real estate development

The vast majority of urban apartments in the US are geared towards single occupants, couples without kids or maybe young professionals with roommates. It's hard to find apartments with the kind of layout that would fit families. Anyone who's gone looking for that type of space is probably familiar with bedrooms that look and feel like closets, or if you do find an apartment that has multiple good-sized bedrooms, it probably costs a fortune. So why is this the case? Why is so much apartment construction skewed towards non-families, and why does there seem to be an inherent assumption in the real estate market that families will always want to live in houses out in the suburbs? On this episode of the Odd Lots podcast, we explore the hidden incentives and regulations that deter builders from making more family-friendly buildings. We speak with real estate developer Bobby Fijan, and also Stephen Jacob Smith, executive director at the Center for Building in North America, for their perspective.

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We’re back again for another episode of The Property Podcast and this week it’s an ambitious one as Rob & Rob try and fix the property market. 

Today’s chat started with a very interesting article that appeared in the January issue of The Economist. It takes a global perspective of the property market and formed the basis for today’s property podcast. 

The Robs have delved into the good old supply and demand debate while also talking about the inequality between generations, the balance of home ownership vs renting and how different countries handle issues around housing. 

Ultimately, is our planning system broken? 

There’s so much to cover. And we don’t just mean for the UK property market, we’re talking globally!  It’s no shock to hear that the property market needs fixing, but what do we think the answer is?

Well, you’ll have to tune in to find that out. 

The Robs have said for a while now that optimism has been increasing in-line with the 18-year property cycle and have very conveniently uncovered a news story to back this up! 

There’s been a 17% increase in new buyer enquiries for land which shows that developers are keen on building again. And because a development can take a few years to build, this is a strong indication that we’re on track for a healthy few years. 

There's also another news story with data from an online evaluation service highlighting that the number of potential vendors requesting evaluations from estate agents more than doubled from December to January. It was expected to be up anyway because December is always a quiet month and January is always the time people want to make a change, but doubling in numbers is a significant increase. 

The signs are there. Estate agents and developers seem to be more positive. But does that mean it's boom time now? 

In short….no. But it’s the first sign of positivity for the next part of the property cycle.

This week’s Hub Extra is a great podcast to help you unwind. It’s called A Meditative Story. This is a great one that will allow you to switch off after a busy day. It’s a new kind of listening experience with mindfulness prompts. Rob found it gave him a clearer and settled mind after listening. We highly recommend this podcast just as that little something to give you a more mindfulness practice whenever you need it.

We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.

Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week! 

If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.

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