Regents do not do rentals. We prefer to put all our experience and expertise into residential sales and mortgages. Hence the registered name Regents Estates and Mortgages. REM as we still get called by many.
Did you know there are now 4 million people renting in Britain than before?
So the most heated property market I have ever worked within is not caused by less people renting and much more home ownership in relation to tenants.
The most important factor from year 2000 to the collapse in 2008 was caused by buy to let investors. Fuelling a market many believed would never end. Having worked in all markets I suspected it would and wrote an article warning caution. I didn’t predict the end just worried it might.
Last century property collapses were caused by a range of factors. An interest rate over 13% and economic recession.
The abiding conclusion however must be WE HAVE NEVER BUILT ENOUGH HOMES. It must explain why a property market in turmoil always recovers.
I mention this for very good reason. Economic warnings are now coming daily. Interest rates are increasing at almost every opportunity. Inflation figures are predicted at previously unthinkable rates, then met and exceeded. Articles are written about how investors make money. Buy cheap, sell high. Has there been a higher market? But buy we do.
The overriding factor remains a desperately small supply for whatever demand we have. Put into the mix the empty nest syndrome. Parents left with homes too large for their needs. Why shouldn’t vendors take advantage of the “once in a lifetime prices they will get now”. Ten per cent of 300k is obviously more that 10% if 100k. So trade down and prosper!
So agents launch properties to unprecedented demand. Not always the exaggerated figures talked about. Because we all like to discuss the exceptions. The 100k over asking price homes.
But to return to the question in the blog title, unless a substantial number of homes are presented to the market at the same time, I, like many others, cannot see an end to current “heated” conditions.
Gary