Rettie's private sector property research team provides thorough and bespoke analysis, based on reliable and up-to-date information, led by Dr John Boyle, who has over 15 years of experience as a property economist. Our researchers provide the very best market intelligence and work across a broad range of projects locally and nationally.
As we emerge from lockdown restrictions and start to enjoy sharing a meal indoors with friends, visiting family members and perhaps dreaming of a foreign holiday, or at least a staycation somewhere in Scotland, the housing market remains the primary preoccupation for many households.
The 2020 figures from Citylets have reported the first annual fall in average advertised rents in Edinburgh since 2009, and this has raised concern among some of those involved in the market. However, this downturn is not unexpected and a rebalancing of the Edinburgh rental market will certainly be welcomed by tenants and politicians.
If 2020 was a person, it would definitely be on Santa's naughty list. Depending on your outlook, experiences or political persuasion, we will all have our own list this Christmas of politicians, other public figures, and people that we think either deserves a visit from Santa, or a less welcomed visit from Krampus. But, truth be told, 2020 has been a challenging year for us all.
The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions have shown the benefits of professionally managed purposed built rental housing. As the office and retail sectors enter a period of readjustment in wake of changing behavioural patterns, BTR is well positioned to both meet housing demand as well as absorb City Centre space.
We proactively continued our engagement with our client database during lockdown to keep them informed of opportunities that would be coming to the market once restrictions were lifted. We have also taken active steps to allow potential buyers to view new build properties in a safe and compliant way. These steps have resulted in a strong return in new build sales since the market reopened in July.
There was widespread uncertainty in the rental sector and among our clients as lockdown was introduced as fears over lease abandonment, the short-term rental market and the potential for extended voids all came in to sharp focus. By keeping in close communication with our both our landlords and tenants, we have been able to avoid unexpected outcomes and mitigate many of the potential downsides of lockdown across our portfolio.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led many sectors to reconsider their real estate requirements and assets - from office, to student, to tourism and leisure there is currently a widespread review of strategy ongoing. In the short term, we are already seeing opportunities coming to the market as result of the pandemic, which is creating an active residential development market.