Your mid-week update
Five key influences for global real estate decisions
2 minutes to read
Five key themes
Covid-19 has utterly changed the global property market landscape. This morning Flora Harley outlines the five most important factors likely to influence real estate decision making in the near term. Her analysis spans the pandemic and the reboot of working patterns, to travel restrictions and shifting buyer power, and taps into both real-time economic indicators and Knight Frank’s global research network.
The race for a vaccine
More than 30 Covid vaccines are now in clinical trials, with at least 140 more at the preclinical stage, according to the World Health Organization. Scientists from the University of Cambridge are the latest to win funding from the UK government to start trials for a DNA-based vaccine that aims to protect against multiple coronaviruses, with clinical trials due to start during the autumn.
Meanwhile, results from mid-stage studies of Merck's antiviral pill could come as soon as this week, raising the possibility that a new medicine may reach the market before the end of the year.
The search for outdoor space
In a new diary of an agent, Chris Druce travels to South Kensington and Weybridge. Property condition and pricing are critical market drivers in the South Kensington lettings market, and outdoor space, even access to a balcony, is helping flats rent rapidly. The area is also witnessing a shift away from lateral living. Meanwhile Weybridge is on the receiving end of Londoners seeking to escape the capital, with gardens and home office space at the top of buyers’ wish lists.
Global buyers seek second homes
More than 26% of the 700 respondents to our Global Buyer Survey said they were more likely to buy a second home as a result of the pandemic to enhance their lifestyle and to use as a retreat in the event of future outbreaks, writes Kate Everett-Allen.
Mirroring primary residences, buyers of second homes are prioritising outdoor space, a home study and greater privacy post-lockdown. Almost one in three respondents (32%) is more likely to want a second home that they can extend, and 29% are more likely to seek a property offering secondary accommodation.
In other news...
Australian antibody therapy aims for trial in early 2021; Oil prices rise on US output cuts, China trade deal hopes; Summer Covid-19 surge in US shows signs of slowing; and Germany’s economic rebound buoyed by fresh positive signals.