Welcome to our second newsletter. In the last quarter there has been a variety of news, some good, some bad.

Nationally, GDP fell by 0.3% in April, more than expected, following imposition of the new higher rates of stamp duty. The upside to this is that there is continued pressure to reduce the base rate, good news for all borrowers, including ourselves. Unfortunately, higher than expected inflation prevented this materialising in the Bank of England meeting held in June.

Colliers economist, Walter Boettcher highlighted yesterday that the number of insolvencies over the last 5 years is at a peak. The housing market has slowed temporarily and there is a noticeable trend that people continue to be cautious, paying down debt and not wanting to spend on “big ticket items”. Also, inflation is now under control (albeit slightly over target) and his view was that the Government needs to drop the base rate to boost the economy. He confirmed our expectation of two further quarter point reductions in the base rate, next one coming at the Bank of England August meeting. Furthermore, it is expected to drop to 3.5% by the end of next year and this is then expected to be the long term interest rate.

Locally, there has been political unrest, with a high profile local Councillor, Michael Grahame, resigning in disagreement with many of Sir Keir Starmer’s new policies, having “lost all faith” in the Labour party. We were told that his position chairing the local city centre partnership meetings would be fulfilled by the leader of Wakefield Council, Dense Jeffries. Following that we were informed that all planned City Centre partnership meetings for the rest of the year had been cancelled, so the future of these meetings appear to currently be in doubt.

On a more positive note, commercial property locally is showing strong interest. There has been a surge in office enquiries and thankfully we have agreed two lettings, subject to contract. We have also secured two industrial lease renewals and a further new letting in solicitor’s hands at Thornes Trading Estate representing the popularity of industrial units locally. Shops are continuing to show good interest with recent lettings being achieved to “Northgate Dental”, a newly refurbished private dentist who are situated opposite Wakefield Cathedral and “Fade & Tan Co.” a combined sunbed and barber shop fronting the Bull Ring, who have just opened their doors to the public.

Demand for car parking has never been so high, indeed we have no vacancies across our 5 car parks in Wakefield. We hope that Wakefield Council will hurry up and build the long talked about multi storey car park to satisfy demand / benefit businesses locally. The Ridings Shopping Centre has invested £250,000 to resurface their “red” car park reopening any day. The Wakefield BID (Business Improvement District) said that “it is now futureproofed for the next 40 years. This is more than just a facelift, it’s a clear show of confidence in Wakefield and the businesses that make our city thrive”.

We continue to be acquisitive, completing purchases of residential investments in Keighley, Darlington, Chester Le Street, Newcastle and Gateshead. 

We have also got a variety of houses coming available for sale which would interest other developers looking to refurbish a house to sell or re-let. We have a detached house on Wilson Road at Wyke, Bradford coming to auction with Auction House in July. We also have a terrace in need of refurbishment on Kirkstone Road, Walkley, Sheffield and one on Bond Street, Wombwell, Barnsley which will be offered by private treaty and are also suitable for adding value.

Finally, it is worth also mentioning that on the 21st May, Woodhead Investments celebrated its 60th year in business. We were reminded of this by our bank, Handelsbanken, who very kindly took us out for a meal to celebrate. You can imagine their surprise at the lunch when Melvyn started ordering the champagne! Here’s to another 60 …