Friday property news update – 30 July
House prices settling, Super-prime surging and the seven ‘C’s’
3 minutes to read
House prices cooled
House prices cooled in July despite annual double-digit growth, according to the latest Nationwide House Price Index. Unsurprisingly, the changes to SDLT have taken house prices on a roller coaster journey over the last year or so.
Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, says: “Annual house price growth slowed to 10.5% in July, from the 17-year high of 13.4% recorded the previous month. In month-on-month terms, house prices fell by 0.5%, after taking account of seasonal effects, following a 0.7% rise in June.
Nationwide comment that underlying demand is likely to remain healthy on the back of more positive consumer confidence and low borrowing costs.
The seven 'C’s'
With hotels slowly recovering after a tumultuous pandemic, Phillipa Goldstein explores this journey in her three-part series: Hotels – steering a route to recovery.
At the heart of the post pandemic era for hotels will be the seven ‘C’s’ which includes: Culture, Credibility, Collaboration, Connectivity, Community, Creativity and Change. Part one: Culture and Credibility is available this morning.
The report looks at ongoing uncertainty around new variants that have the potential to continue to cause disruption and assesses how the hotel sector will respond.
Reuters recently reported that Europe’s biggest hotel group Accor SA was confident that the global vaccine rollout would support a recovery in all geographies after the company reported a smaller operating loss for the first half of the year. Hilton also forecasts a firm recovery after swinging to profit.
Super-prime surge
The FT this morning reports our latest data which confirms that wealthy buyers are seeking new urban lifestyles fuelling a global surge in super-prime sales.
Some 785 super-prime (US$10m+) sales took place across seven global cities during the first half of 2021, despite the presence of a complex patchwork of travel restrictions. That’s only 10 fewer than the whole of 2020.
Wealthy buyers spent some US$13.8 billion on snapping up homes across New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, London, Sydney, Singapore and Dubai during the period.
Stand out Cities include New York as the most active super-prime market during the period, with 202 sales above US$10m. The city is experiencing a rapid reopening. As I noted last month, the state has now vaccinated 70% of its adult population, traffic is close to pre-pandemic levels, restaurants are crowded, flights are packed – even Yankee Stadium is back at full capacity.
For more on this story see our latest blog this morning.
Unsustainable prices
The BBC reports that Australian house prices are soaring at an ‘unsustainable rate’. The soaring prices in Australia's state capitals come as all-time low interest rates and a lack of properties on the market drive up valuations.
Six cities have seen new record prices for the third quarter in a row, according to a report by real estate site Domain. It also says Sydney, Canberra, Hobart and Darwin have seen property values rise by over 20% in the last year.
In other news…
Beijing seeks to ease fears on Wall Street after tech crackdown, UK car production stalling, US economic recovery ‘making progress’, England to welcome double jabbed US and EU tourists, bumper financial earnings for European companies, mortgage lending booms, US treasury market needs urgent reform and Telefonica bets on UK fibre upgrade.