Reasons to Invest in Real Estate During a Recession
REAL ESTATE INVESTING speaks to a variety of investor needs, including diversification and income generation. So it’s important to understand the value of property investments in a portfolio during a recession.
When the stock market is doing well, prices tend to go up as investors have more capital. When the stock market is doing poorly, investors who are looking for other opportunities find that real estate is a safe haven or in other words, an economic slowdown may be a reason to buy real estate rather than shy away from it as falling asset prices can create a buyers’ market if other investors are forced to sell.
Still not sold on real estate investing? Here’s a look at the merits of investing in property when the stock market moves into a sluggish cycle:
- Property investments can produce stable income.
- Real estate may be less sensitive to volatility.
- Property may outperform stocks and bonds
Property Investments Can Produce Stable Income
One of the chief reasons to consider making property investments is the opportunity to generate income.As an income stream, real estate investing tends to offer predictability in a recession.
Real estate investors have another edge when it comes to using rental income to offset the effects of a recession in a position to hedge against inflation and changing interest rates when they have control over rental prices. Raising the rent at lease renewals, for instance, allows investors to keep up with rising prices associated with inflation. This asset class can offer more flexibility than stocks and bonds in a recession.
Real Estate May Be Less Sensitive to Volatility
For Example, stock market volatility can add to an investor’s recession woes if stock prices are making wide swings. That can directly affect the return profile of a portfolio. Real estate’s relative low correlation to stock market movements, on the other hand, can make it a more reliable choice during a recession. Because of the steady nature of revenues from real estate, it can often be a good hedge against volatility
Property May Outperform Stocks and Bonds
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance – that’s one of the oldest investing rules. But real estate could prove profitable when the economy moves toward a recession if stocks and bonds falter.
In short, a recession can open up opportunities to invest in real estate. Investing wisely means managing the balance between supply and demand. When supply is high and demand low.
Investors can position those properties as rentals or rent-to-own until the needle shifts back to low supply and high demand. At that point, the property can be sold for a profit. When evaluating properties, focus on quality and return potential, as well as the time frame involved.
Busiest ever month on Rightmove as EU exit spurs property market into action
PROPERTY has seen a boom in the market after Brexit, with sales up on this time last year. It has been the busiest month ever recorded on Rightmove after the UK finally left the EU last week.
The property market appears to be enjoying a boost as the UK left the EU. Property sales website Rightmove saw visits to the site surpass 150 million for the first time. There were over 152 million visits to Rightmove in January, a seven percent increase on January 2019.
The previous record for the busiest month was last set back in May 2019.
What is more, the number of sales being agreed by agents was up 12 percent compared to the same month in 2019.
This is the biggest year-on-year jump in any month since July 2017.
London saw the biggest uplift, up 26 percent year-on-year, followed by the East of England, up 20 percent.
The top five busiest days ever on Rightmove were all between 21st and 29th January, with Wednesday 29th topping the list. There were over 5.7 million visits on that day, up nine percent on the previous record set back on 24th April 2019.
Time spent by home hunters on the site was up four percent, with people spending a total of 1.17 billion minutes.
Experts from the company have credited Brexit for the uptick in sales.
Rightmove Director and Housing Market Analyst Miles Shipside said: “Home-movers have sprung into action in 2020, with a large number of agents telling us that sales and valuations have picked up significantly in their local areas.
“There’s still an imbalance, with demand growing at a faster rate than new supply and no clear sign yet of any uplift in new listings compared to this time last year, but we could see a new wave of sellers in the coming weeks.
“The annual jump in sales agreed numbers is the highest we’ve seen in any month since the summer of 2017, which saw a significant uplift compared to summer 2016 because of the short-term dip in activity immediately after the Brexit vote.
“The stage certainly looks set for an active spring if those sellers considering putting their homes up for sale end up doing so, but to catch this wave of buyer momentum sellers should take care not to over-price their homes.
“It’s still a price sensitive market and there’s a limit to what buyers can borrow even though mortgage interest rates are temptingly low.”
Brexit Day was regarded to be “good news” by expert Ben Bailey, property expert at estate agent, Nested.
Now Brexit uncertainty is behind Britons to some extent, more feel confident to buy.
He said: “Brexit has been affecting the market ever since the referendum three and a half years ago.
“We expect this to continue somewhat this year with lower transaction volumes, however there is some good news for sellers.
“Buyers in the market right now have already factored Brexit into their decision making and are starting to cite this less and less as a reason for a lowball offer and pulling out from a transaction.”
This means more stability for sellers, and there is likely to be more competition among buyers looking to take advantage of the still relatively low prices.
However, Ben revealed these low prices in the market won’t last long and prices could be driven up as the market picks up.
“This benefit will likely only last so long, as the increased demand will start to help push prices back up,” he said.
“As well as this, it is unlikely that in 2020 property prices will decrease anymore than they already have.
“This is because it has reached a point where it’s just not financially viable for some people to move if prices go any lower.”
QUOTES
“When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” — John F. Kennedy
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