2012 has been a year of ups and downs for the UK property market. Though it started glumly at the end of 2011, we know that every cloud has a silver lining. Despite the gradual start, the property market has grown from strength to strength as it draws on the secure rental sector and the Government’s initiatives to boost capital investment so as to address the growing housing crisis. Here’s a round-up of what is likely to happen in the UK housing market for the rest of 2012.

An Olympian Effort

Everyone knew that the up-coming Olympics would have a significant effect on the capital’s growth, but nobody realised how it would affect the surrounding areas – even as far as Cardiff, Wales. Rental properties have sky-rocketed in asking values are set to show real gains over the Olympic period as the UK fills up with Olympic fans, athletes and media in the various Olympic Villages across the nation. This has made a significant impact on the property development market and has shown considerable effect on the rental market too; especially as properties in and around London are set to fetch around 500% their value for the Olympics period.

Times are a-changing

Last year the mortgage lending figures dropped by 3%. Buy to let landlords reaped the benefits of a housing market in crisis and snapped up properties to enjoy guaranteed rental income that has been significantly higher than in previous years. This year, however, the mortage lending figures of February 2012 show an increase of 28% compared to the same month in the previous year which shows a significant growth and huge potential.

As foreign interest in local properties grows, thanks to government initiatives to generate attractive transfer and finance policies, the market is set to gain considerable foot-holds as it increases in value and stabilises in the months after the Olympics. Plus, with the local authority self-financing regime set in place from April 1, the government aims to actively encourage stock transfers which offer good value for money as well as leverage for increased or additional investment.

Strike While the Iron is Hot

There’s no guarantee that the market will boom but experts are confident that the significant rise in the early months of 2012 is a great sign of things to come for the latter months of this year. In addition to an increase in existing property transfers and transactions, green properties and new developments are set to provide capital investments and certain subsidies to give the house market a helping hand.

If you’re looking to invest, look slightly afield as property prices can be considerably more affordable just outside of your desired location. For example, student houses in Birmingham are often in Selly Oak, but you can find student houses in other parts of the city and often at a fraction of the cost of popular student areas. Thanks to improved transport links and significant roadwork initiatives, it’s getting easier for Britons to live further afield for better rental or mortgage repayments on lower-valued properties that are set to become more valuable as the market steadies.

Hello!

We just wanted to let you know about our Easter break opening hours.

Please note that our offices are currently closed until Monday 16th April due to the Easter break and office refurbishments.

Our Birmingham office will have a skeleton team from Tuesday 10th – Friday 13th and will be handling calls and emails for all our offices. We aim to get back to you as soon as possible but there may be a slight delay, thank you for your patience.

Happy Easter to everyone.

The purple frog team.

All systems are go!

Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

As of 11th March 2012 it is now necessary to obtain planning permission to convert a family dwelling (Use Class C3) to a HMO with between 3 and 6 unrelated people sharing (Use Class C4) throughout the whole of the Nottingham City Council area. Planning permission is already required for properties shared by 7 or more unrelated people. 

The new rules should certainly not put off potential investors looking to purchase those properties that already have the correct usage, but care should be taken when purchasing to ensure the type of usage the property already has permission for.

For the full Nottingham City Council press release please see the link below:
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=13867

After speaking to Nottingham City Council the decision to amend policy has been brought forward in order to speed up their Balanaced Communities initiative.

Local landlords and property organisations are objecting and we’d be interested to hear what you have to say. We can pass any comments on to the relevant parties too if requested.

Very few people expected University applications to rise after the government enabled institutions across England to increase their fees three fold but is it something for student property investors to worry about? We appreciate that this is a concern for you, the landlords.

A lot of the media hype over the previous months would have you think so. However, if the figures are examined with a little more detail it doesn’t seem as dismal as the headlines may first lead us to believe.

The headline drop in applications is 7.4%; but if you bear in mind that a record number of applicants, 379,411, were accepted into University in 2011 and there have been 540,073 applicants so far in 2012 and an expected 648,349, it’s hard to believe that many University places will not be filled for the next academic year (source UCAS press release January 2012).

It’s also worth noting that those A-Level students receiving their results in the summer of 2010 were far less likely to defer entry to University to take a gap year in order to benefit from the lower tuition fees, therefore skewing both the 2010 and 2011 figures. A similar blip was seen in 2006 when fees were last allowed to increase by the Labour Government; there was a 3% drop in home UK applications followed by an upswing of 5% the following year. Although the increase in fees is more significant this time around there is no reason to believe that the trend will not follow.

We understand that there is concern for individual institutions who have seen more significant drops in applications; in the cities we operate in (Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham), the more significant drops in applications have been for the new universities such as Nottingham Trent University with a 17% drop or The University of West of England with a 13% drop; it’s clear that the fee hike has created more competition amongst the institutions but with application rates still substantially higher than the number of places available it doesn’t seem likely that the number of accepted places will fall.

There are concerns that students may want to pay lower rents due to the increased cost of attending University however there is no evidence of this happening during the previous fee structure overhaul in 2006 and for most students the money they will have in their pockets when they are looking for properties will be the same, if not higher.

Landlords and property investors can take comfort in the knowledge that Universities across England have stated that they anticipate the number of overseas students applying to increase by an average of 3-6%, with some even stating they see income from this group to go up by 100% by 2013-14 (source: CBRE 2011 Q4 Student Sector Review).

What is clear is that student accommodation currently continues to deliver strong returns compared to other mainstream asset classes. With the increased cost to attend university and likely transformation of student mindset to consumer mindset, well-informed providers of high quality, good value student accommodation will still have great opportunities to expand their business in coming years.

For landlords we’re not already working we offer a consultancy service which starts with a free market appraisal to let you know where we think your property sits in the current market and for the future. If you’d like to talk to us about this please get in touch and ask for either Greg or Patrick.

As of Jan 2013 a gas engineer must be able to see all of the flue (like the exhaust pipe) for a boiler to make sure it’s not leaking. If this is hidden in any cavity walls etc an access hatch must be installed.

If the engineer attends and there isn’t a hatch there they will have to shut the boiler off until a hatch has been fitted which may take a few days.

To make sure we don’t have any tenants without boilers for a number of days its best that we find out if this will be a problem before it comes to renewing the certs in 2013; as such, the plan is as follows:
ALL gas engineers doing inspections this year will be asked to inspect for this new regulation and report back to us to advise if any work will be required; this means we’ll have plenty of time to get access hatches installed if required.

For more information directly from Gas Safe, click here.

Pancake day give-away…

To celebrate Shrove Tuesday we’re giving away two cinema tickets for the funniest or most impressive pancake tossing video or photo uploaded to our Facebook page or Tweeted to us (don’t forget to @ tag yourself and purple frog!).

Good luck!

Here’s some inspiration…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MelTLUnXdnY

Happy Valentines!

Today we’re going to give away a box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates to the cheesiest line we hear.

All you need to do is ether tweet us or write on our Facebook wall with the line you’ve been told or delivered in a card/text/email etc.

The winner will be voted by the team in the office at the end of the day today!

XXX

Christmas opening hours

Please note that all our offices will close at 5.30pm on Thursday 22nd December and will re-open 9am on Tuesday 3rd January. Voicemail and email will be checked periodically during this time but all non-urgent enquiries will be dealt with upon our return from the Christmas break.

Our emergency team and protocols will be in place as usual, contact details are available using the ‘Emergencies’ link on our contact us page.

Until then we’re open as normal and doing viewings up until the end of the day on 22nd December.

We’re currently looking for some part time team members to help us in Birmingham, Bristol and Nottingham.

For full details and information on how to apply please visit:

www.purplefrogproperty.com/jobs

You’ll have to be quick, the application deadline is looking!