With the recent results of a hung parliament comes a lot of uncertainty for everyone. However, this isn’t the first and it definitely won’t be the last announcement that shakes the UK economy, questions the value of the pound or forces changes. More importantly at PPP we question if and how these changes may affect our Partners, or indeed anyone who was looking to make the investment into building their own property portfolio.
Property is a long-term investment, with consistent long-term rewards. It is a fundamental truth that over the long-term, we will have to respond to short-term issues, changes of government and their policies, ups and downs in the economic cycle and all of these may be local i.e.: national, or even global. Platinum and our Partners have now been trading for 10 years and during that time we have had a global financial crisis, many changes in Governments, changes in taxation, banking rules and socio-economic conditions. Throughout this the Platinum family have grown profitably and become stronger.
In the last decade PPP and our Partners have continued to grow, prosper and profit through a global financial crisis, changes to the planning system and more recently a surprising vote to leave the European Union. Despite all of these events, our franchise partners have continued to buy houses and convert them into high quality homes for key workers and working professionals to live in. Importantly for our Partners, their profit margins have not gone down, tenant demand remains high and their occupancy levels have remained consistent. Our business model was built from first principles to withstand severe shocks and our ten year history, track-record and 94% Partner financial success rating should speak for itself.
We live on the most densely populated country in Europe (excluding Monaco, Vatican City, Luxemburg, etc) and as the old saying goes “they aren’t making any more land.” If we look at the government’s own Office of National Statistics, it forecasts that an additional 5 million people will be living in the UK within the next decade and everyone needs somewhere to live. As rents have risen consistently over the last decade, sharing is the most affordable way for tenants to rent property and save for a deposit, or lead a more flexible lifestyle. Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) predict a 19.7% growth in UK house prices over the next five years and many other respected analysts expect somewhere between 15% and 20% growth in property values over the same timeframe. All positive facts that support the need for high quality, shared accommodation.
So what’s our view on this? At Platinum Property Partners we believe that capital growth in house prices may slow down due to uncertainty leading to less confidence until the political landscape is sorted out. Ironically however, property will simultaneously be the safe place for people to put their money as we expect the stock market and currency markets to be volatile for a while. It means that many will conclude that it’s a great time to buy residential property. The term ‘safe as houses’ originates for this very reason.
PPP has a long history of ensuring our Partners affairs are safely and legally optimised for whatever the rules might be and the importance of being part of a community with these skills cannot be underestimated. The power of our network is our ability to see the positive business opportunities which always exist in times of change and to both defend what we have achieved thus far and to maximise our future returns.
The Government, legislative and tax environment in the UK is all moving in favour of professional landlords and away from accidental and amateur landlords. We believe this direction is in the long-term business interests of Platinum and our Partners.
