Brexit is dominating the national debate in the UK at the moment, and more often than not the discussion around this thorny issue has taken on a negative tone. There is a lot of insecurity about what leaving the EU could mean for British businesses and the economy, and understandably so, particularly when the terms of the withdrawal are yet to be finalised. As far as real estate investment is concerned, there are questions being asked about what Brexit will mean for the property market. It’s true that there is a degree of uncertainty on this front, but looking at some of the sector’s core trends and recent track record, there is also a strong case for investors to feel optimistic. Here are some of the main reasons why…   Strength of demand For buy-to-let investors, tenant demand is a critical deciding factor in the success of their investment, since it fuels regular rental yields and minimises the risk of property void periods. Various factors have contributed to rising demand for housing on the private rental market in recent years, including the growing student population. Britain’s higher education institutions traditionally hold powerful appeal for people in the UK and further afield, and this remained the case in 2018, regardless of the country’s impending departure from the EU, according to UCAS figures. In thriving university cities such as Liverpool and Newcastle, student accommodation has proven itself to be a lucrative asset class, and this is a trend that shows no signs of abating in the years to come. Looking beyond the student segment, the private rental market as a whole is witnessing growing demand from tenants. One of the main reasons for this is the demand/supply imbalance, with the delivery of housing failing to keep up with the number of people […]

Buy to let student property Trends in the UK Buy-to-let student property market have offered a number of reasons for investors to be cheerful this year, according to CBRE’s newly-launched Student Accommodation Index. The real estate services firm highlighted a number of positive trends in research covering the year to September 2018. During this period, capital values increased by 6.5 per cent year-on-year. This marks a big improvement from the annual growth of 4.5 per cent recorded in the 12 months to September last year. For investors, this is clearly a positive pattern, as is the recent increase in rents, which showed a three per cent gross increase and 3.4 per cent net growth in the latest surveyed period. On a national level, annual total returns were 12.3 per cent during the year to September 2018. Buy-to-let student property is now a readily available asset class that offers investors reliable rental returns. CBRE’s research also examined regional trends, with locations outside central London delivering total returns of 10.5 per cent and capital growth of 4.5 per cent. Other findings showed that small (fewer than 250 beds) and medium (250-500 beds) properties provided capital growth of 5.8 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively, fuelling total returns of 11.6 per cent and 12.2 per cent respectively. Jo Winchester, head of student accommodation at CBRE, said: “This first published Student Accommodation Index demonstrates the continued strong performance of the sector, which has outperformed the CBRE Monthly Index over the last eight years. “UK student accommodation is now firmly established as a mainstream investment sector.” For investors looking for the best place to invest in student accommodation, Experience Invest is currently offering a number of opportunities for investors interested in this lucrative asset class, such as Opto Student Newcastle and Aura Student Liverpool. […]

  The decision of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to raise the base rate by 0.25 per cent this month may not seem like a very drastic move, but in its historical context the decision has been widely seen as highly significant. Although it is true that the cut from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent during the panic that followed the 2016 EU referendum was reversed a few months later, the increase to 0.75 per cent has a wider significance. It has been described as the first “real increase” since 2007, with the MPC’s minutes hinting that this is the start of a process, albeit probably a slow one, of moving the base rate back towards something that might be considered historically normal. Interest rates and inflation Here Experience Invest looks at how the change in interest rates may impact property investors. In its minutes, the MPC revealed that the vote was unanimous and signalled its intention to take further action to curb inflation. It said: “The Committee also judges that, were the economy to continue to develop broadly in line with its Inflation Report projections, an ongoing tightening of monetary policy over the forecast period would be appropriate to return inflation sustainably to the two per cent target at a conventional horizon. “Any future increases in bank rate are likely to be at a gradual pace and to a limited extent.” Investors thinking about how the increased cost of mortgages might impact them need to weigh up two key facts. Firstly, the clearly stated intention of the MPC is to bring the base rate upwards, essentially acknowledging that normalisation is required to prevent inflation from continuing to exceed the target rate. However, the pace is bound to be slow, not just because the MPC […]