Many readers will be enjoying a holiday during August and as such, perhaps may just have a little more time than usual to pause and reflect on the 'bigger picture' in respect of factors which may in the future affect their property investment activities.
Many who are full time in property, are on a day to day basis, dealing with 'the now'; with tenant related issues, property management issues, or with renovation or building works and as such, we don't always have time to stop and to see the 'wood from the trees'.
If you do have more time than is usual this month to digest the content of your favourite monthly property magazine (that's the one you are reading, I trust) - then some of the articles are well worth reflecting on, and they may well help to focus your mind on future economic trends and their potential impact on your overall wealth.
The article on page 14 on the impact of automation and robotics in the workplace really does underline that we cannot take the future for granted. Less than twenty years ago, very few people would have known just what an 'email' was….and now look where we are.
The need to have a roof over our heads, alongside a daily intake of food means that property to live and work within is an absolute prerequisite to our existence. However, successful investment is directly related to assessing demand v supply, so anyone who ignores the potentially disruptive changes caused by increasing automation in the workplace should think carefully about the consequences for property values.
Putting to one side shorter term profit-led activity such as refurbishment with a buy to sell approach, most investor landlords and trade professionals accept that investing successfully in property is primarily a long term game. Given the opportunity, many citizens of the now bankrupt city of Detroit looking at the decreasing value of their homes and commercial property holdings over the last twenty years, would most certainly have sold up if they were now able to travel back in time.
Those who have heard me talk at events will be aware that I point out the potential longer-term consequences of buying on the wrong side or at the wrong end of a street in respect of doing thorough due diligence before buying. The article on page 18 also underlines the need to use 'shoe leather' and to really know your local area inside out if you want to achieve above average success with your portfolio or property trading activity.
Inside this edition you will also find articles on pages 30 and 34 with some sharply contrasting opinions on the potential impact of the Help to Buy scheme from next January, which we also analysed at length ourselves in the recent May edition. With the announcement from Mark Carney, the new Governor of the Bank of England, that 'bank rate' is very likely to be held at its current level of just half of one per cent for the next three years, the current increase in first time buyer numbers seems unlikely to reverse in 2014, so the opportunity to profit from this increased occupier demand in the next year or so is now quite evident.
