As we are going to press the Bank of England announced it is lowering the base rate to 4.25%, from its current 4.5%, due to inflation easing but warned that there is global uncertainty because of the USA’s tariffs, however this is unlikely to be the last rate cut this year.
This bodes well for the property industry as it will bring down lending rates, particularly for those of you who are on a variable deal, for those who fixed, it’s not so good news, but hopefully you haven’t committed for too long a period.
This month there has been quite a lot going on with the Renters Rights’ Bill making its way through the House of Lords and it is next scheduled to be discussed on 22 May. We have a number of articles on the Bill, with Richard Blanco on page 36 giving an overview of where it is currently, and the amendments the NRLA would like to see, plus those that were tabled recently. On page 40, Des Taylor has picked up on an unfortunate consequence of the bill for landlords, with Local Councils the likely the beneficiaries, it’s well worth a read.
On page 22, in the first of two articles, David Kemp looks at the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and what core changes will be made to improve local planning decision-making, with the Bill proposing several reforms. On page 26 there is an opinion piece, which looks at whether new towns are the future, or belong in the past.
Our lead article on page 15 analyses what is going on with the house building industry, and why it seems to be going in the wrong direction, with a continued fall in the number of homes being built despite the government’s insistence that 1.5m homes are built in the next four years.
We have an excellent interview on page 18 with Olivia Hornby, who won ‘New Property Investor of the Year’ for developing a Grade II listed block of 11 flats on the Isle of Wight, all while pregnant with twins!
On pages 20 & 30, regular contributors Adam Lawrence and Suzi Carter look at investing in the UK ahead of other locations and investing in shopping centres respectively.
Our location report this month is on Bolton, on page 32, which is a town aiming to reinvent itself by offering a viable alternative to Manchester but at the same time providing a cheaper home for people who work there.
On page 42, Maxine Fothergill looks at Solar Panels and whether they are a good thing or a blight on the landscape. They were also discussed in our house building article but from a home owners’ perspective.
Finally, on page 28, Ritchie Clapson looks at what you need to do to succeed as a new developer, and how sometimes it’s worth going that extra mile to make sure you get to the front of the queue.
