UK Hotspots
Where's the UK's hottest BTL hotspot? According to Haart, it's Peterborough! The research suggests that a one-bedroom apartment in Peterborough yields 8.7 per cent per annum whilst a two-bedroom apartment yields 9.0 per cent per annum. Looking at the regions where Haart operates, the East of England offers the best rental yields followed by the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.
Property developer David Barnett names Croydon in south London as the place to be soon. 'In the next 10 years, Croydon will thrive but you have to play the long game. Croydon is just 15 minutes away from Victoria and now it's on the East London line too - it just takes one big thing like Westfield (the shopping centre) and the rest will follow.'
Hamptons International is drawing attention to Oxford where they say that 40 per cent of high-end properties are being bought by the overseas market, with half being from Russia. Why? 'What we are seeing is prices increasing in London and buyers looking further afield where there are still sustainable prices. Oxford has that. Over the last 12 months there has been a significant increase in international buyers.'
BTL Mortgage News
Platform has a new range of BTL mortgage products. 'The Premier buy to let range increases the maximum loan size to £500,000. The new two-year fixed rate and tracker rate products are available up to a maximum LTV of 65 per cent and come with a 1 per cent arrangement fee. The range also includes products available on a let to buy basis, available to customers who are purchasing a new home but who do not want to sell their existing property.'
More BTL mortgage developments! Yorkshire Building Society entered the buy-to-let market recently via Accord Mortgages with products in London and the South East. It is now planning to roll out into more regions. Other changes include 'reducing the minimum required property value from £150,000 to £100,000, reducing the minimum income, from £35,000 to £20,000, and reducing the minimum age from 30 to 25.' More to come as we are looking to put together a weekly BTL mortgage update.
Overseas Property Hotspots
Joining the European Union has long been regarded as a trigger for the property market to prosper. If you are an overseas off-plan investor looking for capital growth, you may be interested to note that Croatia has just voted to join the EU in 2013. 66 per cent voted in favour ad there was a 40 per cent turnout. The official report reads, 'The European Union is now reconsidering its position regarding further admissions to the Union. Croatia has therefore managed, although with considerable effort, to get through the door just in time. Croatia is set to join the EU in July 2013.'
A new Reuters poll of banks, research groups etc, suggests that property prices in Brazil will rise by between 5 and 10 per cent this year. Paulo Cesar das Neves, analyst for research firm LCA, says, 'There are structural factors in place to justify such a strong performance. A sharp fall in prices in 2012 is very unlikely.'
In Spain, the Paramount Theme Park gathers pace. The land has been sorted according to reports; 'The land is in Alhama de Murcia and extends to just over 1.8 million square meters of which 774,777 square meters will become the theme park and just over 1.03 million square meters become a lifestyle centre with seven hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and a business district with modern office space, an auditorium and convention centre.' Chris Mercer of Mercer, the agents there, says, 'If PREMURSA has officially stated its intent to spend almost €16 million we can be confident that they have the backing to proceed otherwise €16 million for what is essentially a rather unremarkable piece of land would be a seriously expensive error. All eyes will be on 6 February in anticipation of the biggest step forward in the project to date.'
All for now - for daily news, do check out www.ukpropertyalerts.co.uk and www.internationalpropertyalerts.co.uk.
