Archive for March, 2010

A new legislation regarding Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) has raised many concerns among landlords. According to the new legislation, landlords would be required to procure planning permission, if they purchase any property that they would be letting out for rent to three or more tenants.

According to a recent research conducted by PropertyEarth.net, 57% of the search for property is for three-bedroom houses, while 21% is for two-bedroom houses. Fifteen percent of the search is for four-bedroom houses.

Responding to this research data, Alan Ward, Chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, said, “First of all it is totally impractical and secondly, it is social engineering because planning law has never been about who can live where – it is always about the use of the building.”

The Residential Landlords Association is left with the feeling that its worst fear has been realised, when the new legislation was passed.

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Recession? What recession? It has been reported that a humble barn in the Cotswolds recently defied the downward trend in the property market when it doubled its estimate at a property auction.

Long Furlong Barn, near Duntisbourne, was auctioned off at Stratton House Hotel last week and sold for a recession-busting £900,000.

The estate agent even described the bidding for the 3,000 square foot traditional stone-built barn, as “frenzied”.

It’s hardly a bargain buy as the property requires extra funding for conversions of more than £600,000 due to the exclusion of mains, electricity, telephone and heating fuel supplies.

Planning permission comes with the property to enable the buyer to convert the barn into a two-storey, three-bedroom house with adjoining single bedroom annex in the cart shed.

Living up to the reputation of the ever-optimistic estate agent, auctioneer Mark Hill, from Moore Allen and Innocent, said: “It is approached over a half mile-long driveway with outstanding views in all directions. The barn itself is situated in a shallow hollow, which provides considerable privacy, but from where there is a glorious outlook.”

He added: “I have seen much bigger barns in similar locations go for less money at the top of the market. To achieve this sum during a recession is incredible. I’m delighted.”

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Recently UK businessmen have been given the right to appeal to the banks if their loan application had been rejected. This has generated a lot of discussion among UK authorities.

Banks in the UK have been rejecting many bank loans for businesses, especially if they were for larger amounts. Businesses that had stellar credit records were also rejected. Thanks to this new development, many UK businessmen are obtaining loans after appealing to the banks again.

Authorities in the UK feel that it is a matter of time before people start questioning the government’s interference in obtaining loans that have been rejected.

With the election approaching, the present government is basically trying to woo the small, medium and large businessmen by giving them the right to appeal. But it looks like this might cause more problems for the government than offer a solution. The authorities fear that UK consumers too will soon start demanding the right to appeal to the banks if their loan is rejected.

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The recently released Industrial and Distribution report, by Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH), has revealed shortages of new built stock in large buildings in South England and mid size market across UK. According to the report, during the second half of 2010, there will be an increase in the speculative development.

Commenting about the report, Steve Williams, Head of LSH’s Industrial and Logistics Division, said: “In certain areas, speculative development will return earlier than expected but only on a restricted basis, and development completions are not expected to outstrip demand.”
The report also brought out the fact that during the second half of last year, industrial occupational market became stronger. This upped the total take up to an increase of 10% over the previous year.

Steve Williams further commented that though the industrial sector has shown some real improvements, there is an oversupply of second-hand space in the market. Along with the new space, there is totally an availability of 320m sq ft, an increase of 22% on the end 2008 level.

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The US IV Fund, which was Invesco’s first US Real Estate Fund, closed on February 18, with a starting capital of $120m. Totally four institutional investors invested in this fund, of which two lead investors were from MEAG Munich ERGO Asset Management (MEAG).

With this investment, Invesco Real Estate has a spending capacity of US$275m. The company is planning a second closing during the second half of 2010, so as to achieve the target volume of US$500m.

US IV Fund is one of the four tactical US Funds that have been floated to invest the European institutional capital into the US Real Estate market. As with the other three funds, US IV Funds will have 100% allocation in US, focusing on the traditional sectors of Real Estate including retail, office and industrial. With a three-year investment phase, the US IV Funds will have a planned lifespan of 10 years.

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