Property Predictions 2022: The country must have a grown-up conversation about development
The second in our series of property predictions for 2022 this week features a number of contributors including Edward Ziff chairman and CEO of Town Centre Securities; Eamon Fox, partner and head of the office agency department at Knight Frank and Peter Garrett, managing director of Keyland developments, the property trading arm of Kelda Group and sister company to Yorkshire Water.
Peter Garrett, MD of Keyland Developments
Garrett echoed a comment made in our first property predictions last week noting that he can “confidently predict that the continuing scarcity of well-located residential and industrial development land means that we are going to continue to see increasing prices for both.”
In fact the MD went as far to say that this prediction could be the same every year “until the country faces up to and addresses land supply issues, which would involve having a grown-up conversation about development in the greenbelt and beyond.”
This continued demand Garrett noted was providing a fantastic opportunity for the business which has a development pipeline of over 8,000+ houses and 3.5m sq ft of industrial land in Yorkshire alone.
However looking more widely at the challenge he concluded: “It is simply an exercise in futility to carry on trying to meet the needs of a growing population without properly planning where that population will live and work.”
Edward Ziff
For Ziff he noted that last year he’d predicted and hoped for a return of people to the high street to support both local and national businesses, and a return to pre-pandemic normality.
However looking at 2022 the chief executive said that although still a long way from what was once “normal” he is encouraged to see businesses doing well and added: “Many of our hospitality tenants are flourishing as customers crave an experience finally outside of their own homes”.
However his predictions also included a call to arms for the government, local authorities, local employers and large organisations, who he explained “all have a responsibility to encourage their staff to safely return to the office to fill our public transport, our shops, restaurants and coffee shops and encourage the collaboration and innovation that fuels our growth and builds our future”.
For TCS Ziff said: “I am confident that our focus on the two growing and exciting cities of Leeds and Manchester, where we are helping to create a sense of place and purpose for living and working, will enable us to generate value for all our stakeholders as the world returns to normality.”
Although he also cautioned that Covid-19 remains a “big risk” with “further lockdowns creating further damage” and said there is a crucial “need for the Government to communicate its plans clearly in advance”.
Picking up on Ziff’s point around the responsibility of employers to encourage staff back to the office, Fox noted “the death of the office is a myth”.
Eamon Fox
He added: “The market has proved incredibly resilient in the midst of the pandemic and I am looking forward to 2022 with genuine optimism. Headline rents are currently £34 per sq ft and, all being well, I can see them hitting £36 per sq ft by the last quarter of next year, given the high standard of some of the new office space which is coming on to the market.”
Fox added that for Leeds in particular the arrival of Channel 4 was having a knock on effect and the city is “becoming a magnet for bright young tech, media and creative companies” and that this is in turn fuelling office demand in places like Platform and 34 Boar Lane.
Looking further into the year however he promised further game changers to the city’s office market including MRP’s City Cquare House which has already pre-let 83,000 sq ft to law firm DLA Piper.
He concluded that the Leeds’s “reputation as the most progressive city in the north of England” will be further underlined by the latest developments coming forwards from Bruntwood, Boultbee Brooks, Kinrise, CEG and Opus North.
