UK property market coronavirus impact advice, COVID-19 real estate 2020 guide

UK property market coronavirus impact News

30 March 2020
Impact of COVID-19 on the UK Property Market

Twenty7Tec Issues Weekly Mortgage Stats for UK properties

Mortgage market statistics for week ending Saturday 28 March:

Stats from the mortgage market from Friday 27 March 2020

The volume of searches on Friday 27 March was
• down 19.86% on the previous day
• down 31.93% on the same day last week
• Down 33.71% on the same day two weeks ago

The volume of documents prepared on Friday 27 March was
• down 17.19% on the previous day
• down 20.09% on the same day last week
• down 19.34% on the same day two weeks ago

The total value of loans documented on Friday 27 March was
• down 16.26% on the previous day
• down 25.24 % on the same day last week
• down 21.75% on the same day two weeks ago.
• The lowest weekday daily value this month

On Friday, the purchase/remortgage split (which is normally 55:45 purchase or higher) was 39.5/60.5 purchase to remortgage.

Stats from the mortgage market from Saturday 28 March 2020

The volume of searches in week ending Saturday 28 March was
• down 23.78% on the previous week
• down 30.95% on two weeks ago

The volume of documents in week ending Saturday 28 March was
• down 15.40% on the previous week
• down 20.35% on two weeks ago

The total value of loans in week ending Saturday 28 March was
• down 15.90% on the previous week
• down 21.09% on two weeks ago

The bottom four performing individual weekdays this month were Tues-Fri last week.

Commentary

James Tucker, CEO of mortgage technology provider Twenty7Tec says:

“It’s hard to believe that only two weeks ago was the best performing week of the year to date for mortgage searches and now we have had the worst-performing week year to date.

“The market figures are in the red despite the best efforts of brokers, lenders and the Treasury. There’s still activity in the market and we expect remortgage volumes to hold up well or even rise as more and more people seek to release equity.

“The purchase market is going to be reliant on existing valuations, vacant properties, and new builds with desk valuations. We’ve begun to see some innovation in this area, but there’s a sense in the market that purchase hasn’t bottomed out yet.

“I’m struck by the conversations I have had about how hard brokers are working for their clients over the past few days. That spirit and a willingness to do things differently over coming weeks is going to be key to our industry’s success.

“One thing I am proud of in terms of our own performance is the speed with which our team has processed product changes. Brokers can be confident that they are querying the very latest data, every minute of every day. That accuracy and confidence is always essential for brokers to deliver exceptional client service to their clients.”

UK property market coronavirus impact – COVID-19

30 Mar 2020
Ensuring Healthy Working During COVID-19 Pandemic

Healthy Working During Coronavirus Crisis

27 Mar 2020
Impact of COVID-19 on the London Property Market

Article by Jazmin Atkins, Director at Atkins Property Search:

After years of Brexit uncertainty, the market exploded with activity after the election, only to be struck by Coronavirus. According to the NAEA, the number of property viewings tumbled by more than 50% in the last two weeks. Sellers are closing their doors, reluctant to let potential buyers in. One London agent states that 17% and rising, of sales, have fallen through. It seems too soon to tell what the effect on values will be.

The government is introducing new measures on a daily basis trying to control the upward surge of cases. The stock market is taking a battering whilst businesses old and new need this like a hole in the head.

Schools are closing, people are working remotely and it’s a matter of time before we follow other countries and lockdown.

Professor Yolanda Barnes of UCL’s Bartlett Real Estate Institute predicts “The demand for homes will probably fall and house-builders will probably cut their output in response”.

The Sentiment is weak despite efforts to mitigate by the Bank of England’s rate cut, the Chancellors £30 billion-plus injection into the economy and legislation to get landlords and mortgage companies to allow three-month arrears in payment.

Is there a silver lining to this? Lucian Cook of Savills Research states that “All this points to a hiatus in the housing market, without necessarily affecting longer-term prospects” and points out that Savills stand by their five-year forecast.

Mortgage debt will remain cheap for longer, whilst prime London properties might present better value, especially for dollar buyers. When Coronavirus begins to disappear, potential investors might recognise good value and after suffering heavy losses on the stock market, will feel confident investing in a more solid asset class. This pattern of investor behaviour was evident after SARS and Swine Flu, when investors weighed back into property as a safe place to park their wealth and realise sure and slow growth.

How would the Coronavirus impact on the market in the longer term? Yolanda Barnes thinks that certainly there will be “an acceleration of trends which are already in train” one of which is working from home. As more self-isolate, people might appreciate that home working improves productivity, levels out the work/life balance and reduces the need to live near their place of work. Would people think more carefully about living in highly dense and contagious cities and opt for greener spaces?

We are living in extraordinary times and as Churchill said during WWII we must Keep Buggering On.

Keep safe and sane, especially to those isolating and to parents who have turned into teachers overnight and homeschooling for the weeks to come.

Jazmin Atkins, Atkins Property Search

COVID-19 Impacts on Office Working – WFH

25 Mar 2020
Smart Cities response to COVID-19

SCSP 008: Smart Cities response to COVID-19 with Smart Cities Council’s Philip Bane

In these tumultuous times where residents can feel unsafe, confused, and uncertain, the capabilities of the smart cities sector can come as a relief to cities around the planet – but how do we get there? And what are the challenges in the way?

The US-based Smart Cities Council has launched a free COVID-19 mitigation tool for city planners to access, take inspiration from, or produce for their own city action plan to bring all of a city’s resources under one platform:

Smart Cities response to COVID-19 – pod-cast

25 Mar 2020
COVID-19 & work from home policy

Given the situation relating to Coronavirus, many businesses are now adopting a work from home policy.

And for a lot of people, this is their first experience of remote working or they are finding the provision they had is either not secure or adequate.

e-architect bring you news of a webinar this Thursday 26th March at 1pm on ‘The What, Why and How of Remote Working’, run by Grant McGregor.

You can join them for half an hour and a quick overview of what your business needs to consider and to find out about some of the tools available to keep your teams productive.

Registration below:

The What, Why and How of Remote Working

25 Mar 2020
BDA Response to Government Coronavirus Advice

As a result of the Prime Minister’s instruction that only ‘essential’ services be kept open for business, individual brick manufacturers across the UK are responding quickly to ensure manufacturing facilities are temporarily closed in a safe and orderly manner.

Appropriate safeguarding measures, including the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and appropriate social and work related distancing protocols, are already in place across UK brick manufacturing facilities.

However, since the manufacture of clay brick cannot be considered an ‘essential’ service, individual manufacturers, the BDA is advised, are beginning to cease production across their respective factories whilst adhering to government guidelines.

As a result, we expect clay brick deliveries to slow down and cease in the same safe and orderly manner.

BDA Chief Executive, Keith Aldis, comments “With approximately 400m bricks currently in stock in the UK, the industry has capacity to begin supplying the market again as soon as quarantine restrictions are eased.”

Further updates will be available on the BDA’s website www.brick.org.uk.

24 Mar 2020
RMJM Introduces Database for Quarantined Architects

RMJM Database for Quarantined Architects

24 Mar 2020
COVID-19 Remote Working

COVID-19 Remote Working

19 Mar 2020
Renegotiating a leasehold during the Covid-19 crisis

Virtually all businesses rent their HQ and operational premises under commercial leases. As the impact of Covid-19 becomes clearer, the question about reducing tenant leasehold liabilities is increasingly common.

Compliance with legislation, insurance policies and break clauses are just some of the points that businesses should be reviewing immediately.

Companies need to consider how to negotiate sensible solutions to the challenges posed by Covid-19.

17 Mar 2020

Coronavirus Impact on Real Estate Industry

RIBA responds to UK Government Financial Support

Tuesday 17th of March 2020 – The RIBA has responded to the Government’s latest financial measures to shore up the economy against the coronavirus impact.

16 March 2020
Coronavirus and its Impact on Real Estate Industry

Global Leaders’ Opinions on the Coronavirus Impact on Real Estate Industry

GRI Club hosted a series of online eMeetings for members to come together at such a critical time of fear and uncertainty to make sense of the impact Coronavirus could have on real estate and capital markets. Leaders discussed their opinions on how Coronavirus would impact real estate in the short and medium term. The main topics that emerged during this discussion include contingency planning, tenant analysis, lenders withholding finance and government interventions.

The Whitepaper with insight from the first eMeetings on this topic are available now here.

The gravity of this situation has generated demand for more discussion. To foster communication, GRI scheduled an additional 4 meetings with a focus on how each market will be impacted. From these sentiments, a special series of meetings will then follow drilling down into the isolated problems and opportunities per asset class, government and banking measures as well as tenant analysis.

13 March 2020

Coronavirus Impact on Global Property Market

The impact of coronavirus on the property market

Global equity markets have been hit hard by the coronavirus, which has been the catalyst for the biggest market sell off since the 2008 crash. The S&P 500 has dropped some 20% since its record highs in mid-February and the FTSE 100 is approaching its lowest level since 2012.

Property is, of course, being affected too, but the impact will vary. Companies with leisure and tourism assets, where people are expected to mix and mingle, are likely to be among the worst to suffer, while the Chancellor’s business rates one-year holiday for small, independent retailers will not be enough to spare them some commercial pain too.

Co-living, where the whole concept is shared living spaces, is also a sector that may suffer in the short term. The commercial office sector too may see valuations re-assessed as people re-think how they work, particularly if operating remotely becomes more ingrained in business life as a result of this pandemic.

Real estate sectors that may suffer least are light industrial and logistics, as goods still have to be transported and stored in bulk, and online supermarket businesses could actually benefit as consumers steer clear of their hard real estate high street counterparts. The BTR sector may also weather the coronavirus storm reasonably well, given the stock is robust, purpose-built and delivering robust yields.

The Government’s £1bn Business Interruption Loan Scheme, which will guarantee loans to small businesses hit by the coronavirus is a start, but to have a significant impact the scheme would need many more billions to make a real difference to these businesses’ commercial future.

Looking at the wider economic backdrop, the impact of the coronavirus may actually help to prompt a more consensual approach to the current Brexit trade negotiations. Italy has been badly affected, with its high-debt economy in trouble, while France too also has a high level of public debt and its economy is suffering. Germany looks faced with supporting both and this may see all three countries look for a more collaborative approach to the trade negotiations, which would be for the long-term benefit of both the equity and property markets.

coronavirus stats

About Daniel Austin

Daniel is one of the co-founders of ASK and has been originating and structuring real estate debt and equity transactions for the last 20 years, funding well in excess of £2bn.

Daniel was previously responsible for the Transaction Origination division of the structure property finance team at Investec where he worked for over 12 years. Daniel then set up Capital A Finance plc, a boutique real estate lending business which wrote over £250m of loans between 2012 and 2014. Daniel intricately understands real estate which means he can structure complex deals with unique funding packages which traditional lenders struggle to fund.

Film on YouTube

Comments on this Coronavirus Impact on Property Market article are welcome.

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SBID Product Design Awards 2020 Ceremony Postponed

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has now been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. As international travel is no longer a responsible or advisable option, the SBID Product Design Awards 2020 have been rescheduled to October.

The entry deadline has also been extended to Friday 29 May 2020 to accommodate those who have requested more time to complete their submissions under the circumstances.

Coronavirus Situation in March 2020

Latest Coronavirus Situation Update

The UK Government’s Chief Medical Advisor advised yesterday that even people with ‘minor signs’ of respiratory tract infections will be told to self-isolate. This change could happen in the next 10 to 14 days. This will have a significant impact on those reliable staff who would normally come into work, armed with paracetamol and ‘cracking on’ with their duties.

For all the latest breaking news on COVID-19 visit the UK government website page: Coronavirus (COVID-19): UK government response.

Boris Johnson has announced Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) should apply from day 1 (as opposed to day 4), for those who are self-isolating. The budget announcement yesterday promised significant support through the Coronavirus. This included a short term legislative change to SSP. SME’s will be able to reclaim SSP for 14 days in relation to coronavirus, once the COVID-19 Bill is in effect. Our recommendations to you is to look at your forecasting and to plan. Look at your budgets and see how this could potentially work in practice.

As part of this, look at your home working options. Of course, this will be difficult for more manual workers. Consider short term lay off or short term working, dependent on your contracts and policies.

The interim guidance for business and employers is in relation to health and safety:

Perform routine environmental cleaning, for example frequently touched work surfaces such as computers, desks and door handles

Emphasise the importance of hand hygiene and the etiquette for coughs and sneezes
Access visitors coming onto your site/business premises, have they visited any of the countries that are causing concern for COVID-19 or been in contact with anyone suffering from the illness?
Refer to your Business Continuity Plan – In particular what you do in the event of an outbreak in the workplace and how do you continue working

Morpholio Responds to Covid-19 to help Architects

New York – Morpholio Apps announces Today

March 13th, 2020 – Given the world’s current health crisis we understand more architects will and should be working from home. In an effort to help provide the economic relief, encourage new ways of working and meet the needs of architects as well as designers working remotely during this time, Morpholio will immediately start extending the typical Free 3 Day Trial to 1 month for Trace Pro and Board Pro. This will allow any architect or designer with an iPad or iPhone to work remotely, for free, during this month. The change will go into effect today and will be available for this week and then extended as needed.

Morpholio believes everyone should do what they can to stop the incidental spread of COVID-19 and encourage all of us to find new and creative ways of working.

https://www.morpholioapps.com/board/