Property Insights
As the UK's leading property management company, FirstPort comments on a variety of discussion points that take place within an ever-changing property landscape.
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EuroProperty: UK Build to Rent needs to scale up fast
How can we make Build to Rent (BTR) reach its potential for real estate investors, and how do we unlock the barriers to secure investment?
Show House: Build to be rentable
To get ahead and stay ahead of the competition in the burgeoning BTR sector, your property must not only initially tempt new tenants but offer a long-term living prospect and home they don’t want to leave...
Property Week: Legislation will improve fire safety standards
Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations and fire safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy will lead to a much more robust regulatory framework...
Wellness Making The Home Where The Heart Is
Our specialist retirement estate agency business, Retirement Homesearch explores how the home environment really can impact residents’ wellbeing . Show House: Build to be rentable
To get ahead and stay ahead of the competition in the burgeoning BTR sector, your property must not only initially tempt new tenants but offer a long-term living prospect and home they don’t want to leave...
How to set up your grad scheme for success
With fewer candidates applying for vacant roles, businesses need to look at new ways to attract and retain talent. When set up and maintained well, a graduate scheme can provide a consistent influx of new talent and ideas to a business...
Build to Rent still has lessons to learn from other sectors
CBRE’s latest UK Residential Investment Report notes that “international developers [are] circling the market” with £32.7bn of institutional equity targeting the UK private rented sector over the next five years. This is yet more evidence that investment in the sector is booming...
Show House: A new lease of life
Living longer and more actively, the retiree cohort is changing and so must the housing provision if it is to accommodate them, something we are acutely aware of...
The value of the outside environment
What is it that those looking to buy a retirement home consider makes the perfect place to retire to? And is the market providing for them?
UK Government releases new ‘how to’ guides for leasehold and rental
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has today published new ‘how to’ guides for tenants, landlords and letting agents to help renters and leaseholders understand their rights
The value of wellness
In our latest briefing paper we explore health and wellbeing considerations from the perspective of the residential and commercial property sectors.
Humanising big data is the key for property managers
FirstPort is using years of property management experience and insight to put big data to work for residents.
Alleviating loneliness
In the light of the current national focus on loneliness, we present some initiatives providing social contact for the residents of the retirement communities we manage.
Planning for care in old age
Far too few of us understand our likely needs in old age, or have considered how we might pay for them. To help increase understanding, we've produced a guide giving the low-down on making provision for the future.
Property Week: Resi must respond to new customer demands
Resident’s evolving needs and the rise of BTR mean it’s essential to transform property management...
Survey shows vast gulf between demand and supply in retirement housing
Retirement Homesearch survey shows 19% of over-50s believe it ‘likely’ that they'll spend their autumn years in a purpose-built retirement community. Yet such housing comprises just 2% of existing housing stock...
Build to Rent in Scotland - Getting it right
In our latest briefing paper we explore the Build to Rent (BTR) opportunity in Scotland and discuss why investors should look for schemes that have operational management factored in from the earliest stages of development.
Property Week: Property managers vital for expanding PRS model
The entry of institutional investors into the build-to-rent sector must make for a better quality product...
Show House: Keys to the Kingdom
Successful, large-scale property management requires a range of skill sets – it’s not just about managing...
Delivering Build to Rent - Top ten questions answered
The emergent Build to Rent sector is triggering investment and causing a stir amongst the industry. But with any new trend comes a wealth of questions...
Delivering Build to Rent - Are you ready?
The Build To Rent (BTR) sector is gaining in force as the ideal model for scalable, first-class housing, tenure security and community engagement. Getting it right will require expertise, forward thinking and compromise...
Building Design and Construction magazine
Mark Varley, Head of Health & Safety at FirstPort was recently interviewed by Building Design and Construction magazine about our leading Health and Safety approach.
‘Proceedable’ buyers in retirement could be boosted by financial changes for tomorrow’s pensioners
Retirement Homesearch’s Quarter 2, 2017 review highlights the importance of ‘proceedable’ buyers in the retirement market as a ‘critical factor’ that could be impacted by the changing financial landscape for tomorrow’s pensioners.
Customer service excellence: Trust versus transaction
It’s no surprise that many of the UK’s best exemplars of exceptional customer service are drawn from the retail sector, as research data from The Institute of Customer Service consistently shows.
The calm before the storm?
The UK’s leading retirement property specialist releases its latest quarterly review of the UK market and beyond.The review highlights retirement property enquiries on the up, with a 17% increase in new registrations for the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same period last year, showing a resilient ‘bounce’ after a quiet final quarter of 2016.
Two heads are better than one: The IRPM and FirstPort working together to support the sector
Felix Keen, Director for Industry Engagement at FirstPort became Chair of the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) in September 2016 having first become involved with the organisation in 2002. He tells us how his role within both organisations, and how joined up working between them supports the sector as a whole.
Build to Rent: Aligning the stars
The private rental sector has always been with us, for the most part living in the shadow of our cultural obsession with home ownership. Two catalysts in the last quarter century have shifted the market’s centre of gravity.
Nygel Scourfield, Managing Director of FirstPort Property Services
The Voice of the Customer
We’ve all been there. You contact an organisation hoping to deal with a real person. Someone who can understand your query and give you the confidence they are dealing with it. What you’re met with is an offer of an email response, which ends up being complicated, convoluted jargon that you suspect the person writing doesn’t even fully understand, leaving you with your head in your hands wishing you hadn’t bothered.
Uncertainty and opportunity in the UK residential property market
Surprise results that fly in the face of expected outcomes always cause uncertainty. 2016 gave us Brexit and Donald J Trump in the White House. 2017 has so far given us a likely triggering of Article 50 by the spring. Again to the surprise of much expert opinion, pre-referendum doom appears to have been replaced by post-referendum boom – to date. Regardless, political and economic atmospheres remain febrile as a result and UK plc is arguably in its most unpredictable state in living memory.
health & safety
What landlords need to know
The Supreme Court’s decision in the recent case of Edwards v Kumarasamy [2016] UKSC 40 has shone a welcome spotlight on the importance of health and safety within the property industry. What started in July 2010 when Mr Edwards tripped on an uneven paving slab between the front door of his block of flats and the communal bin area, ended just over six years later with a judgment handed down by the Supreme Court, following a series of appeals.
Call to encourage 'Last-Time Buyer' movement as Britons put off downsizing
The UK’s leading retirement property specialist is calling for more specialist retirement properties to be built with desirable facilities to make it easier for Britons to downsize.
New research conducted by Retirement Homesearch has revealed a gap between the age people imagine they will downsize and the reality, with data showing that the age UK adults expect to downsize or move into a specialist retirement property increases as they get older.
Clicks and mortar
Harnessing Technology in Residential Property Management
The smart technology revolution in residential property management now has unstoppable traction … read the latest briefing paper from FirstPort.
Cinemas, gyms and bee-keeping clubs:
why it’s good business to ‘create communities’ on developments
By Sue Petri, MD of FirstPort Bespoke Property Services
There’s a change afoot in our cities which is set to transform apartment living, with larger, more complex developments now far more common, developers and property managers need to truly understand what residents are looking for and create communities that they want to live in.
Retirement Market Regains Confidence Following Brexit Decision
Sales of retirement property saw an unseasonal rise following the EU referendum, with August the second busiest month of the year to date, according to the latest figures from Retirement Homesearch.
31 August 2016: Understanding The Value of Property Maintenance
As the UK’s largest property management company, we know first-hand that it takes both time and money to successfully maintain a home. We do it every day. But we understand that for most people it’s something they have to do on top of everything else. 2 August 2016: Brexit instability impacts retirement housing market, latest figures show
Review finds new buyer registrations fall 30% year-on-year due to pre-referendum uncertainty but viewings and sales remain steady
1 June 2016: More information needed on options for downsizers to avoid care confusion
- Retirement Homesearch Q1 2016 Review finds retirement home sales rose 11% despite 18% fewer viewings than Q1 2015.
- Warning as a quarter of retirees now wait until they are 80 to downsize, many retirement homes not designed to meet their care needs.
- Retirement Homesearch calls for more information on options to be made available to downsizers.
12 February 2016: Super-size trend in apartment living has important consequences for property managers
The adage ‘bigger is better’ often applies very neatly when it comes to property matters. It certainly seems to have become the case for people choosing to live in larger apartment blocks in cities, as we now witness an increasing trend towards bigger and more complex developments.
4 February 2016: Generation Rent transferring to retirement
It is difficult to believe that experts predicted that 2015 would be the year of the property market price boom. Retirement Homesearch, the UK’s leading retirement property specialists and part of FirstPort, has used this review to explore how the year’s events have influenced the retirement property sector and what the lasting effects are for 2016.
29 January 2016: FirstPort CEO comments on the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices
FirstPort CEO comments on the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices
2 December 2015: FirstPort launches new research on apartment living
Over 80 per cent of London flat residents questioned say apartment living suits lifestyle, research reveals
18 November 2015: We must support – not shame – older homeowners into downsizing
Retirement downsizing has moved up the property market agenda in the past few weeks, following the recent, controversial comments from Lynda Blackwell, head of mortgages at the Financial Conduct Authority. Lynda believes that the Government should do more to encourage older homeowners “sitting happily in big houses” to downsize and free up family homes, alleviating the current UK housing crisis.
Impact of the UK housing shortage on the Retirement sector
The UK’s housing shortage is having consequences on different parts of the market, and the retirement sector is not immune.
26 May 2015: Downsizing down to a tee
Nick Freeth, Managing Director of Retirement Homesearch, the UK’s largest specialist retirement property agents, gives his thoughts and tips on how best to downsize.
13 May 2015: Choosing the right retirement property
Retirement Homesearch's ultimate checklist when choosing the right retirement property for you