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Welcome to the first Woodhead Investments newsletter.

The purpose of this is to give tenants, contractors, agents, and other connected parties a flavour of what is going on here and how we perceive the property market.

Whilst there continues to be a lot of turbulence on the global front, we have been delighted with the amount of business activity locally since the beginning of this year. Who would have thought with such an “anti-business” Labour Government at the helm?!

Tenant take up remains very positive and all of our usual tradespeople appear to be pulled out with work and very difficult to get hold of.  We have recently completed letting of a 2,500 sq ft office in Wakefield, a double shop unit on Northgate, and have 3 further retail units in Wakefield City Centre under offer.  Demand for industrial units remains on a high with a restricted supply having pushed rents upwards.  Thornes Trading estate remains popular, and we have relet 2 units here since the beginning of the year. 

Sales of residential property whilst slow, the average now taking approximately 4-6 months to complete, also remain popular and most go under offer within 6 weeks of coming onto the market.  Sales of commercial property are still occurring indicating that the banks continue to lend to those who are perceived not to be a high risk. 

We remain buoyant on an acquisition front, having in the last few weeks acquired a portfolio of 8 houses throughout North Yorkshire; 4 houses in Leicester; 1 in Birmingham and a further 7 more locally in Wakefield, Huddersfield and Sheffield.  There appears to be a lot more residential and commercial properties being offered for sale and whilst some of this could be put down to the rush to beat the 1^st April stamp duty hike, we suspect that it is private individuals / companies deleveraging.

Whilst borrowing costs remain relatively high compared to recent times, we are mindful that the markets are currently pricing in 2 further quarter point reductions later in the year.  This should help all those businesses that borrow money.  Whether or not bank’s increased margins will reduce back to former levels does however remain to be seen. 

During the last 18 months growth has certainly been most prolific in the residential and industrial sectors, where supply remains quite tight.  We feel this is likely to continue into the foreseeable future because build / labour costs remain high and despite the new Government’s pledges, the grant of planning permission takes longer now than ever before.  There are numerous new “net zero” obstacles to climb / developers need satisfy (such as Biodiversity Net Gain and Community Infrastructure Levies) which have added extra layers of red tape.  The continued new population increase does however provide continued demand for housing as well as opportunities for business growth.

On this note, we would be glad to hear from anyone looking to start a new business or even relocating, whereby we can discuss your requirements and inform you of any upcoming premises that may be suitable.  It is also worth noting that here in Wakefield we currently enjoy free pavement licences for café seating, making it an ideal time of year for such businesses to consider starting up with Summer approaching.