Joseph Robinson, Head of Client Services at Stirling Ackroyd, explains why he thinks that while Brexit may have come as a shock to those in the industry, it doesn’t mean there will be any lasting damage. “For most of us in London ‘Brexit’ was something that was never really on the cards. It came as a genuine shock to all of us in the industry and throughout the media, it sent the country into a state of sheer panic Firstly, we saw the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 taking major hits but with Property PLCs taking the heaviest blow. Secondly, we saw the GBP hitting a 31-year low against the dollar and various media articles emerged predicting the end of Britain as we knew it. Scaremongering was out in full force and confidence in the UK’s economy and property markets faltered. However, now that we’ve had time to call off the witch hunt, ‘Brexit’ looks to be more of a hangover rather than anything with any lasting damage. The large multinational banks have taken a U-Turn on the predicted doom and gloom – Most of the corporate and high street banks warned they would look to move operations overseas due to passport rulings, turmoil in the markets and future uncertainties if the UK left the EU. However the majority of these corporations seem to have taken a U-turn and no one’s jumped ship just yet. Goldman Sachs’ Chief European Economist, Huw Pill, stated that “The downturn in the UK – while still substantial – is likely to be shallower than we thought in the immediate aftermath of the referendum.” By injecting confidence in the UK economy this will in turn add confidence to the property market, which currently remains calm. House prices are continuing to rise as growth continues – The Office for National Statistics recently reported that house prices on average grew by £1,000 in July post ‘Brexit’. It is true that we have seen a drop in property growth, however we are a long way away from property prices stagnating, let alone falling. The Halifax Index still shows an annual growth rate of almost 7% and Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist stated that “There are clear signs that the housing market is settling down after the initial surprise of the outcome to the EU Referendum”. Demand still outweighs supply – London has and always will be somewhere people look to move to and according to the Office of National Statistics London will reach an estimated population of 10 million by 2024. With this rate of influx into the Capital we will struggle to keep up with the demand for properties as there is already a chronic shortage and this will inevitably drive prices higher and higher as we see vendors compete to secure the best deals. Stirling Ackroyd’s Managing Director -Andrew Bridges, believes that “Rising prices are being fueled by the ongoing shortfall of properties on the market – there are simply not enough people selling or enough new homes being built to match demand.” A serious look at the Capital’s planning process needs to be addressed if population growth continues. In conclusion, the market might seem to be slowing but if we look at the underlying driving factors which move property prices, London’s historical property trends look to outweigh the result of ‘Brexit’. Finally not only are London prices continuing to grow, overseas investors are returning to the market and property is continuing to sell and ultimately we must remember that until London works out its property supply problem, prices will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.” Source link

Investors in student housing assets are starting to shift their emphasis into mainland Europe, with countries on the continent seeing a 21% year-on-year growth in investment volumes as of Q2 2016, reaching a total of $1.8 billion, according to the latest analysis by international real estate advisor Savills. In volume terms, the UK and US markets still received the most investment into existing student housing assets in the first half of 2016 at $1.4 billion and $5.4 billion respectively. As of the second quarter of 2016, year-on-year investment volumes of existing student housing stock grew by 82% in the US, but fell by 64% in the UK, returning to approximately their medium-term average after reaching an exceptional high in 2015 due to the acquisition of a few large portfolios. With a combined student population of 20 million, growing international enrolment – with foreign students attracted by a increasing number of courses taught in English – and a very low provision of purpose built accommodation, Europe offers strong investment potential, especially as the US and UK markets are now mature, says Savills. In particular, €350 million was invested into German student housing in the first seven months of 2016 which is more than double the total invested in the country’s student housing sector in the whole of 2015 – while in France €345 million has been transacted so far this year (up to August 2016). Click here to see the size of European student populations. Cross-border investment continues to grow with Savills reporting that global investment outside the country of origin has accounted for 40% of all deals in the sector over the past three years. Investors have sought to diversify portfolios, with large outbound flows from the US, Canada and Singapore heading into the UK and continental European markets.  Marcus Roberts, Director of Student Investment and Development at Savills, comments: “The US and UK student housing markets have dominated global investment in the last three years, but with the maturing of these markets investors are looking to other areas which are suffering from a pressured housing supply, shortage of student  accommodation and immature management solutions. While Germany and France continue to attract attention, we are seeing new frontiers open up in markets such as Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. These are markets where student housing is currently undersupplied but demand is likely to grow due to increased domestic and international mobility of students, rising demand for well managed and designed accommodation and expanding volumes of foreign students choosing to study in Europe. “Student housing has proven itself to be a resilient asset class to date, and with its  counter-cyclical fundamentals many institutional investors are turning to the sector where they can achieve strong occupancy and rental growth. This will be further exacerbated as central banks continue quantitative easing and a regime of low interest rates.” Click here to see the World Student Housing Spotlight Source link

The volume of property sold to overseas buyers in the United States has declined slightly but Chinese people are buying more real estate, exceeding the amount of other top international buyers. Research from the National Association of Realtors suggest that waning economic growth in many countries and higher home prices along with a strengthening US dollar was responsible for the slight overall fall. However, the data, covering sales to overseas buyers between April 2015 and March 2016, reveals a significant fall in buying from non-resident foreigners. Sales to overseas buyers amounted to $102.6 billion of residential property, a 1.3% decline from the $103.9 billion of property purchased in the previous year’s survey. Overall, a total of 214,885 residential properties were bought by foreign buyers, up 2.8%, and properties were typically valued higher at $277,380 compared to the median price of all US existing home sales at $223,058. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the figures highlight the tremendous appeal US real estate still has on many foreign nationals despite the price of property becoming less affordable. ‘Weaker economic growth throughout the world, devalued foreign currencies and financial market turbulence combined to present significant challenges for foreign buyers over the past year,’ he explained. ‘While these obstacles led to a cool down in sales from non-resident foreign buyers, the purchases by recent immigrant foreigners rose, resulting in the overall sales dollar volume still being the second highest since 2009,’ he pointed out. He also pointed out that overall foreigners, especially those from China, continue to see the US real estate as a solid investment opportunity and the country as an attractive place to visit and live. According to the survey, sales to non-resident foreign buyers pulled back by approximately $10 billion to the lowest dollar volume since 2013 when it was $35 billion. The decline was largely caused by the decrease in the share of non-resident foreign buyers to foreign residential buyers to 41%, down from the almost even split between the two in previous years. ‘Both the increase in US home prices, up 6% in March 2016 compared to one year ago, and the depreciating value of foreign currencies against the US dollar made buying property a lot pricier last year,’ said Yun. The research shows that at least eight countries, including China and Canada, saw double digit percent increases in the median sales price of a US existing home when measured in their country’s currency, led by Venezuela at 45% and Brazil at 24%. For the fourth year in a row, buyers from China exceeded all countries by dollar volume of sales at $27.3 billion, which was a slight decrease from last year’s survey at $28.6 billion, but over triple the total dollar volume of sales from Canadian buyers who were ranked second at $8.9 billion. Indeed, Chinese buyers purchased the most housing units for the second consecutive year at 29,195 but this was down from 34,327 in 2015, and also typically bought the most expensive homes at a median price of $542,084. ‘Although China’s currency modestly weakened versus the US dollar in the past year, it’s much stronger than it was five to 10 years ago, thereby making US properties still appear reasonably affordable over a longer time span,’ Yun explained. In addition to the slightly diminished sales activity from Chinese buyers, the total number of sales and the sales dollar volume from buyers from Canada, India at $6.1 billion and Mexico at $4.8 billion, also retracted from their levels a year ago. Only buyers from the United Kingdom, after a decrease in the 2015 survey, saw an uptick in total sales and dollar volume at $5.5 billion. ‘Sales activity from UK buyers could very well subside over the next year depending on how severe the economic fallout is from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. However, with economic instability and political turmoil outside of the US likely to persist, the world view of American real estate as a safe investment should keep demand firm even as pressures from a stronger dollar continue to weigh down on affordability,’ Yun added. Some 22% all foreign buyers purchased property in Florida, 15% in California, 10% in Texas, and 4% in both Arizona and New York. Latin Americans, Europeans and Canadians, who tend to buy in warm climates for vacation purposes, mostly sought properties in Florida and Arizona. California and New York drew the most Asian buyers, while Texas mostly saw sales activity from Latin American, Caribbean and Asian buyers. The median purchase price over the survey period was $277,380 compared to the 2015 survey when it was $284,900 and this was probably due to fewer non-resident foreign buyers. Overall, foreign buyers most commonly purchased a home priced between $250,001 and $500,000, while 10% paid over $1 million or more. Exactly half of all international transactions were all-cash purchases, which was slightly down from a year ago when it was 55% but still roughly double the overall share of existing sales. All-cash purchases were more common by non-resident foreign buyers at 73% and those from Canada, China and the UK. A majority of foreign buyers over the past year purchased a single family home, and nearly half bought in a suburban area. Two thirds or more of buyers from each China, India, Mexico and the UK purchased detached single family homes, while Canadian buyers were the most likely to buy a multi-family home. Some 31% if estate agents said they worked with international clients, down from 34% a year ago but up from the 27% recorded two years ago. Some 17% had one to two foreign clients and 5% had six or more. Source link

©Reuters A wind farm near Puck, northern Poland, Poland’s thriving wind energy industry has warned that it faces bankruptcies, rapid divestment and an end to growth under a bill that threatens executives with prison. The wind power sector in Poland installed the largest amount of turbine capacity in the EU last year after Germany, taking total industry investment to €8bn. Turbines, including those owned by EDF, RWE and Eon, produce about 13 per cent of the country’s electricity. More On this topic IN Energy But proposals submitted to parliament by the ultraconservative rightwing administration will tighten regulations to the point of killing off the industry, critics have said.  “For some projects, it will be terminal . . . it will kill them,” said Wojciech Cetnarski, president of the Polish Wind Energy Association, an industry lobby group. “This will result in bankruptcies. That is for sure. “No one will invest any more in this country’s wind energy industry if this law is passed.” The bill will make it illegal to build turbines within 2km of other buildings or forests — a measure campaigners said would rule out 99 per cent of land — and quadruple the rate of tax payable on existing turbines — making most unprofitable. Another clause in the bill would give authorities the power to shut down each turbine for weeks at a time during monthly inspections, said industry figures. Violations would result in hefty fines or two years’ imprisonment.  Foreign investors are already viewing the bill with alarm. “It’s hugely detrimental,” said Jim Murphy, chief financial officer of Invenergy, a large independent renewable generator in Chicago that has done a number of big wind power deals in Poland in the past. “The cost would be very, very powerful for the whole industry.” Invenergy had been hoping that Poland’s new government would prove more amenable than its predecessors. The company is embroiled in litigation over about $500m of wind investments it claims went sour after state-controlled companies backed out of binding contracts. RWE and other investors referred questions on the bill to the industry lobby. Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s ruling Law and Justice party, which campaigned on a promise to crack down on the industry, said it wants to make legislation on turbines more “citizen-friendly”.  Wind power groups say the government is instead seeking to protect lossmaking coal mines run by state-owned companies and staffed by powerful unions. While the proposal is still being debated, the government has a majority in parliament.  Half of the Polish wind farm industry is controlled by foreign investors, while 65 per cent of the installed turbines are built by Vestas of Denmark, General Electric of the US and Gamesa of Spain.  “This is an existential threat,” said Mr Cetnarski. “There will be a number of investors who leave, and others that will simply go bankrupt.”  Poland’s wind farm capacity has risen to 5,400 megawatts from 83MW in the past decade. Some campaigners worry that Poland will fall short of EU rules demanding 15 per cent of electricity be obtained from renewable sources by 2020. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Fri, Apr 1st 2016 Housebuilder Barratt Homes is celebrating after receiving a major national award from the Home Builders Federation (HBF). Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday The company has achieved a 90% customer satisfaction score and 5 star rating after it took part in a nationwide survey. It is the only major national housebuilder to have been awarded the maximum 5 star rating for seven years in a row by the HBF. Barratt Homes took part in the UK-wide survey of more than 45,000 homebuyers which revealed that over 90% of its customers would recommend the homes to a friend. The high customer satisfaction for Barratt Homes comes from checking more than 400 details throughout the build process and three separate inspections are involved before any front door keys are handed over. The HBF’s star rating scheme is designed to provide home buyers with information to help guide their decision. Lynnette St Quintin, sales director for Barratt Homes in the Southern Counties region, said: “We are tremendously proud that Barratt Homes has recognised as a 5 star housebuilder yet again. It’s testament to the dedication of all staff, who go above and beyond every day to exceed our customers’ expectations.“ Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation said: “The customer satisfaction survey is an established barometer for measuring house builder’s customer service levels. The scheme is an independently monitored survey of the people who really matter to our industry, our customers. To achieve such a high level of customer satisfaction, especially at a time when housing output overall is increasing rapidly, requires commitment from board room to site, and is a fantastic achievement.“ Source link

On behalf of Europa Capital’s Fund III and Ediston Real Estate, Savills has agreed three pre-lets at Heathfield Retail Park in Ayr. M&S Simply Food has agreed to a new 20-year pre-let on Unit 17 paying an annual rent of £217,250 (£19.75 per sq ft). The 11,000 sq ft (1,022 sq m) store forms part of the new terrace development on the park. Tapi Carpets has agreed to pay £163,125 per annum (£21.75 per sq ft) on a new 10-year pre-let of Unit 19, extending to 7,500 sq ft (697 sq m). The store is  currently being fitting out.  Elsewhere on the retail park, Greggs signed a 10-year pre-let on a 1,500 sq ft (139 sq m) unit paying £40,000 per annum (£26.85 per sq ft). The store, operating in a Greggs Cafe format, opened in November 2015. Ian Buchan, director of retail in Savills Scotland, comments: “The decision by three national retailers to pre-let new space at Heathfield is testament to the strength of Ayr’s only major retail park. The activity reflects the strong levels of activity we are seeing across Scotland’s out of town retail market.” Unit 18 in the new terrace remains available, offering between 10,500 – 20,000 sq ft (975 – 1858 sq m) subject to occupier requirements. Existing retailers include Homebase, DFS, Currys/PC World, Halfords, Maplin and Costa. M&S Simply Food was advised by DWR and Tapi was represented by Harvey Spack Field.  Coates & Co are joints agents with Savills on the retail park. Source link

There are “no technical barriers” to the deployment of carbon capture and storage in the UK, according to the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA). Chief executive of the CCSA Luke Warren said a new study showed whilst there are “a number of outstanding commercial challenges” to overcome, the technology has “significant potential for rapid cost reduction”. The organisation has a released a report detailing 36 lessons learnt from programmes to support the development of CCS in Britain. It largely focused on the commercialisation competition which was scrapped by the government in November. Two projects bid for the competition – Peterhead and White Rose. The Peterhead project could have been successfully delivered under the “structure, risk allocation and terms” of the programme, the study said, albeit with “some amendments”. However, it said more major adjustments would have been needed for the White Rose project to be delivered. It said the two storage sites for the projects – Goldeneye (Peterhead) and Endurance (White Rose) – were, and continue to be, ready for development. It added the infrastructure which serves the sites could be extended to access other stores at a “relatively low cost”, and that in general the reuse of existing infrastructure seemed to offer “very good value for money”. In May 2013 the CCS Cost Reduction Task Force published a report forecasting that the first CCS project would need a strike price under the Contracts for Difference scheme of between £150 and £200/MWh.   The CCSA said developers of both the Peterhead and White Rose projects would have bid for strike price within that range and that follow on projects would have required strike prices “well below” those needed for the competition projects. It quoted National Grid Carbon which said using the infrastructure developed for the White Rose plant for a second project would have allowed transport and storage costs to be reduced by between 60 and 80 per cent. According to the association the assessment of the costs and benefits of CCS enabled generation “suffered from a lack of like-for-like comparison” with other forms of generation, particularly when it came to the potential benefits for other sectors.   Despite the apparent viability of the Peterhead project, the CCSA said the “full-chain private sector business model” used in the competition is unlikely to work in the future. It said “investing in early offshore CO2 storage projects is currently not, and is unlikely to become, an attractive investment proposition for the private sector” as it provides “insufficient reward for the potential risk impact and commitment involved”. The report noted the conclusions of Norwegian company Statoil, which said government guarantees are needed to underwrite some of the risks. Furthermore, it said the “likelihood and consequences of cross-chain default” by the generation, capture, transport or storage operators is a “significant challenge” to investors. In this respect it said Peterhead was “the exception that proves the rule,” as a single company would have controlled the project’s capture, transport and storage assets. Director of Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage Stuart Haszeldine said: “After the abrupt withdrawal of CCS funding by the treasury, subsequent government defence of this action cited its high cost. However, the CCSA’s evidence-based assessment finds the now cancelled projects and their projected costs to have been in line with the government’s stated objectives and expectations.  “In particular, Peterhead is found to have been a unique opportunity … that ‘would seem unlikely to recur’. This is a huge strategic loss to the UK’s decarbonisation capability.” Earlier this month energy minister Andrea Leadsom revealed that £30 million has been paid to bidders in the commercialisation competition since it was cancelled. Source link

Herzog & de Meuron win 2015 RIBA Jencks Award Source link