Light at the End of the Tunnel, Says Hammerson
Hammerson Plc, a real estate company in the UK foresees a halt in the negative market trend of the past two years. The company, which owns shares in two of UK’s important business locations, the Bishops Square Complex and the Bull Ring Mall in Birmingham, is quite optimistic about the future of the market.
John Richards, the Chief Executive Officer, feels that the property rates have almost stopped decreasing. Moreover, the rental income should also start stabilising quite soon. All this will come as a huge relief for the real estate companies, which have been struggling for survival throughout the recession.
Mr Richards also stated in an interview that they are expecting a drastic fall in vacancy rates across the country, along with the number of defaults.
Ever since the UK real estate market touched its highest point in 2007, there has been a severe fall in the property rates by about 44%. Unemployment, credit squeeze and the overall economic slowdown has been seen as the main reason for the downfall in the property rates. However, last month saw the lowest fall in the recent times with a 1.6% decrease and a small rise in office rentals and demand for shared office space.
Hammerson Plc was the first of the four major real estate companies to have gone to the market to raise money in order to make good their bank loans. By December, the company had lost almost 5 billion pounds in asset value due to the market crisis.
