The commercial property market not good here in the UK. Many shops and older commercials are empty. In a city nearby there is commercial newbuild, but these are mainly distribution centres. The city has good road connections. I’m not aware of any great problems in rolling over loans, unlike the position in the USA:
Am I right in thinking that if you just hand the property back, then in the USA this will cancel any loan on it, even if the subsequent sale does not cover the loan?
The BTL sector is suffering in the UK. An ex-client of mine called to do some work the other day. he had built a property portfolio on the back of interest only loans at 1.99% interest. The interest on the loans is now rising rapidly. In addition, the government has changed legislation so that ‘no fault’ evictions are now impossible and that all rental properties must be energy efficient. A friend who is a surveyor says that for many older properties “this will cost a fortune”. As a result, many BTL are dumping their properties on the market and getting out of the business altogether:
Strange that a few years ago people were saying that you couldn’t go wrong with property and if you wanted security buy gilts (treasuries)! Neither of these is quite true at the moment!