The future of the UK property market

Despite the Brexit talk, Robert Soning believes the future is bright for the UK property market

A Queens Park apartment bedroom: the appeal of the residential market within London and the UK has remained steady (Londonewcastle)

It goes without saying that the world of property is experiencing some unusually uncertain times.

In my eyes, the appeal of the residential market within London and the UK has remained steady, despite the Brexit talk, and this could indicate quite a positive future for the UK property market.

However, with critical stages in domestic politics coming to a head, anything could happen so keeping ahead of the curve making the most of arising opportunities is more important than ever.

Rosebery Avenue, home office, www.londonewcastle.com

One division of the property market which is going to be a huge part of the future, especially within the next 10 years, is the private rented sector (PRS). Currently, around a third of homes in the capital are rented, with that figure expected to grow by 40 per cent over the next decade. As more and more people demand to live in London, the need for high-quality rented housing will continue to grow so build-to-rent (BTR) property is going to play a major role in supplying housing and giving renters a better choice and quality of where to live.

Aside from PRS, the need for smaller living spaces will become more and more common in the near future. Micro-apartments are already high in demand in New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong, so it’s only a matter of time before design and architecture firms here create more modular homes to keep up with trends.

Alongside PRS and micro-homes, the other hot topic of the moment is sustainability and building with an environmental conscience. As awareness of our environment and sustainable living increases, purchasers and renters are continually looking for points of difference in where they set up home.

As necessity is the mother of invention, innovative bits of technology are now being integrated into new developments to meet these needs. Things such as responsive heating/cooling systems and centrally controlled lighting are on the rise with some systems even able to sync up with your daily routine, so the heating comes on when you’re within 10 minutes of home and the lights switch off and the blinds close when you leave. With higher charges for driving in central London also coming into force in 2019, expect to see every car park space provided with electric charging points from now on.

The future of the property market is an exciting (often bewildering!) topic with so much to talk about, but for me, these are the trends that we are going to see over the next 10 years. After that who knows where we’ll be, but I think we’ve got enough to get our heads around for now!