Property News – Five Things You Need To Know This Week

Keeping up with the ever-evolving property industry can be challenging. Centrick make it easy with our weekly roundup of the five most significant pieces of property news. The roundup includes all facets of the market, from residential to commercial, land to BTR – which ensures that you’re up-to-date with the latest trends has never been easier!

House prices experience biggest New Year’s surge in 3 years

2023’s house prices have already experienced an impressive boost, and we’re barely three weeks into the month! The average asking price of UK homes has been boosted by 0.9 per cent this month according to the latest Rightmove figures, which is the most significant boost to new years property prices since 2020.

Old John Lewis in Birmingham’s Grand Central to be made into office space

A planning application has been submitted by real estate company Hammerson to transform the old John Lewis department store in Birmingham’s Grand Central Station into a rejuvenated office space. This bid to create the Drum, a new wellbeing-focused city centre commercial space involves the inclusion of a restaurant, gym and physiotherapy room is designed to “bring to Birmingham a new type of workspace that meets the requirements post-pandemic of established and start-up businesses, creating a new world-class environment at this key national interchange and gateway to the UK’s fastest growing city” according to Hammerson’s Harry Badham.

Department For Levelling Up to build thousands of new homes on brownfield sites

£60 million in funding has been made available to councils this week in an effort to encourage the regeneration of brownfield sites into new homes. This funding forms part of the Brownfield Land Release Fund, with the entire project aiming to create 56,000 jobs across the housing and construction sectors as well as 17,600 affordable properties.

Number of renters increases by 28% over the last decade

The latest Zoopla reports have revealed that the number of renters has increased by over one quarter over the past ten years. Similarly, the number of owner-occupiers is revealed to have fallen across the same time period to 62 per cent, indicating the difficulties many prospective purchasers face when attempting to get onto the housing ladder.

Farmland value sits at £7,800 per acre, the highest since research began

Farmland values are looking particularly promising in Savill’s latest report, which revealed that low supply and increasing demand has boosted the value of British farmland to an all-time high. This is likely down to the increase in institutional and corporate investors entering the rural space, driving competition for farmland.

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As your local property experts, Centrick regularly create content to keep you up to date with what’s going on in the UK property market. Whether you’re looking to invest in land, want to understand the latest build to rent trends, or are looking for guidance through the sales process – we’ve got you covered. Check out our News and Insights, updated weekly, for regular property content.