June Update From Cullen Property | Charity, Awards & Other News

Hello and welcome back to the Cullen Property blog!

We hope everyone is excited for the beginning of Summer. We’ve certainly been enjoying the sun and warmer weather last weekend as we took a collective moment to breathe and recalibrate before pushing forward through the busy student letting season.

This season seems to be off to a good start - We are being proactive as always, exhausting all efforts to let properties. In this month's newsletter is an overview of the Housing To 2040 Scottish Government plan along with commentary and some insightful statistics showing general market performance in Edinburgh, along with some exciting news regarding our fundraising efforts for Penumbra!

Best Wishes,
The Cullen Property Team

We Have Entered The Letting Agency Team Of The Year Awards For The Herald And Scottish Home Awards!

Following reaching the final of last year's Scottish Home Awards in the Letting Agency Team Of The Year category, we are excited to announce that we have entered the Scottish Home Awards and Herald Property Awards this year.

It has been great to reflect on the past year that we have had, and be able to take stock of our team's hard work throughout our written entry. We have our fingers crossed for good news in July when finalists are announced!

We Have Already Reached New York In Our Cullen, Scotland To Cullen, USA Walk Run Cycle Challenge In Support Of Penumbra 

It is with great delight to share that we have already surpassed our yearly walk, run, cycle goal of 3,173 miles - the equivalent distance from Cullen, Scotland to Cullen, USA.

In total, at the end of May, we measured our team's fantastic efforts at 3,674 miles. Our team have been nothing less than committed to our shared goal to raise funds for Penumbra - one of Scotland's fantastic leading mental health charities. So much so that we have collectively decided to extend our ambitious goal from Cullen, USA to Cullen at the foot of Chile!

Our team look forward to the warmer weather as they continue walking, running and cycling an additional 5,000 miles before the end of the year. We would really appreciate if you could donate what you can to help our team raise an additional £1,355 to meet our target of £2,000 which will help Penumbra provide preventative and crisis-related support to those suffering or at risk of ill mental health.

To donate, click here.

Housing To 2040

The Scottish Government has released their 'Housing To 2040' document outlining the Government's approach to build and maintain good, safe, secure and warm homes that benefit people's wellbeing.

A focus for the Government will be the delivery of affordable homes, tackling homelessness and improving people's experiences of living in the private and social rented sectors as part of their overarching belief that housing is a human right.

It is said that this approach is starting to pay off, with child poverty rates in Scotland lower than the rest of the UK - owing to the number of affordable housing choices on offer. A large criticism however is the 'tackling of high rents' which many believe could lead to low quality housing stock. The topic of different 'rent control' measures arises every few years but has not materialised into legislation since the buy-to-let era began in the late 80's. The economic argument doesn't support such policies and they don't usually progress very far. The most recent version being the 'Rent Pressure Zone', which is still part of the current Private Residential Tenancy legislation, but has never been used.

Nevertheless, we will keep you updated about the positive and negative aspects of this plan as and when they are implemented.

Click here to read the full publication.

Rental Demand Up 26% In Edinburgh Since Easter

According to Zoopla, rental demand is up by the greatest margin in Central Edinburgh since Easter as the UK emerges from lockdown.

Coming close behind was Central Leeds, rising by 12%, followed by Inner London and Central Manchester - rising by 7% and 5% respectively.

Despite demand, overall rental stock in Edinburgh is down by 3.2% in Central Edinburgh, contrasting with 9.9% in inner London.

With the fall in rentals, London figures were reported to have fallen to their most affordable in 10 years.

Cullen Comment: Interestingly, rental figures in Edinburgh haven't quite experienced the same severity of slump as London.

Taking a look at Citylets Datahub, 2021 Q1 overall average rental figures across all properties sits at £1,063 - representing a -6.9% YoY change from 2020 Q1 where rents rested at £1,142 on average.

Looking at the long-term though, 2011 Q1 overall average rents sat at £766pcm - a +38.78% variance from then to today. We take this as proof of Edinburgh's relative resilience in times of crisis.

So, what about different sizes of property? Well, what's clear is that larger properties seem to have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. As specialists in student letting, we believe 3 and 4 bedroom properties in the inner-city may show a greater rental variance than 1 and 2 bedrooms due to the need for landlords and agents to 'make deals'.

Deals are sought to either retrain or attract student tenants. In the wake of PRT-related stipulations such as joint and several liability, it is in the best interest of tenants, agents and landlords to find tenants quickly to ensure continuation of existing contracts where tenants are currently in situation but one chooses to move out. The worst case scenario being that the property falls into void due to tenants departing said property as they would be otherwise fully liable for the rent of the vacated tenant.

Click here to read to full piece.

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