The three reasons we can at last see some light at the end of the tunnel are confidence, confidence and confidence

Steven_Barker

As a famous agent once said, the three most important reasons a property will sell are location, location and location.

I believe the three reasons we can at last see some light at the end of the tunnel are confidence, confidence and confidence!

For instance:

  • Confident that the economy is slowly getting to the right place as evidenced by external agencies to the UK upgrading the country
  • Confident that perhaps at last the banks actually get it and are releasing more to the industry
  • Confident that as we race towards an election year the government will ease up a bit on the brakes to improve stimulus and opportunities generally.

We have always been a relatively safe haven for foreign investors in property due to the stability of product here in the UK and we are now seeing major wealth funds sniffing around very large infrastructure projects, which has to be good for us and we should encourage more of this. Some 2014 predictions (that I hope do not come back to haunt me):

  • HS2 will gather momentum and any objections will be removed
  • A plan to deal with our declining airport infrastructure will emerge this year and my guess is an additional runway at Heathrow
  • There will be two or three more high profile collapses in the industry in the next six to nine months as we come out of recession
  • Construction costs will rise at least twice the rate of inflation.

Steven Barker is chairman of Robinson Low Francis

Topics