Somebody recently told me (not for the first time), that it’s hard to find good women in property to present at events. It just so happens that I’ve had some amazing women on my podcast recently including: Jessica Pilz, Head of Sustainable Investing at £90bn asset manager, Fiera Capital Emma Long, Head of Business Strategy, Legal & General Investment Management  Sadie Malim, Head of ESG and Legal at Moorfield  Alex Notay, Director at the leading socially conscious UK fund manager, Thriving Investments,  Polly Ogden DUffy, Managing Director at John D Wood & Co Imogen Ebb ..read more

Thanks to The Intermediary, This is Money and The Guardian for sharing my thoughts on the latest house price data. House prices fell 1.8% in the last year. The ‘problem’ for many is that house prices are highly emotive. A 1.8% nominal house price fall (which of course reflects a much higher real fall) is expected and deliberate.  Firstly, higher interest rates are designed to reduce demand and therefore the rate of price increases. Secondly, higher interest rates have a stronger impact on ‘affordability’ than house prices themselves do. So, the plan of higher interest rates is working as ..read more

Double whammy of data today on house prices and rental prices. Firstly, and from a social perspective most importantly: average private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK officially rose by 6.2% in the year to November 2023.  This statistic under-estimates the reality many renters face, in particular the 1 in 4 who move each year, as rental price increases for new tenancies are often at least double this figure. The only way to tackle the problems a whole generation, ‘Generation Rent’ are facing is to invest in our Private Rental Sector.  It is critical that the volume and qual ..read more

The number of landlords in mortgage arrears has doubled since last year. Professional institutions have a duty and an opportunity to step in to provide safe, affordable, sustainable homes, without which the severe shortage of quality rental homes in the UK will only get worse. Please reach out if you are allocating institutional capital to residential, very happy to discuss. Anna@GreenResi.com www.GreenResi.com Read the full BBC News article here The post Anna responds to BBC article about sharp uptick in mortgage arrears appeared first on Anna Clare Harper ..read more

The Times shared Anna’s thoughts on what to do in the current housing market. The context is: 1. Transactions have fallen 17% annually and 2. The gap between asking prices and offers that are accepted is growing. For sellers – dropping prices sooner makes sense. For investors like those we are working with now – in the context of widening ‘bid-ask spread’ there are good deals to be had. We are looking at on- and off-market deals for clients and believe it’s more important than ever to know what you are buying (or holding) for (e.g. long term, professional rental portfolio), then use that goal ..read more

A couple of weeks ago, Anna chatted to BBC 5 Live about a recent housing news story. In this story, unfortunate residents at a housing development were forced to take legal action when developers failed to deliver legally agreed amenities. The story made it to Labour Party conference speeches. There are some important wider issues which were discussed, in addition to the obvious: that legal agreements should be stuck to. Two particular concerns are: 1. The politicisation of housing. Over-promising and short termism from all parties. 2. Higher costs and slower pace of development. This is maki ..read more

Softer pricing is unsurprising as higher interest rates have a much larger impact on affordability than asking prices. 2022 pricing levels, which were buoyed up artificially by policies such as Stamp Duty Land Tax reductions and very low interest rates, are no longer achievable. However, unlike commercial property such as offices, which in many cases have fallen in value by 20-30%, it’s unlikely that we experience a full house price crash. Firstly, this is due to the ‘necessity’ of housing. We all need a roof over our heads. Secondly, a large proportion of the market, 8.8 million (36%) homes ..read more

It will be a relief to the two million households with mortgages on variable rates, or with their fixed rates coming to an end by the end of this year that base rates have been held this month. However, we are not yet ‘out of the woods’. Inflation remains high, meaning that base rates are likely to rise further in 2023. We can expect to see many property owners with now higher monthly interest payments selling. Investors we work with are currently buying properties at up to 30% below peak 2022 house prices, though it is worth noting that peak values reflected a mini-bubble from reduced SDLT c ..read more

The big news from last week was the scrapping of proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards of EPC C+ for properties to be legally rented out from 2025/8. Rowbacks never look graceful, but in fact, this one makes a lot of sense. Anna joined Rod Turner on his podcast to talk about the scrapping of planned MEES, with topics including: Why scrapping planned MEES is likely to be positive for the Private Rental Sector, its renters and the environment Why our clients, institutional investors, were and are self-regulating, and targeting better than the ex-proposed minimum EPC of C What other poli ..read more

FT Adviser published Anna’s piece on ‘Why institutional investors are eyeing the UK’s Private Rental Sector.’ We are working with forward-thinking institutions/investment managers to address the challenges of retrofitting rental stock in a way that is commercially viable and environmentally beneficial, described in this article. Watch this space, and please get in touch if you are an investor: With an existing residential portfolio £1bn+ likely to need reviewing/upgrading Planning to invest £50m+ in UK residential, 2023-24. Read the full article here The post Anna Clare Harper writes for FT ..read more