Marketing Predictions / Current Trends:
The festive season has seen business owners, investors & tenants revitalised and motivated for a “new year, new me” mentality. 2019 has started with a massive influx of market activity on the side of tenants and purchasers, our average enquiry rate on available properties is 300% higher than this time last year and 500% higher than the 2 months following the 2017 general election. We are finding that the election hang-over is over and from where we sit business confidence is back. To us, there is no surer sign of business confidence than an influx of business owners wanting to upsize their warehouses. This is both on the side of tenants as well as owner occupiers who still want to take advantage of low interest rates, which of course means the investors are back out in force.
Property Owners / Vendors:
A new year means a time to reflect on your investments as well as your life. Our top recommendations for Q1 2019 are:
1) Go get your leases out of the bottom drawer and make a note of the next renewal, rent review/expiry date. We are seeing too often landlords who are letting these key dates pass by leaving themselves either earning far less than market value for their property or even worse – in a position where the tenants can up-and-leave with a month’s notice.
2) Ask yourselves if your current portfolio/property is the right investment for you at your stage in life. If you are a local Onehunga, Penrose or Mount Wellington Landlord chances are your building is a bit older, looks likely for a new roof, is a bit tight on yard space or requires more investment for general up-keep. With these locations being an absolute hot-spot for owner-occupiers, it might be time to consider selling your building and re-investing in a more modern, lower maintenance property that returns a higher yield in places like Manukau, Wiri, Airport Oaks or Henderson (the best time to consider this is when you’re doing point 1).
3) Ask us for some help. It’s free to call us, email us or to sit down to go over your options (we aren’t lawyers after all) and we can give you advice on what your property is worth per year in rent or on the market for sale and even what you can do to improve its future value. This doesn’t come with a caveat, we are locals, we know your neighbours, we are in the area every day and we plan to be around for many years to come.
Tenants / Owner-occupiers:
We said at the top of this that tenant demand is huge right now, while that sounds good for us, it also creates a massive problem.. Vacancy rates are still sub 2%. There is only one thing you can do and that is to get in touch with us early, super early in fact, give us a call and let us know how much space you want, where you want it and when you want it (2 weeks, 3 months, 1 year). It’s never too early for us to know what to keep an eye out for, you don’t get forgotten and we track what’s coming available for you specifically. Also don’t forget that just because you are locked in to a lease for 2 more years it doesn’t mean you cant move now – we can sublease or, more common in recent times, find a new tenant for your landlord leaving you able to grow in to the building you need. Generally it will cost you a leasing fee and a box of beers for your landlord but it’s worth considering and you should give us a call to see if it’s an option for you.
Investors:
“If you’re not first you’re last”. 2019 is going to be about communication, clarity and speed. Today we had a past client of ours take us out for coffee, sit us down and tell us exactly what they want to buy, when they want to buy it and what they want to do with it.. He will be on the HOT list when an opportunity arises. This doesn’t mean that you need to break the bank buying Ben a soy decaf latte to discuss your property requirement, it just means that if you want to be at the top of our call list, let us know what we should be looking for. Like I said at the top… Interest rates are low, tenants are wanting to grow, there is a big demand for leasing stock so in our humble opinion – it’s a safe time to invest.
Technology:
You have to be 20% better every year just to stay the same. In 2019 we aren’t standing still, on top of the aerial and professional photography we already offer our clients as standard, this year we will be introducing video walk-throughs of your property free of charge for every sole agency campaign we run, both for sale and for lease. This showcases your property and allows tenants/purchasers to make pre-qualifying decisions about suitability. This will aid overseas businesses/investors, busy business owners and means that we can provide the maximum amount of information up-front which in turn means the process for owners and tenants/purchasers should be more stream-lined, easier and of course, faster.
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