Priced-Out Londoners invest in Birmingham’s Bargains
Property investors in London are seeking bargains in the regions, particularly Birmingham where two apartments can be bought for the price of one in the capital.
Birmingham’s profile as a property investment hotspot has increased dramatically, confirmed in a recent report by PwC and the Urban Land Institute which says the West Midlands city is set to overtake London as the most attractive city for property investment over the next 12 months.
According to Knight Frank’s Birmingham Report, there will be 18,500 new households in the city by 2019, with the rate of supply likely to fall short of demand by some 2,000 homes, which will inevitably push up prices.
Property in Birmingham has risen 8.27% in value over the past two years, according to data from Zoopla although it is still possible to buy a three-bedroom town house in the now fashionable Jewellery Quarter for around £250,000.
Major Mahil, director of Birmingham estate agents Belvoir said: ” We are finding that lots of investors from London are looking here because they’ve been priced out of the market in the capital. We’ve had people buying up blind. There’s a real feeling of buoyancy “.
Birmingham’s central location in England is fast-expanding as a transportation hub, from where you can reach almost any part of the country. The internationally famous brand John Lewis is on the verge of opening its second-biggest store in the UK above New Street Station in the City’s centre which itself has been completely revamped.
HSBC has announced its decision to build new headquarters in Birmingham City for its retail and commercial banking business, moving 1,000 jobs from London by mid-2017; Deutsche Bank is also setting up shop in the city. As the influx of retail giants and international financial institutions in the city gathers pace, demand for homes in the district is increasing exponentially.
Property investment will be further boosted by the arrival of high-speed rail HS2, set to reduce the train journey times between Birmingham and London to a mere 49 minutes. There are several reasons Birmingham is under the investor microscope in 2015 and further significant growth is anticipated.
Birmingham’s buy-to-let market has expanded on the back of improving dynamics in the City. Ray Withers, chief executive of leading property investment specialists Property Frontiers said: ” The UK’s second-tier cities such as Birmingham have created an excellent environment for buy-to-let investors. Rising prices have created the opportunity for capital growth, while the potential for healthy yields has led to the right developments selling out fast “.
With a population of 1.1 million and an average age of just over 35, Birmingham has plenty of professionals looking for rental accommodation. It is a busy, vibrant city and home to some of the UK’s leading companies, set to expand significantly as more international businesses enter Birmingham’s real estate arena in the coming years.
Birmingham is also subject to a £500m regeneration programme recently unveiled by the government – a project that includes 100,000m 2 of retail space, 1,000 new homes and a metro tramline.
First time buyers are on the rise in Birmingham, particularly in popular suburbs like Harborne. Andy Thomas of Hunters’ Harborne branch said: ” I was born and bred here and the quality of life is one of the incentives for people coming to Birmingham. If you go five miles from Harborne, you can be in lovely countryside “.
Investors from the capital have been attracted to Birmingham’s real estate largely because of price disparity presenting better opportunities for solid capital growth and high rental yields, particularly in comparison with London prices.
Daniella Willets, manager of estate agents Connells reports that 60% of flats in Birmingham City centre are being bought by London investors. ” They are finding that they can buy two flats for the price of one in London and the yields are better too, ” she said.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
Chinese Buyers’ Penchant for Australia’s Apartments Boosts Economy
According to research published by real estate company CBRE, Chinese investors have led the surge in foreign investment in residential developments, acting as a prop for Australia’s ailing economy.
In the year to April 2015, foreign capital backed 54 of the 115 inner-city development sites sold in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with Chinese developers claiming 36 of those deals.
CBRE estimates that Chinese investment in Australian real estate reached €5.3bn in the first six months of this year, which was 25% of all offshore Chinese property purchases. Australia’s share of Chinese capital flowing into global real estate markets has risen from 10% in the past two years.
Chinese-backed Aqualand are major players in Australia’s real estate sector, acquiring almost €1bn of development sites across Sydney and Perth, with the largest being its €160m purchase of three waterfront buildings, including the Seven Group’s headquarters in Sydney’s inner-city, Pyrmont.
Aqualand’s general manager Wayne Xiong said it was one of the seven projects being developed and that it combined preservation of heritage buildings on the waterfront with the opportunity for freehold purchase, offering ” something highly sought after by local buyers as well as meeting the expectations of the international market “.
Another large scale Chinese investor is Ping An Insurance, China’s second-largest insurer which is expected to commit hundreds of millions to Australia’s housing market over the next few years. The private held company, which controls the separately listed Ping An Bank is close to signing a deal with one of Australia’s biggest developers, Mirvac Group , to part-fund a luxury apartment complex in Sydney.
Enterprises owned by the Chinese state are also active in Australia. Greenland Holding Group, China’s largest state-owned real estate group, has a development portfolio in Australia worth almost €1bn.
Its largest project is Greenland Centre in Sydney’s central business district (CBD). It will be Sydney’s tallest residential tower, including 470 apartments and six penthouses over 66 levels, nearly all pre-sold. Local partner Brookfield Multiplex estimates construction will generate around 5,500 jobs, boosting the local economy significantly.
Justin Brown, executive director of residential projects for CBRE said: ” The scale they’re used to deal with is so much larger than local developers. They have an additional perspective where they’re used to delivering 10,000 to 15,000 apartments a year “.
According to Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board , Victoria is getting most of the offshore property funding, with foreign purchasers restricted to buying new properties accounting for just over 18% of all residential sales in the state, compared with 10% in New South Wales.
Senior property analyst at ANZ bank, David Cannington said the growth in apartment construction was being driven by high-rise developments, currently running at an annual pace of 80,000 units, up from 33,000 in 2012-2013. He added that nearly all projects were pre-sold ahead of completion, with little evidence of purely speculative property development by foreign investors.
The significant Chinese interest in Australian real estate has instigated an apartment building boom that has been responsible for a fifth of the nation’s economic growth over the past two years, assisting the county’s recovery following the end of the mining construction boom.
The number of new apartment projects winning approval from local councils has almost doubled since 2013 to 105,000 new residential units over the past financial year, with apartments accounting for 95% of the growth in housing construction in that period.
The latest June quarter national accounts showed housing construction was €3.8bn or 24% higher than in the same quarter two years ago. Australia’s nominal economy overall has risen €17.8bn, representing growth of 5.5% over that time.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
Chinese Buyers’ Penchant for Australia’s Apartments Boosts Economy
According to research published by real estate company CBRE, Chinese investors have led the surge in foreign investment in residential developments, acting as a prop for Australia’s ailing economy.
In the year to April 2015, foreign capital backed 54 of the 115 inner-city development sites sold in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with Chinese developers claiming 36 of those deals.
CBRE estimates that Chinese investment in Australian real estate reached €5.3bn in the first six months of this year, which was 25% of all offshore Chinese property purchases. Australia’s share of Chinese capital flowing into global real estate markets has risen from 10% in the past two years.
Chinese-backed Aqualand are major players in Australia’s real estate sector, acquiring almost €1bn of development sites across Sydney and Perth, with the largest being its €160m purchase of three waterfront buildings, including the Seven Group’s headquarters in Sydney’s inner-city, Pyrmont.
Aqualand’s general manager Wayne Xiong said it was one of the seven projects being developed and that it combined preservation of heritage buildings on the waterfront with the opportunity for freehold purchase, offering ” something highly sought after by local buyers as well as meeting the expectations of the international market “.
Another large scale Chinese investor is Ping An Insurance, China’s second-largest insurer which is expected to commit hundreds of millions to Australia’s housing market over the next few years. The private held company, which controls the separately listed Ping An Bank is close to signing a deal with one of Australia’s biggest developers, Mirvac Group , to part-fund a luxury apartment complex in Sydney.
Enterprises owned by the Chinese state are also active in Australia. Greenland Holding Group, China’s largest state-owned real estate group, has a development portfolio in Australia worth almost €1bn.
Its largest project is Greenland Centre in Sydney’s central business district (CBD). It will be Sydney’s tallest residential tower, including 470 apartments and six penthouses over 66 levels, nearly all pre-sold. Local partner Brookfield Multiplex estimates construction will generate around 5,500 jobs, boosting the local economy significantly.
Justin Brown, executive director of residential projects for CBRE said: ” The scale they’re used to deal with is so much larger than local developers. They have an additional perspective where they’re used to delivering 10,000 to 15,000 apartments a year “.
According to Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board , Victoria is getting most of the offshore property funding, with foreign purchasers restricted to buying new properties accounting for just over 18% of all residential sales in the state, compared with 10% in New South Wales.
Senior property analyst at ANZ bank, David Cannington said the growth in apartment construction was being driven by high-rise developments, currently running at an annual pace of 80,000 units, up from 33,000 in 2012-2013. He added that nearly all projects were pre-sold ahead of completion, with little evidence of purely speculative property development by foreign investors.
The significant Chinese interest in Australian real estate has instigated an apartment building boom that has been responsible for a fifth of the nation’s economic growth over the past two years, assisting the county’s recovery following the end of the mining construction boom.
The number of new apartment projects winning approval from local councils has almost doubled since 2013 to 105,000 new residential units over the past financial year, with apartments accounting for 95% of the growth in housing construction in that period.
The latest June quarter national accounts showed housing construction was €3.8bn or 24% higher than in the same quarter two years ago. Australia’s nominal economy overall has risen €17.8bn, representing growth of 5.5% over that time.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
Spanish Property Prices up 5% on Foreign Buying
Since Spain’s real estate bubble burst in 2008 and brought its economy crashing down with it, foreign money has been driving recovery in the nation’s property market.
According to Spain’s Property Registrars , annual price growth in June 2015 showed an annual increase of 5.12%, driving by strong sales to foreign nationals in the country’s prime property markets.
Transaction volumes have also increased, according to the latest ” Spain Real Estate Flash ” published by BBVA Research which notes that 188,432 home purchases were completed in the first six months of the year in Spain, representing an increase of 7.9% over the same period. The Spanish bank reports that increased access to credit together with low interest rates, growth in employment and the improvement of consumer confidence are key factors behind Spain’s property market recovery.
BBVA state in its report that ‘construction activity has shown significant growth, albeit from relatively low levels,’ and the ‘macroeconomic prospects for the second half of the year will continue to contribute to the sector’s recovery’.
The report also highlights the fact that 17% of housing transactions carried out in the first three months of the year in Spain were made by foreigners, saying that ‘the sound health of some of the key economies that generate demand for housing in Spain, such as Germany and the United Kingdom, combined with the depreciation of the euro, continue to be major assets for the Spanish real estate market’.
Increased foreign buyer interest in Spain
Spain’s property registrars report that foreign nationals purchased 12.2% of residential properties in the first quarter of 2015, up from 9% in 2006. The impact of foreign investment in property is most prominent in Spain’s luxury market. Home prices fell more than 35% between 2007 and 2013, according to the country’s statistics bureau, presenting foreign investors with a wealth of opportunities for considerable value growth.
Indeed, areas popular with foreign investors – such as Pedralbes and the Passeig de Grácia in Barcelona and Salamanca and Chamberí in Madrid – have already recovered 20% of value lost since the property market crash in 2008.
Increased foreign buyer interest in Spain is reflected in price growth and now house prices have increased at their fastest rate since the downturn.
The latest rise in price growth means that property prices are now down 29% nationally since the peak of the market, with significant regional variations according to buyer activity. The recovery in the Spanish property market is limited to the most popular areas where houses are in demand such as Madrid, the Balearics, the Canaries, Catalonia and the Valencian Community and is reflected in buoyant local property prices.
The statistics from the Spanish property registrars show that the country’s real estate sector closed the first half of the year with a positive balance and the fundamentals of the economy indicate that this trend will continue in the second half in a context of price stability, according to the BBVA’s report.
Alex Vaughan, co-founder of Lucas Fox, the Barcelona-based luxury estate agent said: ” At the high end – €500k and up – it’s primarily being driven by international demand “. The estate agent sold two-thirds of the units in the luxurious Bonavista development in Barcelona, with 91% of its 126 sales going to foreign buyers.
Over the last two years, the demographic of foreign buyers in Spain has shifted from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and the US. While the depreciation of the euro has attracted non-Europeans, the collapse of the rouble and tighter rules on currency transfers have kept out some Russians and other investors.
American buyers are on the rise, with purchasing power boosted significantly by the dollar’s dominance over other currencies this year, and French buyers, reluctant to expose capital to restrictive taxation policies at home, have been house-hunting in Spain’s property markets more enthusiastically in 2015.
The modest but sustainable recovery of Spain’s economy has resulted in GDP growth of 2.7% over the past year and the nation’s banks have begun to lend again. During the first quarter of 2015, Spanish banks signed nearly a third more mortgages for 27% more capital than during the same period last year, signalling a return of domestic buyers that will underpin price growth nationally in coming years.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
Spanish Property Prices up 5% on Foreign Buying
Since Spain’s real estate bubble burst in 2008 and brought its economy crashing down with it, foreign money has been driving recovery in the nation’s property market.
According to Spain’s Property Registrars , annual price growth in June 2015 showed an annual increase of 5.12%, driving by strong sales to foreign nationals in the country’s prime property markets.
Transaction volumes have also increased, according to the latest ” Spain Real Estate Flash ” published by BBVA Research which notes that 188,432 home purchases were completed in the first six months of the year in Spain, representing an increase of 7.9% over the same period. The Spanish bank reports that increased access to credit together with low interest rates, growth in employment and the improvement of consumer confidence are key factors behind Spain’s property market recovery.
BBVA state in its report that ‘construction activity has shown significant growth, albeit from relatively low levels,’ and the ‘macroeconomic prospects for the second half of the year will continue to contribute to the sector’s recovery’.
The report also highlights the fact that 17% of housing transactions carried out in the first three months of the year in Spain were made by foreigners, saying that ‘the sound health of some of the key economies that generate demand for housing in Spain, such as Germany and the United Kingdom, combined with the depreciation of the euro, continue to be major assets for the Spanish real estate market’.
Increased foreign buyer interest in Spain
Spain’s property registrars report that foreign nationals purchased 12.2% of residential properties in the first quarter of 2015, up from 9% in 2006. The impact of foreign investment in property is most prominent in Spain’s luxury market. Home prices fell more than 35% between 2007 and 2013, according to the country’s statistics bureau, presenting foreign investors with a wealth of opportunities for considerable value growth.
Indeed, areas popular with foreign investors – such as Pedralbes and the Passeig de Grácia in Barcelona and Salamanca and Chamberí in Madrid – have already recovered 20% of value lost since the property market crash in 2008.
Increased foreign buyer interest in Spain is reflected in price growth and now house prices have increased at their fastest rate since the downturn.
The latest rise in price growth means that property prices are now down 29% nationally since the peak of the market, with significant regional variations according to buyer activity. The recovery in the Spanish property market is limited to the most popular areas where houses are in demand such as Madrid, the Balearics, the Canaries, Catalonia and the Valencian Community and is reflected in buoyant local property prices.
The statistics from the Spanish property registrars show that the country’s real estate sector closed the first half of the year with a positive balance and the fundamentals of the economy indicate that this trend will continue in the second half in a context of price stability, according to the BBVA’s report.
Alex Vaughan, co-founder of Lucas Fox, the Barcelona-based luxury estate agent said: ” At the high end – €500k and up – it’s primarily being driven by international demand “. The estate agent sold two-thirds of the units in the luxurious Bonavista development in Barcelona, with 91% of its 126 sales going to foreign buyers.
Over the last two years, the demographic of foreign buyers in Spain has shifted from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and the US. While the depreciation of the euro has attracted non-Europeans, the collapse of the rouble and tighter rules on currency transfers have kept out some Russians and other investors.
American buyers are on the rise, with purchasing power boosted significantly by the dollar’s dominance over other currencies this year, and French buyers, reluctant to expose capital to restrictive taxation policies at home, have been house-hunting in Spain’s property markets more enthusiastically in 2015.
The modest but sustainable recovery of Spain’s economy has resulted in GDP growth of 2.7% over the past year and the nation’s banks have begun to lend again. During the first quarter of 2015, Spanish banks signed nearly a third more mortgages for 27% more capital than during the same period last year, signalling a return of domestic buyers that will underpin price growth nationally in coming years.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
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