BANKING
Advice – GB Bank chief commercial officer Rob Lankey says green shoots of recovery can be seen in the property development and investment markets .
ON THE RISE
GB Bank : helping the property sector to blossom
Rob Lankey , chief commercial officer at Teesside-based GB Bank , takes a look at how the bank is helping to build a reviving property market .
Looking back over the past couple of years in the property world , it is tempting to conclude that it has been rather like one long winter of discontent .
The cost-of-living crisis , rapid building materials inflation , a struggling economy and rising interest rates have made life tough .
However , as we look towards the summer months , there are some good reasons why we can look forward to brighter days ahead – in the property sector at least , if not the notoriously fickle British climate .
And at GB Bank , we ’ re certainly playing our part in this improving picture in a number of ways .
AFFORDABILITY ON THE RISE Mortgage rates have fallen from the highs of 2023 and with the Office for Budget Responsibility now forecasting inflation to reach an average of 2.2 per cent by the end of the year , affordability for home owners is on the rise .
This relatively rapid turnaround is starting to have an impact on house prices . While the picture is changeable and challenging to predict , at the start of this year , estate agency Knight Frank went from predicting a four per cent fall in house prices during the course of 2024 to forecasting a three per cent rise in the space of just three months . In March , estate agents reported a third consecutive monthly rise in demand .
LANDLORDS BUILDING PROPERTY PORTFOLIOS A recent survey of residential landlords also found that over a third of those with four or more properties were planning to expand their portfolios this year .
This is perhaps unsurprising when average rental costs went up by almost 10 per cent last year , according to Zoopla , with a further five per cent rise predicted in 2024 , improving yields and boosting affordability for landlords and buy-tolet investors .
When you consider the fundamentals of the housing market in the UK – an under-supply of properties for the people who want them – it is perhaps unsurprising to see that investment in this sector is on the rise , after a challenging 2023 for the private rented sector ( PRS ) as a whole .
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