Intelligence Talks

From student bed shortages to net zero dilemmas in property redevelopment, this episode provides a snapshot of the UK’s housing landscape. The living sectors alone can’t fix Britain’s housing crisis, but momentum is building. The country needs more decent and well managed private-rented housing, as well as more options for students and seniors.Investors have taken note: total volumes into UK BTR, student and senior living hit nearly £10bn last year, below the record £15bn in 2022 – but well above pre-Covid levels.Anna is joined by Lizzie Breckner, Katie O'Neill and Sam Heffron.They discuss how quickly BTR could scale up to deliver more of Britain’s housing supply, why students are facing an ‘existential crisis’ when it comes to property options, and what would convince older generations to downsize from family-sized homes.

In our first episode of 2024, we talk about Britain’s laboratory shortage, with start-ups actively searching for lab space amid a dearth of supply. Anna Ward is joined by Knight Frank partner and life sciences specialist Jennifer Townsend to discuss the growth of the UK’s £90bn health and life sciences sector. In London alone, the city is struggling to provide biotech and life sciences entrepreneurs with the research space they need. Knight Frank data shows that demand for lab space in the capital stands at 793,000 sq ft, while availability is just 179,295 sq ft – less than a quarter of current requirements. UK-wide, life sciences firms raised £3.3bn in venture capital financing last year, ranking as the third-highest amount over the past ten years. On a year-over-year basis, funding to the sector declined 7% compared to 2022. However, life sciences performed better than the broader UK venture capital landscape, which saw investment drop to £16.1 billion in 2023 - a 44% decrease compared with 2022.Anna also speaks to Deirdre O’Reilly, senior research analyst at Knight Frank, to find out more about the rise in film and TV production spend in the UK and how this is fuelling an increase in film studio take up. If production spending reaches £8.7 billion by 2028, Knight Frank has estimated an additional 2.6 million sq ft of additional studio space will be needed. Deirdre also pinpoints two other key industrial sectors to watch in 2024… You can read the 2023 Knight Frank UK Film and Television Studios report here.

For our final episode of the year, we look at Knight Frank’s predictions for residential and commercial property in 2024...  For a UK take, Anna speaks to Tom Bill, head of UK residential research, Shabab Qadar, London research partner and Flora Harley, head of ESG research. Anna is also joined by our global head of research Liam Bailey, head of UK commercial Will Matthews and head of global residential research Kate Everett Allen to discuss global themes.  They share their key predictions for 2024, explore to what extent and how quickly real estate markets will recover, and look at the potential impact of upcoming political elections around the world. They also discuss the pressing need to retrofit and refurbish real estate, with 58% of  investors actively looking to acquire poor EPC-performing assets to improve, upgrade and reposition, according to Knight Frank’s latest ESG Property Investor Survey. 

With global residential rents surging at three and a half times their pre-pandemic rate, Liam Bailey speaks to New York property guru Jonathan Miller to assess where rental markets are headed in that city as we move towards 2024.https://content.knightfrank.com/research/357/documents/en/prime-global-rental-index-q3-2023-10751.pdf

Anna speaks to Knight Frank rural surveyor Steph Small and Irwin Mitchell partner Sam Knight to find out more about the nutrient mitigation market, which the government just announced fresh funding for.Natural England has established its own nutrient mitigation scheme; however, this is currently only available to developers in the Tees catchment in the North East of England and there is a limited number of credits available.For those developers unable to access this scheme, the only other option is the embryonic private market or relying on their own mitigation methods from wetlands to sustainable urban drainage.The government is aiming to both expand the Natural England programme and speed up the development of private sector schemes.Steph and Sam explain why mitigation options are not straightforward and highlight that the greatest shift will be when water companies upgrade wastewater treatment works to reduce harmful nutrient pollution.But this is still some way off, with the government proposing the upgrades are completed by 2030.

In our latest Ski Property Report, a third of respondents to our sentiment survey said the long-term resilience of a ski resort is very important to them and influences their decision on where to buy. In this episode of Intelligence Talks, we look at the impact of climate change on Alpine property markets. Anna speaks to Kate Everett-Allen, head of global residential research at Knight Frank, and international residential partner Alex Koch de Gooreynd.They discuss how ski resorts are innovating to respond to snow shortages as well as driving more tourism through a broader range of year-round activities. In addition, they share which resorts are likely to be the most resilient in the long-term, drawing on key findings in the report which includes analysis of ski areas over 2,000 metres with north-facing slopes across key French and Swiss resorts.  You can read the full report here: www.knightfrank.com/skireport