x

Mark Hempshell

Property journalist, researcher

7212 Profile Views

About Me

Property journalist and researcher with over 20 years writing about the property industry. Contributor to magazines and websites, writing content for property companies, agents and developers. Blogging my thoughts about property on my own blog at propertyinsider.info

Available to hire for copywriting and content writing projects. More details here: markhempshell.com

my expertise in the industry

-

Mark's Recent Activity

Shock horror. What next, the vote?

From: Mark Hempshell 08 August 2018 09:49 AM

What a bizarre story.

From: Mark Hempshell 25 July 2018 08:53 AM

What this shows is what everybody already knows - cheap places offer good yields. But they do have the demand? That's essential to be a real 'hotspot'.

From: Mark Hempshell 04 July 2018 08:45 AM

Ha, a lovely piece of PR! Can't see many buy to let investors queuing to to buy in any of those though.

From: Mark Hempshell 15 June 2018 10:26 AM

Swinton as a holiday let hotspot. Or Halifax for that matter. I'm speechless, honestly.

From: Mark Hempshell 02 May 2018 08:54 AM

Quite agree, in fact I wrote a piece on this some time ago which you may find useful .... http://www.propertyinsider.info/the-aliens-guide-to-investing-in-property-up-north/

From: Mark Hempshell 03 November 2017 09:54 AM

The rather unfortunate positioning of the neo-gothic Victorian town hall in that render gives a clue as to why there has been such opposition to this scheme ;-)

From: Mark Hempshell 24 August 2017 09:41 AM

“Policy makers should consider what more can be done to ensure that homeownership doesn’t become the preserve of the wealthy for generations to come,” she added. Almost sounds like they'd like it to be made illegal.

From: Mark Hempshell 23 August 2017 08:43 AM

One of the strangeisms of the auction business then that those wishing to invest in the north and Northern Ireland have to buy their properties in London!

From: Mark Hempshell 27 July 2017 08:43 AM

Here's a really useful article about investing in Manchester: http://www.propertyinsider.info/where-to-buy-live-or-invest-in-manchester-city-centre/

From: Mark Hempshell 07 July 2017 09:03 AM

Scrub out the Northern Powerhouse 'idea' which almost certainly won't happen - but even without that Manchester is still a very attractive investment proposition.

From: Mark Hempshell 27 June 2017 08:58 AM

There are a lot of new builds in the pipeline in many areas of the country right now. Will be interestin to see what happens when they reach the market.

From: Mark Hempshell 14 June 2017 08:17 AM

Are places where prices are rising fast really the best places to invest? I thought the trick was to get in before they start rising fast?

From: Mark Hempshell 13 June 2017 09:05 AM

Correct. None of them. All the main parties know that housing isn't something that wins or loses votes, which is probably why they don't do much about it.

From: Mark Hempshell 08 June 2017 09:26 AM

So it will be a kind of property remake of the 90s TV programme 'Back to the Floor' then?

From: Mark Hempshell 06 June 2017 09:41 AM

And of course both parties have an err good track record on the issue of housing don't they?

From: Mark Hempshell 06 June 2017 09:38 AM

Useful report, but look at all the new houses being built in most parts of the country. These don't show in the estate agent's figures do they?

From: Mark Hempshell 31 May 2017 09:23 AM

Why don't local buyers want to buy them? Just wondering, like.

From: Mark Hempshell 27 April 2017 09:10 AM

I suspect the Housing White Paper is already lining Larry's litter tray even as we speak. With Brexit, when will they ever find time to formulate a proper housing policy.

From: Mark Hempshell 19 April 2017 09:00 AM

Fully agree, unfortunately new road and rail schemes that make a big enough difference are really very few and far between in this country.

From: Mark Hempshell 11 April 2017 10:39 AM

High demand, low supply, cheap money. So basically carry on as normal then?

From: Mark Hempshell 11 April 2017 10:37 AM

Crossrail 2 will have an impact on the housing markets in Southampton and King's Lynn? Really?

From: Mark Hempshell 05 April 2017 09:30 AM

An interesting piece, but has there ever really been certainty in the property market? There's always been a degree of uncertainty around the corner.

From: Mark Hempshell 29 March 2017 09:45 AM

Is it because Manchester looks a good investment, or simply that there's much more demand than supply? Any thoughts?

From: Mark Hempshell 24 March 2017 09:38 AM

How near is near though?

From: Mark Hempshell 21 March 2017 08:57 AM

Interesting to note Aberdeen isn't mentioned. Anyone have any insight on the market there?

From: Mark Hempshell 02 March 2017 09:27 AM

Is there anything to suggest that green properties let more easily or for higher rents? Would be interesting to know if anyone has any insight on this.

From: Mark Hempshell 01 March 2017 09:04 AM

I do wonder how much any price growth in northern cities is due to a shortage of supply rather than prospects for the local economy. If you take Manchester for example, and despite plans to build thousands of new city centre apartments, the supply of property in the places people actually want to live is tight. Any thoughts?

From: Mark Hempshell 27 February 2017 09:23 AM

"the volume of students residing in PBSA in the UK has more than doubled over the last decade" Hardly surprising given the vast amount that has been built with many places not having any 10 years ago. But does that make it an attractive investment going forward? Hmm

From: Mark Hempshell 07 February 2017 09:45 AM

In the 1960s we developed garden cities. Now we're talking garden villages. Kind of tells you a lot about how much ambition there is to build new homes in any real volume.

From: Mark Hempshell 04 January 2017 09:24 AM

It's a great time to be borrowing money. It's a terrible time to be lending money. Is that not a potentially explosive situation?

From: Mark Hempshell 01 December 2016 09:56 AM

Are fast rising property prices a good thing or a bad thing for investors? Discuss. :-)

From: Mark Hempshell 01 December 2016 09:21 AM

So essentially leasehold properties make a very good investment - for the freeholder?

From: Mark Hempshell 18 November 2016 09:04 AM

Still better than money in the bank in other words.

From: Mark Hempshell 02 November 2016 08:51 AM

I know it is almost the time for writing letters to Santa, but I can't see even the most generous Santa pulling this one out of his sack!

From: Mark Hempshell 31 October 2016 09:58 AM

If Heathrow didn't exist would house prices in the 'immediate vicinity' be higher or lower? I'd suggest lower, much lower. Investors involved in the area ought to think what the rental demand here is going to be like during and after the construction. Sky high I would imagine.

From: Mark Hempshell 26 October 2016 09:13 AM

Not at all surprised London still heads the list .... and probably always will. Think about it carefully and, for a variety of reasons, you'll realise that a lot of the alternatives in Europe do not look all that attractive.

From: Mark Hempshell 25 October 2016 10:25 AM

Good (ish) news for smaller investors in UK student property then?

From: Mark Hempshell 13 October 2016 08:59 AM

The cynic in me suggests this is just re-announcing schemes that have already been announced funded by money that has already been announced in a different guise. Wasn't the sale 'publicly owned brownfield land' announced in 2011 (if not earlier)?

From: Mark Hempshell 04 October 2016 09:37 AM

Do that many people really maintain a rational opinion on how the value of their house has changed on a month by month basis? I'm really not sure if we can glean anything useful from this sort of survey.

From: Mark Hempshell 27 September 2016 11:18 AM

Cities are a very diverse bunch. It's difficult to compared, say, Liverpool with Edinburgh or Portsmouth with Oxford and come to any meaningful overall conclusion.

From: Mark Hempshell 23 September 2016 09:07 AM

I don't think the under 35s were ever that much interested in pensions - even back in the days when property was relatively cheap and pensions looked like a good idea.

From: Mark Hempshell 22 September 2016 09:36 AM

Perversely, property makes an even more attractive proposition than ever. A decade ago, maybe 10% property yield and 5% in the bank. Today, maybe 5-6% property yield and 1% in the bank.

From: Mark Hempshell 13 September 2016 09:30 AM

An odd kind of survey!!! If you want to know how the property market will fare over the next decade ignore all the economists and analysts - just ask a thousand randoms off the street!

From: Mark Hempshell 05 September 2016 09:43 AM

So in other words a good time to think about investing in more property then!

From: Mark Hempshell 23 August 2016 10:41 AM

Sounds great on the face of it, but you only have to look at the boom and bust in those European markets (and especially Ireland) over the last decade to see that this isn't good news for mainland European markets at all. In fact, it makes UK property look an even safer haven.

From: Mark Hempshell 10 August 2016 08:41 AM

The fact is 'no one really knows' is the only real conclusion we can make about the impact of Brexit on property prices.

From: Mark Hempshell 29 July 2016 11:35 AM

I realise property is a long term investment but buy now to cash in in 2030. Does anybody actually do that in practice?

From: Mark Hempshell 14 July 2016 09:38 AM

Even if the cost of lending falls, will lenders actually be willing to lend it? If they don't, it might not make a jot of difference to either the investment or home owner markets.

From: Mark Hempshell 08 July 2016 09:44 AM

It's a (slightly) sad fact that overseas buyers have more confidence in this country than we do. What do these overseas buyers know that we don't? (Answer: The UK is a very safe country to invest in property. It's economically strong, with an economy that does not go down the tubes at the first sign of a crisis - unlike, sadly, some of the EU countries.)

From: Mark Hempshell 30 June 2016 10:17 AM

Good point, there is a window of opportunity for foreign buyers. Although it would be interesting to know how many overseas London buyers buy with euros (does such data even exist??) My guess would be that yuan or riyals, USD or SFr are more likely to be involved.

From: Mark Hempshell 28 June 2016 13:18 PM

An interesting viewpoint, but I think global investors might take some persuading that Lahore is better than London, or Manila better than Manchester for that matter. The fundamentals behind the UK market are still very strong, added to which many investors can still remember what happened in emerging markets less than a decade ago.

From: Mark Hempshell 28 June 2016 13:13 PM

Breaking News