Mid-week property news update
Brexit: the property market implications
3 minutes to read
Vaccine pause
AstraZeneca paused large late-stage trials of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed in partnership with the University of Oxford after a participant fell ill. Asian shares fell on the news, though the company said the pause was a "routine action" for this kind of event. There are currently 34 vaccines under clinical evaluation globally, according to the World Health Organization.
Meanwhile, the government will today ban meetings of groups of more than six people in an attempt to stem an uptick in new infections. Almost 2,500 new infections were reported on Tuesday, up from around 1,000 new infections per day in August. Workplaces are not covered by the rules.
Brexit: what you need to know
As Boris Johnson comes under pressure from his own party following his threat to break international law over Brexit, Kate Everett-Allen spells out everything you need to know about property markets before the transition period ends on January 1st.
That includes whether or not UK buyers will be eligible for golden visas as non-EU citizens, whether it will be harder for UK nationals to relocate permanently to an EU country and whether there will be limits on the amount of time you can spend at your second home in the EU. There's more here.
Senior living surge
The pandemic is fuelling demand for private senior living rental property, and the number of units is forecast to climb 160% to 13,000 by 2024.
The outbreak is expected to speed up existing trends in the sector including a more rapid take-up of the ‘one move solution’ with increasing service and care being delivered into rental propositions, writes Tom Scaife. By 2024 we're likely to see a range of rental propositions catering for residents that live independent lives well into their 90’s and for those that require higher levels of assistance with daily activities.
Lower for longer in Asia
Following strong home sales across China's major cities, Justin Eng takes a closer look at the US Federal Reserve's decision to tolerate inflation levels above its long established 2% target and what that means for residential markets in Asia.
With interest rates remaining lower for longer, access to cheap capital is likely to underpin demand for homes, particularly in development gateway markets where mortgage benchmarks inherently reference the Fed funds rate.
Meanwhile, China's factory gate prices fell at their slowest annual pace in five months as the economy continues its recovery.
Commuter competition
In today's agents' diary, Chris Druce travels to North Surrey, where both buyers and renters from London are becoming increasingly prevalent as they hunt for more space.
Exchanges in the Home Counties were up 50% in the week ending 5 September versus the five-year average, while viewings in the lettings market were up 65% in the same period.
In other news...
Barclays pulls riskier mortgages after nearing lending limit; US banks signal mounting concern over real estate lending; let us off rent leash, commercial landlords urge; UK firms worried about Brexit and the pandemic, hire temp workers.