Richard Simpson

Delighted to of had my article picked up and published by BTR News Really does showcase why Leeds is a unique investment opportunity just in time for our new launch #property #wealth #btr #business ##realestate

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  Today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her first budget. Whilst the government have rightly increased investment towards housing and infrastructure, it is vital that the government continues to ensure that the United Kingdom remains an attractive country for investors and international businesses. You can read more about the Budget in this article from The Times: https://lnkd.in/ejX-tPYQ   #Budget2024 #EconomicGrowth #RachelReeves #Economy #UKPolicy

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Did Rt Hon Rachel Reeves deliver a Budget that was aligned to our Net Zero commitment? Well....The decision to freeze fuel duty and keep the 5p cut made by The Conservative Party in 2022 attracted some fury, not least because the tax relief is estimated to have raised UK greenhouse gas emissions by 7% since 2010. Reeves has been accused of doing “completely the wrong thing” for the climate by making this decision at the same time as raising the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 and rail fares by 4.6%. Did Ed Miliband (Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero) get consulted? SDG 7? 13? or just 8

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Citu and USRF tie up £200m partnership CITU The sustainability-led firm has signed a memorandum of understanding with Urban Splash Residential Fund and SURE Capital Partners, covering an initial 600 homes across its development portfolio. The partnership marks an important marker in Citu’s growth plan to bring “sustainable, future facing places and homes can be accessible for all” forward across Yorkshire. This is USRF’s second partnership, following a similar agreement with Urban Splash. The MoU covers 600 homes with opportunity to grow, and includes an initial purchase of 52 Citu homes within Leeds’ Climate Innovation District, and at Kelham Central, Sheffield. Yorkshire-born Citu creates homes that work to Passivhaus principles, making them approximately 75% more energy efficient than a traditional home in the UK. The firm manufactures its buildings in its Yorkshire factory. Jonathan Wilson, managing director at Citu, said: “This partnership marks a significant step forward for Citu, and we are delighted to have found an aligned partner with the right expertise and ambitions to join us on this journey. The partners said the deal will help SME Citu further expand its reach while giving USRF the opportunity to offer sustainable living solutions to families across the county. The move diversifies USRF’s portfolio, adding single-family homes to its offering, as well as expanding its footprint in Yorkshire following its acquisition of East Street Mills in Leeds last year. Akeel Malik, partner at SURE Capital explained: “This deal connects capital with regeneration, allowing us to play a pivotal role in creating vibrant new neighbourhoods. Leeds and Sheffield are exciting, transformative cities where people want to live, work, and play, and we’re proud to help drive that change. “Our mission is to cultivate a portfolio of design-led homes for renters – an approach that aligns perfectly with Citu. We have found the ideal product in their award-winning homes and communities.” SURE (Sustainable Urban Real Estate) Capital Partners is an entity set up to connect capital with “best in class” Developers. Urban Splash chair Tom Bloxham is a partner. He said: “SURE has investors ready to commit to design-led homes. It’s a concept that’s been proven with Urban Splash and now with Citu. “I have long been an admirer of the regeneration work undertaken by Chris and Jonathan and team at Citu and was very pleased to see this deal close. This is another example of how SURE Capital is bringing UK and international institutional capital to work supporting the very best UK SME developers like CITU, Urban Splash and Javelin Block – with whom we completed a deal last year in Birmingham. “This deal will both bring good returns to our investors and help fund much needed new sustainable homes and regeneration in UK regions.”

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High interest rates and high inflation have created a challenging period for commercial real estate but I am really encouraged to see real estate data getting more reassuring with each passing month.   The UK real estate market is showing convincing signs the recovery has finally arrived, and our latest UK Economic & Real Estate Briefing offers positive news for our sector.   👉 Capital values are rising across all property types, showing the UK’s recovery is ahead of Europe.   👉 Rental growth remains strong, and key prime office and logistics sales signal market normalisation.   👉 With constrained development pipelines and positive business surveys, the UK is set for strong returns over the next five years.   Interest rates do remain a key focus, but all eyes are now on the Autumn Budget. Despite the constrained fiscal backdrop, we believe the Chancellor will double down on her determination to boost economic growth and encourage investment, which will be received positively by markets.   Get your copy of the October UK Economic & Real Estate Bulletin here: 

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This weeks #realestatenews from around the UK: Worcester County Council has instructed Savills to find a development partner for its 500-home Shrub Hill Quarter master plan. After first floating a hunt for a partner for the site last year, the local authority has drafted in Savills to lead the search for a developer to deliver the mixed-use project, which will regenerate around 35 acres close to Shrub Hill railway station. Developer Glenbrook has appointed B8RE LTD and Gerald Eve as joint agents, to seek occupiers for its 45-acre industrial development in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The announcement comes after Glenbrook recently secured detailed planning consent for the development, on one of the last allocated strategic sites in Wigan, forming part of the South Lancashire Industrial Estate (SLIE) Primary Employment Area. Developer Cubex has submitted plans for a £150m student accommodation scheme, on a brownfield site in central Bristol. The site was purchased alongside joint venture partner ALARA INVESTMENTS LIMITED in February and aims to deliver vital student homes in the city. Revised proposals have been brought forward for an office redevelopment project at Holborn Circus. Private equity real estate investor and developer Evans Randall Investors has amended its original application to revamp Thavies Inn House. The property comprises 50,000 sq ft of office and retail space. NewRiver REIT plc is buying Ellandi, the specialist retail asset and development management businesses. The deal or an initial cash consideration of £5m with an additional earn-out of up to £4m this will give NewRiver REIT plc 16 shopping center asset management mandates and fee income of £5.7m. Fiera Real Estate UK Real Estate’s debt arm has provided YourTribe with a £77m senior investment loan to refinance two newly developed student assets in London. The loan will finance a 250-bed scheme in South Bermondsey and a 267-bed scheme in Peckham. The properties feature various amenities including a gym/wellness room, a roof terrace, and dedicated study and lounge areas. London-based property developer Shaptor Capital has submitted a planning application to develop a parcel of agricultural land in Kent into a mixed-use scheme. Proposals for Winterbourne Fields will develop a 219-acre site in Dunkirk, bisected by the A2, into a new village comprising 1,815 homes. The community will include a primary school, health and wellbeing center, all-purpose store, shops, food and beverage units, community park, leisure and sports facilities, transport links, and an electric vehicle charging hub. All articles can be found on Green Street News: Europe and Property Week #development #realestate

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Ending of Section 21 No fault evictions and the impact #section21 #nofaulteviction I would love to hear from other smaller or larger landlords what they are planning to do in the next year and if implementation of the Renters Reform Bill has impacted them already or affected their decisions for the future? Due to high demand from working professionals, most well known high street Lettings Agencies would not entertain these applicants for a viewing and if they did would unlikely pass the referencing stage. Caridon property own and manage over 2,200 properties. 98% of our properties are tenanted by families and individuals that are in reciept of full benefits or are low income earning with top up help from the DWP. Majority of our tenancies are AST’s and a smaller proportion is that of emergency accommodation. This has been the groups successful working model since inception 15 years ago We genuinely welcome most of the Renters Reform Bill including the proposed changes to Section 21 as we acquire to retain long term or guarantee rent to other portfolio landlords on 3 to 5 year leases or longer and as large scale private landlords our risks are largely mitigated due to our contracts with many local councils and financial stability, unlike smaller landlords with 1 or 2 nest egg properties that rely on the income to cover mortgage payments and struggle with cash flow. Alarmingly in the last 8 months our database of tenants calling our offices to register for 2 and 3 bed properties has increased 10 fold, top 3 reasons for looking are 1. Landlord has served us Section 21 for no reason other than they want the property back, we’ve lived here for 3, 5 even 10 years ! 2. Rent has increased to a point where it’s unaffordable and we are getting into rent arrears - the council will say we have made ourselves intentionally homeless 3. We are in Temporary Accommodation and the council have given us a list of approved providers to apporach in the PRS Most claim not to be in rent arrears or causing ASB and I am of the mind to believe them. Now this has always been the case but not at the level of calls we are receiving daily. We currently cannot provide the supply for the demand as with most private and social housing providers. Every Council in England is struggling with their finances due to the enormous cost of Temporary Accommodation. Inside Housing Reports that this year £2.2bn has been spent on TA https://lnkd.in/erTGTkxa What’s the spending prediction and time spent in TA for end of 2025 from insider experts?

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Urban Splash Residential Fund and Citu partner for £200m UK housing deal By IPE 1 November 2024 The Urban Splash Residential Fund (USRF) has partnered with UK property developer Citu to secure a £200m (€237m) pipeline of sustainable homes in Northern England. The SURE Capital Partners-managed UK residential fund has agreed the partnership to enable it to gain priority access to Citu’s properties and single-family homes in Yorkshire over the next five years. The initial phase of the 600 homes partnership involves the acquisition of 52 homes in Leeds and Sheffield. Akeel Malik, partner at SURE Capital Partners, said: “This deal connects capital with regeneration, allowing us to play a pivotal role in creating vibrant new neighbourhoods. Leeds and Sheffield are exciting, transformative cities where people want to live, work and play, and we’re proud to help drive that change. “Our mission is to cultivate a portfolio of design-led homes for renters – an approach that aligns perfectly with Citu. We have found the ideal product in their award-winning homes and communities.” Tom Bloxham, partner at SURE Capital Partners, said: “SURE has investors ready to commit to design-led homes. It’s a concept that’s been proven with Urban Splash and now with Citu.” Bloxham said the partnership is another example of how SURE Capital is bringing UK and international institutional capital to work supporting UK “SME developers like CITU, Urban Splash and Javelin Block – with whom we completed a deal last year in Birmingham”. Jonathan Wilson, managing director at Citu, said: “Our growth strategy focuses on creating exceptional sustainable places with a variety of tenures, and we’re excited to introduce a rental offering to our developments both now and in the future, with a partner who shares our vision and responsibility. “This collaboration enables us to move ahead with confidence, and we look forward to the next steps.” We’re glad to see that you may be inspiring others with our journalistic content. We ask that you copy our content for personal use only, so as not to violate our Terms and Conditions. Otherwise, ask about our group memberships via [email protected]. Text copied from: https://lnkd.in/dxeEzxCx

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Huge challenge for later living on top of existing challenge of growing lack of affordability in rental accommodation anyway. I’m shifting my brain (after reading a very interesting book on the topic of later living that Guy Flintoft gave me) to thinking about the later living challenge in the context of me and what I personally want from retirement and an existence in my 80’s for example. It puts reality into the issue without the fear and protection we apply, if thinking of our parents or other elderly relatives. What do you want for yourself?… and what results as a solution, to make that possible? And affordable.

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Detailed Planning Application for 5 units in Alresford – Winchester City Council - 24/01547/FUL I posted about this application recently, entitled “When NIMBYs are reasonable”.   I was full of hope that a convivial conversation with a neighbour had smoothed the effect of irrational objection – naively pleased with myself that I had diffused rather than defended our application. Fast forward a few weeks and this relatively small application has now received nearly 20 letters of objection, two of which are from ward councillors. Several, I should add, are from residence that are too far to be affected. The very same neighbour has rallied objection and the tide has turned. Some important points; 1.       The Application has been through two rounds of pre-app and is fully policy compliant 2.       None of the statutory consultees have objected 3.       We designed one of the units as a bungalow to purposefully appease the objecting neighbour 4.       The local authority does not have a 5 year land supply. No way near in fact 5.       This is a ‘brownfield development’ – BUILD BROWNFIELD FIRST is on the lips of every politician So here’s the critical point. We have a ‘brownfield’ within settlement planning application that is fully policy compliant, within a local authority that can’t demonstrate a 5 year land supply. Will it be refused by the planning committee in October ? It’s a Liberal Democrat controlled Local Authority who have gained a Liberal Democrat MP from the Conservatives in the last local election. Will that have a bearing ? I get most annoyed when local councillors fight tooth a nail against greenfield applications and exclaim to anyone that will listen, that development should be prioritised on brownfield first and then act to refuse brownfield development. Whilst this is only a small development it makes a big point.  I also please ask that if you have a minute please review our application and write a note of support (you can do it electronically on the councils website) – Winchester City Council, application number 24/01547/FUL – about 72 Jacklyns Lane Alresford SO24 9LJ. Please take a minute to help and repost this to anyone who is interested. Ill update with another post next week.

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Reading consults on expanded HMO licensing scheme. The expanded version of the current mandatory scheme could cover HMOs with three or four occupants. Currently only those with five or more are covered. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/em9abpPD #hmo #propertynews #landlordnews

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Without getting political, it is hard to disagree with much of what is in this article. ESPC Lettings has seen a 20% reduction in our own managed portfolio in recent times. Despite feedback from industry, hard evidence of a reduction in properties to rent and a stalling of the Build to Rent sector - the Government seems determined to hold the line on rent controls. If they aren't going to create the right healthy environment for private sector investment - I assume they must have their own plan? Time will tell. In the meantime, we can only apologise to the 90 would-be tenants we had to disappoint last week, when a little one bedroomed flat we listed for rent was snapped up in the first hour. #Espi #Lettings #Supplyanddemandinbalance

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The government is hoping to change the law in an effort to make it easier to build granny flats and similar structures. The move - proposed in a new discussion document open to submissions today - would mean law changes to make it easier to build structures of up to 60m2. If it does work out, I’ve mentioned in the video how you could potentially build a 130m2 dwelling, without a consent. https://lnkd.in/eipqaheB

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ABODUS Student Living collecting "Asset Manager of the Year" at Property Week's 2024 RESI awards, from a shortlist with some of the UK's largest real estate companies including: Legal & General, Long Harbour, Places for People and Urban Splash amongst others. "The judges were highly impressed by the nomination submitted by ABODUS Student Living, highlighting growth and a comprehensive display of expertise. What stood out was the company's remarkable mix of competence and empathy towards their customers and partners." It is thanks to our investors #FarEastOrchard (FEOR/O10) and #HarbertManagementCorporation that ABODUS has developed and acquired a portfolio of over 5,500 beds in 10 cities across the UK. It is thanks to our University partnerships: #NewcastleUniversity #NorthumbriaUniversity #LiverpoolJohnMooresUniversity #SheffieldHallamUniversity #BristolUniversity #BrightonUniversity That ABODUS are constantly reviewing and improving our service levels ensuring we top annual surveys and tenders of operators in a number of cities including; Sheffield, Liverpool and Newcastle. As well as our private higher education partners in Brighton, Liverpool, Cambridge, Glasgow and Edinburgh. This award comes swiftly after ABODUS achieved the highest net promoter score (48.4) of any participant in the 2024 Investors in Student (IIS) survey, which included Universities and the UK's largest purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) management businesses. I am delighted for the ABODUS Team, as this is an award they have all contributed to. The annual strategy is devised and set by Asset Management, with research support from Investment Management and any inputs required for capital works by Development Management. After internal review between department heads, Finance provides projected NOI's, the strategy is then signed off and delivered by Operations and Sales & Marketing, supported by our Systems and IT Team. This is the advantage of a vertically integrated platform, and one of the reasons we have been able to build strong relationships with our partners, as well as delivering exceptional services for our customers and performance for our investors. As noted by the judges; the mix of competence, expertise and empathy required to deliver outstanding income and capital growth is indeed remarkable, but we continue to do so, as we think like investors and are constantly challenging the status quo, to see how we can improve. Well done Team ABODUS!

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CBRE UK is delighted to bring to market Clarendon Quarter, a generational 2 acre, Freehold development opportunity, with planning consent, in the heart of Oxford’s city centre. The existing 172,377 sq ft property, The Clarendon Shopping Centre, has full planning consent for a mixed-use development scheme granted in June 2024, with proposals for an enhanced scheme via positive pre-application discussions with Oxford City Council. The enhanced proposed scheme has a Gross Development Value in excess of £300 million, delivering 265,600 sq ft (GIA) of new commercial space including CL2 laboratories (52% of total sq ft), high-quality offices (18%), prime high street retail (11%), student accommodation (19%) and revitalised public realm. Ongoing detailed negotiations for a 40 year pre-let agreement with Brasenose College to take entirety of the student accommodation (98 beds), subject to annual CPI uplifts (1%-4% cap and collars). Offers are invited for the Freehold interest. For further information please contact either myself, Alex Youell, John Knight, Daisy Hubert, Rosie Williamson or Kevin Wood #nationalinvestment #capitalmarkets #oxford #lifesciences #mixedusedevelopment #CBRE

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Could anyone shed light on the progress in House of Lords of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill? Previously the UK Parliament website had an additional date of 15 May for one more committee stage. This seems to have gone and the Bill - version HL Bill 76 (as amended in committee) seems to be the current version. Is that now effective the final stage/version?

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Great to see more new entrants and the continued expansion of the sector. The demographics and demand is unquestionable, the challenge remains how we grow this quick enough to keep up

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