• Surrenden Invest offers a more balanced, profitable and counter-cyclical portfolio
• 51% of survey respondents considering alternative investments in 2018 favour hotels (JLL UK hotels forecast 2018)
• New Whitley Bay hotel investment promises strong yields and 94% ROI (Surrenden Invest)

Investing in a hotel room isn’t a new concept. For decades, institutional investors have been purchasing hotel rooms around the world, leasing them back to paying guests and enjoying the lucrative income.

What is new however, is that thanks to a new breed of investment firms such as Surrenden Invest, private individuals are now also able to access the so called “beds-sector” and the market is booming.

When priced out of mainstream sectors and looking for higher yields than traditional property asset classes such as residential property, offices and retail can offer, savvy investors know that there are numerous appeals to investing in alternative property such as hotel rooms.

“Given the cyclical nature of the property sector, adding an alternative asset class to an investment portfolio provides the benefit of countering dips on the mainstream side, such as traditional buy-to-let.  The hands-off and hassle-free aspects of room ownership are highly appealing, hotel room investors can sit back and relax whilst the management team market, manage and maintain the room.”

Jonathan Stephens, MD, Surrenden Invest

Hotel rooms offer a lower entry price and lower risk profile compared to traditional property investment, along with immediate income from the date of purchase.  Buy Back-schemes, which are in place in many hotel room investments offer a guaranteed exit when the lease ends.

Overall, there is confidence in the UK hotel sector, performing well in 2017 and mirroring property investment in general; a weakened sterling, growth in staycations and improved infrastructure development all contributed to investments in built assets exceeding those of 2016.

Looking ahead to 2018 and the outlook is equally bright. CBRE’s 2018 Market Outlook expects the UK property sector to continue to perform solidly, with the beds sector, which includes hotels, weathering any uncertainty well.

“While some property sectors will see extremely patchy growth performance, the rise of Industrials & Logistics looks likely to continue and the ‘beds sectors’ such as hotels, built-to-rent and healthcare are also set to grow strongly.”

Miles Gibson, Head of UK Research at CBRE

Looking to the regions, JLL have forecast year-on-year regional hotel occupancy growth of 0.3% in 2018, whilst PwC anticipate a further 2.3% RevPAR growth for the UK regional sector in 2018 with an expected 12,000 new hotel rooms coming on stream during the year.

Another key driver which made its presence known in 2017 and will continue to do so in 2018 is inbound tourism to the UK. Visit Britain’s inbound visitor forecast for 2018 is at 41.7 million visits, an increase of 4.4% on 2017 levels and a total spend of £26.9 billion

Surrenden Invest is delighted to have partnered up with leading financial and property group, The High Street Group to deliver the benefits of hotel investment to its private clients.

The latest opportunity provided by Surrenden Invest is the Whitley Bay Hotel; an exclusive 32-bedroom hotel located in an excellent position in Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear, just a short walk from the town centre and its award-winning Blue Flag beaches.

The hotel is just 25 minutes to Newcastle city centre by Metro, 30 minutes to Newcastle International Airport and 10 minutes from the International Cruise Terminal by car. Durham and a variety of tourist locations in Northumberland can also be reached in under 50 minutes.

The hotel offers guests an enhanced budget-boutique package, rivalling that of standard budget hotel groups such as Travelodge or Premier Inn. Guests will find rooms furnished to a higher-than-average standard with en-suite facilities and extremely comfortable beds.  A personal level of service ensures each guest receives a warm welcome and a wonderful stay thus delivering a 70% rebooking rate.

Renovated at a cost of £1.25 million in 2017 Whitley Bay Hotel has seen occupancy levels increase month on month. The average hotel occupancy rates in the North East of England is 75%, in the 3 months from July – September of last year Whitley Bay Hotel achieved an average occupancy rate of 83.8%.

Investors in the Whitley Bay hotel will receive an immediate guaranteed yield from day 1 for up to 10 years with a guaranteed Buy Back offer at 110%, backed up and securitised by the High Street Group of Companies. An investment of £70, 000 is required for an income of £59,000 net and an ROI of 94%.

Whitley Bay town itself has grown to 36,000 people and has become increasingly popular with visitors. It comes alive at weekends and bank holidays, when young and old alike enjoy the local amenities including restaurants, bars and nightlife.

A decade ago, in 2007, North Tyneside Council announced a £36 million regeneration plan for the coast at Whitley Bay.  This has included, among other projects, the regeneration the Spanish City site with its iconic dome, completed in 1912. The dome is expected to reopen summer 2018 complete with fine dining seafood restaurant, champagne and oyster bar, a tearoom, fish and chip restaurant and ice-cream parlour.

To find out more about allocated property investment please contact:

Surrenden Invest
info@surrendeninvest.com
London office: 0203 3726 499
Liverpool office: 0151 3477 459
www.surrendeninvest.com 

With 2018 now upon us, anyone thinking about investing in bricks and mortar wants to know what’s going to happen over the next 12 months. Will prices continue to edge up, stabilise or dip down? Where is best to invest? Does buy-to-let still stack up?

Jonathan Stephens, Founder and MD of expert property investment agency, Surrenden Invest, which has helped 700 clients invest in UK bricks and mortar over the past 2 years, shares his 5 predictions for the UK property market in 2018:

1. Manchester will remain robust with city centre fringe redevelopment schemes offering the best opportunities. Manchester is tipped for rapid growth over the years ahead. Its population is projected to expand by 20% by 2025, reaching 625,000 residents, according to city analysts. Such a rapid turnaround in population size is never easy for city planners to address and Manchester is estimated to be around 40,000 homes behind the number it needs, with demand continuing to put pressure on supply. Pressure on city centre land remains incredibly high thus it is to the outer fringes of the city that tenants are moving to, taking advantage of more affordable housing. With property prices significantly less than city centre sites, this is where buy-to-let investors need to be looking when it comes to Manchester.

2. Birmingham will continue to be one of the strongest buy-to-let markets in the country. Oft overlooked, the UK’s second city (by population), Birmingham, has a great deal to tempt buy-to-let investors in 2018. Birmingham’s youthful population and the huge number of graduates that the city produces every year has created an excellent environment for entrepreneurship. One part of the city in particular, Digbeth, has become a hotspot for new businesses and cultural activities, attracting large number of young professional residents. We will see Digbeth, just 10 minutes from New Street Station booming with gentrification this year and so now is the time to buy before prices soar.

3. Liverpool will continue to offer low price points and strong growth potential. 10 years on from being announced as the European Capital of Culture, the city has gone from strength to strength. Liverpool has a thriving, service-based economy, which was worth £29.5 billion in 2015 and the city is leading the UK’s Northern Powerhouse region in terms of its overall GVA growth and its growth of GVA per capita. Economic output will continue to improve with the likes of Cunard Shipping bringing a large share of their operation back to where it all began in 2018. A growing population and plenty of blossoming talent, backed by strong economic credentials and a buoyant housing market make for an ideal environment for opportunity, boosting Liverpool up the list of cities to watch most closely in the UK over the coming year.

4. London will remain slow with some prominent city centre locations seeing prices drop. Anyone who lives in London, or indeed reads the papers, will know that the capital slowed in 2017 and whilst the long-term outlook for one of the world’s top real estate markets remains optimistic, the impact of slowing prices will be felt especially if we see further interest rate increases. However undervalued pockets will continue to offer irresistible opportunities especially locations set to benefit from Crossrail due to open later this year.

5. Newcastle will be the dark horse of 2018. Newcastle and its twin city, Gateshead, has been quietly waiting in the wings, growing in population and economically, over the last couple of years. 2018 will be the north-east city’s time to shine as a higher than average economic activity rate, rising property prices and significant local investment mean that Newcastle is becoming something of a favourite with businesses and investors alike. Surrenden Invest has taken up options on several sites and predict big things for buy-to-let investors in this hidden gem.

For further details contact Surrenden Invest on 0203 3726 499 or visit www.surrendeninvest.com.

• Manchester flagged as top UK city for investment prospects (pwc)
• M16 postcode out-performing rest of city with 4.46% growth in 12 months (Zoopla)
• New Kinetic development providing investors with way into Old Trafford (Surrenden Invest)

Manchester United FC is known for being one of the best football teams in the world. The club’s status and plentiful funding means that it has the pick of players, coaches and managers from across the globe. Football fans appreciate they heritage of Old Trafford as a venue, but now it seems that a new kind of international interest is being stirred up in this hotbed of sporting activity.

“Old Trafford has an unbreakable connection with football, but there’s actually a lot more to the area than sport alone. Those living there enjoy easy access to Manchester city centre, Media City, White City Retail Park and the University Quarter. The mixture of local amenities and proximity to key areas of the city is causing investors to take a much closer look at Old Trafford.”

Jonathan Stephens, Managing Director, Surrenden Invest

The interest from investors is supported by data from a range of sources. pwc has just highlighted Manchester as the UK’s top city investment prospect in its Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2018 report, while figures from Zoopla pinpoint the M16 postcode area as enjoying property price rises above the overall level for the city – 4.46% for M16 compared to 4.22% for Manchester as a whole over the past year.

Against this exciting investment backdrop, property investment specialists Surrenden Invest have just announced the launch of the superb new Kinetic development.

With 48 apartments designed for modern, professional tenants, the building offers both investors and residents the chance to be a part of one of Manchester’s most exciting locations. The apartments have been shaped to the needs of contemporary urban residents, from their elegant, Italian-designed kitchens, to their sleek, stylish interiors.

Not only have the apartments been designed to suit professional tenants, but they have also been created with university students in mind. Just moments from Kinetic, Lancaster University is opening a brand new campus for 6,500 students from September 2019. Students with a taster for refined living will no doubt be delighted by Kinetic, while Kinetic residents will benefit from use of the new campus leisure centre.

“Old Trafford is still up and coming in terms of its investment credentials, so Kinetic offers a particularly exciting opportunity for investors who like to be at the forefront of an area’s growth (and reap the financial rewards that doing so entails). The creation of the new university campus, as well as the existing attractions of the Old Trafford location, mean that this development has been conceived not just with an eye on the present but also with future considerations taken into account.”

Jonathan Stephens, Managing Director, Surrenden Invest

For further details and property investment opportunities, visit www.surrendeninvest.com, email info@surrendeninvest.com or call 0203 3726 499.

• Investors now far more clued up on basic property investment principles
• Enquiry to investment period reduced to just 5 days on average
• Media coverage and sector maturation responsible

Specialist end-to-end property investment company Surrenden Invest has revealed a shift in the nature of its clients, which it believes represents the next phase of the property investment sector’s evolution.

“Clients used to start out by asking us basic questions about property investment. Now, however, investors are coming to us already clued up about the basics. There’s been a notable shift in terms of the average investor’s knowledge base – contemporary investors have done their homework and know what they want. They’ve already taken the time to learn the basics before they speak to an investment company.”

Jonathan Stephens, Managing Director, Surrenden Invest

This new trend means that investors are more focused on getting guidance on the opportunities available as soon as they engage with a property investment company. They know the kind of investment that they want and are ready to drill down into the detail of what the market currently has to meet their requirements.

In addition, they’re seeking information on how best to invest and which issues to watch out for with specific projects. They already know, for example, about the merits of investing in Birmingham and the value of a prime city centre location. Now, it’s more a case of advising whether the charms of the apartments at (for example) B5 Southside outweigh those of Moseley Gardens, or vice versa.

Such a shift in investor knowledge has inevitably impacted on the speed at which decisions and investments are made. Investors have picked up the pace, with Surrenden Invest reporting that the average investor now takes just five days to go from an initial enquiry to an investment. Previously, the process could take several weeks, and sometimes even longer.

“The change in investors’ behaviour and the speed at which they now want to invest means that property investment companies need to be at the top of their game in order to satisfy the needs of these seriously savvy investors. There’s little small talk any more – investors want to invest fast and expect the information that they demand to be provided instantly in order to facilitate that. It’s an invigorating time to be involved in property investment!”

Jonathan Stephens, Managing Director, Surrenden Invest

A number of factors are behind property investors’ evolving knowledge. The significant media interest in buy-to-let investment over the past few years has played a role, as has media coverage of ‘newer’ types of investment, such as hotel investment. A far broader swathe of information is available online. Property investment used to seem like something of a dark art to the uninitiated, but the proliferation of insightful, information-packed websites and blogs has enabled anyone with an interest to learn the ropes.

The result is that investors want to move faster. They are more decisive and less interested in debating whether or not they might want to invest. Instead, they just need guidance on where the best deals to suit their individual needs are to be found.

“It’s great to be part of the industry’s evolution and to work with investors who are so driven to make property investment work for them. The industry is maturing around us and property investment companies need to keep up with the new pace in order to meet modern client’s demands. Those that find themselves behind the curve have some serious catching up to do.”

Jonathan Stephens, Managing Director, Surrenden Invest

 For further details and property investment opportunities, visit www.surrendeninvest.com, email info@surrendeninvest.com or call 0203 3726 499. 

• Birmingham ranked higher than London in relation to house price growth (Knight Frank)
• In Birmingham we have experienced an increasing level of interest, approximately 15 buyers to every unit (Surrenden Invest)
• New “B5” development on Birmingham’s Southside offers highly sought after B1 postcode (Surrenden Invest)

With the new tax year now in full swing many B2L investors will be reassessing their portfolios and future residential offerings in relation to the government’s removal of financial relief.

How much of an impact this will have on the UK’s property market is yet to be determined. However, many cities across the country are still providing investors with enticing opportunities, sure to encourage a positive year for the market.

And currently it’s the UK’s regional cities with the most to offer. According to Knight Frank’s most recent Global Residential Cities Index, both Birmingham and Manchester are ranked higher than London in relation to house price growth.

Jonathan Stephens, Managing Director of property consultancy Surrenden Invest, is confident that the introduction of the government’s tax changes will not dampen the growing positivity surrounding the UK’s regional property market. He explains,

“Whilst there may be a slight sense of uncertainty surrounding the B2L market as these tax changes are introduced, we expect them to deter only a minimal amount of investors, with the majority of the market continuing as normal. We have just launched a number of exciting projects that will appeal to great deal of investors and ensure a consistent growth within the market. 

“In Birmingham alone we have experienced an increasing level of interest, with approximately 15 buyers to every unit available. And this demand does not look set to falter anytime soon. Birmingham is benefiting from substantial investment in infrastructure and development and extensive job creation as many businesses move to the city. We would expect demand to continue on a positive trajectory, especially in prime, central locations in both Birmingham and Manchester.”

Surrenden Invest’s most recent addition to the Birmingham market is the contemporary “B5” development on the city’s Southside, boasting the sought after B1 postcode. This area attracts a wealth of young families, professionals and tourists who are all keen to experience its creative and urban atmosphere.

The iconic Bull Ring Shopping Centre is just a couple of minutes’ walk away and with New Street station only a 5 minute walk away, “B5” offers an excellent living opportunity to a growing rental market. With prices starting from just £155,000, all 100 apartments have been specifically designed for the shared rental market and will include features such as video entry access control, custom built kitchens and hard wood flooring.

For more information, visit www.surrendeninvest.com or contact Surrenden Invest on 0203 3726 499.