The Return: Property & Investment Podcast

Send us a TextThe flight-to-safety, dumb money and real estateI had a great chat about Family Office, Private Equity and Institutional Investment in real estate in the current environment with Rebekah Tobias, leading investment specialist and Head of Business Development at Private Equity firm, Marcol.Rebekah’s experience includes Partner and Director roles at Marcol, M7 and Cushman & Wakefield, spanning international capital markets through to operations-led asset management. So she is well-placed to comment, and is brilliant at explaining the complex real estate investment world.Highlights of this episode include: How investors price real estate and take calculated risks in a fast-moving market - including re-pricing retail and offices, the premium required for investing further afield, and the ‘tech effect’ on valuations Dumb money and the financial consequences of herd mentality - even amongst sophisticated institutional investors The flight to quality and safety - and perceived low risk of prime real estate The importance of optimising operations as a way to create value - and how sophisticated investors are doing this across sectors.Resources:https://marcol.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekah-tobias-2187b66/annaclareharper.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextFrom valuations to international relations; cycles to ‘di-worse-ification’ - the world’s leading real estate investment textbook has a lot to say about investing right now.I had the privilege of quizzing leading Oxford Professor Andrew Baum on what his latest textbook says, and what it means for investors.Highlights include: Top tips for long term investors International drivers of demand - and how tense international relations will affect global real estate investment Common mistakes investors make with their numbers, and how to avoid them Understanding risk, and whether real estate can still be considered a ‘safe haven’ Debt, development and market cyclesResources:Andrew's recently revised book: Real Estate Investment and Finance: Strategies, Structures, Key Decisions: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Estate-Investment-Finance-Strategies-dp-1119526094/dp/1119526094/ref=dp_ob_title_bkOxford Future of Real Estate Initiative https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/research/centres-and-initiatives/oxford-future-real-estate-initiativeAndrew on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-baum-303a014/Anna's website: annaclareharper.comAnna on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextI had the pleasure of interviewing Gráinne Gilmore, Head of Research at Zoopla, following the release of their UK Rental Market Report to discuss what’s really happening in the UK rental market.Previously an award-winning financial and economics journalist at The Times newspaper in London, and Head of Residential Research at Knight Frank, Gráinne is often interviewed by the media on the UK housing market, appearing on BBC Radio 4, Sky news, BBC Breakfast, and the BBC World Service.So, she’s brilliantly placed to help explain the fascinating and complicated dynamics that are affecting the UK housing market right now.Highlights of this episode include: The driving forces behind the emerging ‘two-speed market’, with London leading one track, and regional economies taking a different path What’s happened in the UK rental market this year, including a 3% fall in London rents Which rental markets are growing, and what this means for investors What next in an environment of rising unemployment, and why economic nerves are most likely to boost the UK rental marketResources:Zoopla website: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/Gráinne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grainnegilmoreZoopla UK Rental Market Report: https://advantage.zpg.co.uk/insights/rental-market-report/Anna's website: annaclareharper.comAnna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextI had a fascinating discussion with the Head of Real Estate at leading investment bank, Goodbody, Colm Lauder.Colm is a leading authority on listed real estate. Since graduating with a MPhil in Real Estate Finance at Cambridge, Colm became the youngest Vice-President in the UK at MSCI in 2013. He was ranked #1 Real Estate Analyst in Ireland (Extel) in 2017, 2018 and 2019.In this episode, we covered resilience, liquidity and recent trends in listed real estate.Highlights included: The consequences of recent quantitative easing for real estate, and why it makes sense to prioritise inflation-hedged assets right now How listed funds are adapting their investment strategies, including sector specialisations such as supermarket vs PRS REITs, in response to investor demand The liquidity premium, and how it affects valuations in listed vs unlisted real estateResources:https://www.linkedin.com/in/colmlauder/https://www.goodbody.co.uk/annaclareharper.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextIn this episode, Toby Wilde and Anna Clare Harper discuss the common myths around how and whether proptech can solve housing market problems. Toby shared his controversial opinions on the major issues in the industry including the greenbelt, Airbnb and P2P lending.Toby is a multi-time Proptech Founder whose experience includes scaling Sprift, currently the fastest growing property data resource for Estate Agents, Landlords, Developers & Solicitors, as well as in Estate Agency and in his family’s property development business.Highlights includes: What problems can proptech (and specifically, algorithms) really solve in the UK property market, and how? How data can really be used to optimise where to build and what is built, from a developer and investor perspective What data reveals about a collapse in studio and 1 bed values, due to Covid-led limits on the airbnb ‘dark economy’ The idea of a ‘barcode for every house’ and how tech can reduce inefficiencies in the housing marketResources:Oparo website: https://www.oparo.co.uk/Sprift website: https://sprift.com/Toby on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobywilde/Anna's website: https://annaclareharper.com/Anna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextIn this episode, Gavriel Merkado, CEO and Founder of leading residential property data and analytics company REalyse and Anna Clare Harper discuss the ‘myth’ of ‘material uncertainty’. What material uncertainty actually means, what the implications are for investors trying to assess a deal, and the real reason banks are cautious to lend when a valuation contains this clause.A former quantitative analyst and expert in real estate data analytics, Gavriel shares his perspective on material uncertainty and whether there is a viable alternative right now in valuations. We also touched on why he believes ‘augmented valuations’ will be the future for companies looking to save time and cut costs.Highlights of this episode include: How greater technology, transparency and ‘augmented valuations’ could revolutionise UK property transactions, and the implications for ‘industry middlemen’ How disrupting the monopoly on valuations could impact the UK market Understanding value in the UK residential property market throughout market changes Why uncertainty is almost a certainty - in any marketResources:www.realyse.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/gavriel-merkado-17759917/annaclareharper.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextIn this episode, Mike Bristow, Founder of the UK’s leading property peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, Crowdproperty, and Anna Clare Harper discuss why high rates don’t always mean high risk when it comes to property lending, and how peer-to-peer (P2P) is disrupting traditional bank finance.As a registered chartered accountant, Mike also sits on the investment committee of proptech venture capital business Property Innovation Labs (Pi Labs), and is an angel investor in leading proptech and fintech businesses.Highlights of the episode include: How tech is an enabler for solving problems in property and finance, and the importance for great proptech and fintech businesses of focusing on ‘holes’, not ‘drillbits’ How investors (both lenders and borrowers) can understand and manage risks in P2P lending How the uncertain environment around Covid-19 has created an opportunity for P2P lenders to prove their point, and continue to disrupt traditional big bank lending in real estate.Resources:Crowdproperty.comBlog - blog.crowdproperty.com = 40 articles all about alternative financeLinkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbristow/annaclareharper.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextIn this episode, Guy Harrington, Founder of Glenhawk, one of the fastest growing property lenders in the UK, dispels common myths and misconceptions around short term ‘bridging’ property finance. Glenhawk has lent over £115m, secured £160m finance from JP Morgan, and is on track for its target £500m loan portfolio.Highlights of this episode include: What’s really happening to lender appetite, through Coronavirus What developers and investors can learn from how lenders view risk How lenders are evolving from ‘shark’ to ‘heart’, becoming consumer-focused How to avoid the ‘loan to own’ lenders as a borrowerResources:Website: Glenhawk.comContact: gh@glenhawk.com & lendingteam@glenhawk.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-harrington-glenhawk/Find out more about The Return Podcast at annaclareharper.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a TextI had the chance to discuss the truth about hiring in real estate with Louisa Dickens, co-founder of LMRE, a leading global proptech recruitment business helping startups scale and corporates find new talent.As a UK PropTech Association board member, Louisa is well-placed to understand what both proptech businesses and candidates expect from each other during the recruitment process and the common hiring mistakes that proptech startups and corporates make.Highlights of this episode include: What employees really want, and what businesses look for in candidates How to build a diverse team How hiring is changing, and the importance of having a hiring strategy Where start-ups and corporates go wrong, and how to avoid common mistakesResources:Lmre.co.ukhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/annaclareharper.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/

Send us a Text*What works and what doesn't in this complex UK residential property market? Part #2*Panel discussion with one of the UK’s top planning lawyers, Martha Grekos, and Editor of the leading property investor magazine, Property Investor News, Richard Bowser, marking the paperback launch of Anna Clare Harper's book, Strategic Property Investing: What works and what doesn’t in a complex UK residential property market bit.ly/strategicpropertyinvestingHighlights include: ‘Icarus syndrome’ - and the trouble with crowd-funding and over-leverage in property development Top tips for riding a challenging market, for long term landlords and ‘value add’ developers, including how to conduct due diligence right, and maintaining relationships so that you have the right people on your side, even if you’re not taking on new projects How to maximise the value of assets through planning uplift and how to avoid common mistakes developers makeResources:https://propertyinvestor.newshttp://www.marthagrekos.co.uk/bit.ly/strategicpropertyinvestingannaclareharper.com/book