and written many times, my belief is to hold property for the long term. Trading property is one thing, however, much research has shown that the best returns come from holding property. My blog post explored this topic. Read more of this post

Filed under Investment Tagged with finance, home, house, investment, money, property, real estate

10 Things to Consider Before You Invest in Property

October 28, 2011 by Mauro Cecchi 3 Comments

A third of landlords are looking to invest within London over the coming 12 months and despite a lack of large scale residential development taking place, there are still solid investment opportunities for private investors in the Private Rented Sector (PRS). The trick is to cherry pick and buy well.

So what’s the key to successful investment in residential property? Here are my top tips for a sound investment. Read more of this post

Filed under Investment Tagged with business, investment, life, location, london, property, research, success, tips, work