The lockdown has already led to marked changes in the property market, especially for landlords. We’ve already seen people leaving the cities for properties in the countryside and suburbs. Space, both inside and outside, has become more important to quality of life, rather than being in a city centre location. With the need to commute reduced for many and entirely removed for some, rural properties are becoming ever-more popular.
We’re likely to see further changes once the lockdown is fully over. But how is the property market likely to change in the near future? Here we consider the problems that are causing people to become reliant on the rental market, including monopolisation by small groups of investors, problems caused by rising property prices, and the need to ensure that long-term rentals are available for those who won’t be able to acquire a mortgage. We’ll then show you how InventoryBase’s property management software can help you take some of the stress out of navigating the increasingly complex rental market.
Are landlords monopolising the market?
The construction market is booming, with cities such as Manchester and London seeing hundreds of new purpose-built properties being created. However, the rise in property numbers doesn’t equal a rise in properties that potential purchasers could buy. Instead, many of these new builds are being offered to cash buyers only, meaning that only a handful of rich investors are now able to purchase property in these prime locations.
Rising property prices and the gig economy
Another likely change is that rising property prices will price many workers out of the property buying market entirely. House prices have been rising rapidly over the course of the past few decades, and this is a trend that’s likely to continue. In combination with the rise of the gig economy and zero hours contracts, it’s likely that lots of working-age people will soon be priced out of the property purchasing market entirely. This change would lead to growing numbers of people being unable to acquire a mortgage to purchase their own home, which means an increase in the number of people dependent on the private rental sector.
The rise of long-term rentals
When you’re renting a property it’s important that you find one where you can really feel at home. When you’ve found that ideal property, you’re unlikely to want to leave it and move around too often. This applies to rentals just as much as it does to property you own. Tenants will want their living situations to be secure and stable, which is likely to lead to a rise in the number of people who are living in very long-term rentals, much like government housing already looks today.
How to make sure customers rent the property they want
With ever-increasing numbers of people looking likely to remain in the rental sector in the future, it will become even more important to renters that they end up living in properties where they really want to remain in the long term.
How can InventoryBase help you?
InventoryBase provides property inspection software that can help you to navigate the post-lockdown property market quickly and easily. Our software allows you to build unlimited property reports and store property condition information. You can even take property photos directly from your phone, removing the need to work with multiple pieces of hardware.
As well as protecting tenants, InventoryBase’s property management software can help landlords to ensure that their rentals are being well looked after. Our software includes functionalities that allow you to build easily accessible professional inventories and carry out check-in, check-out and interim inspections, as well as a self-service function for tenants to complete inspections where a physical visit isn’t possible.
What about short-term rentals?
InventoryBase’s property management software isn’t just useful when you’re renting out properties on a long-term basis. It can also come in useful for people who manage short-term lets, including Airbnb hosts, hotel and resort managers and university accommodation services. In the post-lockdown era, both the return of the foreign holiday & the staycation will see the return of the need to manage customer check-ins and outs on a frequent basis. Our software formats are customisable, so you can easily adapt templates to best suit the needs of your business or institution. You can select the best template for your business from a range of pre-made ones, or customise a brand-new template from scratch to suit your needs.
Renting long-term shouldn’t mean that clients end up living in unsuitable properties that don’t feel like home. InventoryBase’s software solutions could help you to provide the best possible rental service, keeping your properties in excellent condition and retaining many happy customers on your books.