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New Year Review: Propertista’s Most Popular Content of 2020
It’s that time of year when we look back at Propertista’s top-read posts of 2020. And what a year it’s been for property professionals! At the beginning of the year, we expected Brexit to continue to dominate the news pages of Propertista. Although we had seen a seemingly minor outbreak of a novel flu virus in a street market in Wuhan, China in December last year, little did we know this virus would spread across the world at such an alarming rate, leading to countries (and property markets around the world) going into lockdown to slow the virus’s progress.
However, despite the fact that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic was the number one news story of the year on the majority news networks, Covid-19 only featured in three of Propertista’s top ten read posts of 2020.
In fact, it seems our readers were more interested in escaping the reality of living under the continuing threat of Covid and were more tempted by articles inspiring them to ‘live the dream’ whether in a castle, the happiest place to live in the UK, a private island retreat or by the sea. See what we mean by taking a look at our top ten most-read articles of 2020 below.
1. Ten Private islands You Can Buy for the Price of a London Home
The article that secured top spot in our most-read list encouraged readers to forget about global pandemics and Brexit and get away from it all exploring some of the world’s most stunning island retreats in Europe, the USA, Central America, the Caribbean and more. Amazingly, all these island homes could be bought for the price of a London home. Thinking that island life is right for you? Check out our article below…
Ten Private Islands You Can Buy for the Price of a London Home
2. Ten Castles You Can Buy Today
Taking second place in Propertista’s top-read posts of 2020 was the article ‘Ten Castles You Can Buy Today’. It might sound like an impossible dream or a fairy tale but finding a magnificent castle to live in really is possible – and they are quite easy to locate. In this piece, we travel around the UK and into Europe to find you the castle of your dreams. Click on the link below to choose your new castle abode.
3. Demand Soars as Property Market Reopens for Business
Scooping the third spot on Propertista’s top-read articles of 2020 was one of the three Covid-19 articles written just as the property market re-opened for business following the first lockdown. The market re-opening saw buyer demand soar by 88 per cent reflecting a huge release of pent-up demand. Little did we know at this point that the property market would continue to recover and rebound as buyers, who had been locked down in their homes for 50 days, had revaluated what key features they wanted from their homes and were now looking for extra space indoors and out to suit the Government’s new working from home/stay home mantra… Take a look back at what happened as the property market re-opened for business below.
4. The impact of Covid on the property market
In fourth place on the Propertista top-read articles of 2020 was an article written during the Covid-19 lockdown reporting the findings of a survey showing that the majority of home movers were still planning to move after lockdown. At the time, this was very encouraging news for the property market, which had been beset by setback after setback since the Brexit vote in 2016 and had then been forced to almost close down completely in March for 50 days when the Coronavirus pandemic swept across the country.
The survey actually turned out to be a true reflection of customer confidence and the market re-opened to a flurry of new and pent-up activity…
5. Revealed: Britain’s Top Property Hotspots of the Decade
Next up in our top ten most-read articles of 2020 was an article looking at the areas of the UK enjoying the highest (and lowest) average price rises of the decade. Do you know which towns – and regions – featured prominently? Follow the link below to take a look at this must-read article for property investors everywhere!
6. Everything Landlords Need to Know During the Coronavirus Lockdown
Propertista’s sixth most-read article of 2020 covered what the emergency regulations introduced under the Coronavirus Act meant for all landlords and tenants. From mortgage payment and tax payment holidays to tenant evictions postponements. This article was essential reading for property investors throughout the UK wanting to know what they could and couldn’t do during the lockdown.
Everything Landlords Need to Know During the Coronavirus Lockdown
7. Revealed: The UK’s Rental Hot Spots
Seventh on our list of top-read articles on Propertista for 2020 was an article about the price of average room rents around the country and the annual change from 2018-2019. Unsurprisingly, London achieved the top average monthly rent of £783pm but this figure was pretty much unchanged from the year before. Whereas the North West and North East saw annual price increases of 3 per cent. We wonder how much this table will have changed from 2019-2020…
8. The Happiest Place to Live in Great Britain 2020
We all yearn to be happy and live our dream life. Therefore, learning where the happiest place to live in the UK is and planning our future moves so we can lead a happier and healthier life is potentially of interest to us all. So, it’s little surprise this article naming St Ives in Cornwall as the happiest place to live in Great Britain in 2020 secured eighth place in our list of top-read articles.
9. The Commuter Towns Beating London for Rental Yields
In our ninth top-read article of 2020, we investigated whether reports that people were leaving London in their droves after the lockdown to move to the suburbs was really true. If this were the case, this news would be vital for property investors to know. So, what did we discover? Take a look by following the link below…
10. Looking to Invest in Student Property? Most In-Demand Locations Listed!
Property investors thinking about investing in student lets were interested to read our tenth top-read article of 2020 looking at the most (and least) in demand student let locations. We also looked at student lets by availability. Overall, despite the pandemic, we found there is still strong demand for student lets meaning if property investors can invest in high demand, low availability areas, they should be on to a winner in terms of return on investment. See if you can find these property investment gems by assessing the data in our article below.
Looking to Invest in Student Property? Most In-Demand Locations Listed!
What was your favourite Propertista post of 2020? We’d love to hear…
