The Rent Review Specialist
Real Estate
Real Estate
The definition of 'property' encompasses more than just real property, also known as real estate, but in British usage, "real property", often shortened to "property", generally refers to land, buildings and fixtures, while the term "real estate" is used mostly in the context of probate law, (and means all interests in land held by a deceased person at death, excluding interests in money arising under a trust for sale of or charged on land.) In some situations, the correct use of the terminology is important, but for ease of understanding popular usage prevails; hence whenever I use the word property' and unless otherwise stated please assume I'm talking about land, buildings and fixtures.
Property Market (Real Estate)
The property market, sometimes known as "real estate”, comprises the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from individual buildings, to villages, towns and cities with supporting infrastructure.
Property is product that is constructed of human-made and/or natural materials: for example, stone, clay, brick, slate, timber, steel, plastic, etc. Building construction disciplines include architecture, civil engineering, building contracting, surveying, energy performance advisers, interior designers and so on. For purpose of this website, the definition of property includes undeveloped land and parts of the building.
A property can last for years - built in the 1130s the Manor at Hemingford Grey is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Britain and much of the original house remains intact; in Herefordshire, Hellens Manor was granted in 1096 and is a living monument to much of England's history - but whilst there are many ancient properties around the country still standing and in regular use, the notable building booms include the Tudor period (1485-1603) (on vast tracts of land following dissolution of the monasteries); Elizabethan (1533-1603) (early Renaissance); Georgian (1720-1840); Regency early-19th century; Victorian (1827-1901) with expansion brought about by the Industrial Revolution, railway network, trams; Edwardian (1901-1918), and particularly in Greater London and provincial cities, during the 1930s, 1950s, 1970s-2000s, and the present day.
The individual character and street-scape of cities, towns and villages is personified by the dominant architectural styles and age of their properties. There is also sometimes a marked difference between the public sector and private sector properties, particularly in residential property. During the 1920s and 1930s, the demolition of old 'slum' properties and the moving of tenants onto new Council estates led to the construction of large tower blocks of flats for social housing. The development and expansion of towns and cities is reflected in the story of shopping throughout the ages.
The main attraction of the UK property market, particularly for overseas investors, is its organisation, sophistication and transparency: the choice of property available, the supply of buyers and the legal and property valuation system; also the UK is well served by domestic and international banks, creating a competitive environment for funding.
Although many reputable organisations carry out research into the state of the property market at any time, in fact there is no single property market as such. Since property is an illiquid asset, the market value of each property depends upon much the actual buyer would pay and saleability upon finding one buyer to become the legal owner (albeit the actual buyer is not necessarily just one person or entity). So, when you invest in the property market, it is wrong to try to assess the direction of the market as a whole, there is no level playing-field: property is not homogeneous, everything that can be known about a particular property is not necessarily available, all buyers and sellers do not have complete information on the prices being asked and offered in other parts of the market, barriers to entry or leaving are restricted.
The property market is not a ‘perfect’ market, and that is just as well, because the purpose of a perfect market is not to make profits, but to efficiently allocate resources. In a perfect market, profit is a sign of inefficiency, whereas in an imperfect market, profit arises in direct proportion to the imperfections. In a perfect market, there is a large number of buyers, a large number of sellers, the quantity bought by any individual so small relative to the total quantity traded that individual trades leave the market unaffected; the product is homogeneous (the same property for all buyers and sellers), all buyers and sellers have complete information on the prices being asked and offered in other parts of the market; and there is perfect freedom of entry to and exit from the market.
Although property transactions are independent of one another, the legislation, rules, regulations and the interpretation of transactions between owners/vendors (sellers), purchasers (buyers), landlord and tenants, and mortgagees, comes under property law, an area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land and immoveable property).
Property is product that is constructed of human-made and/or natural materials: for example, stone, clay, brick, slate, timber, steel, plastic, etc. Building construction disciplines include architecture, civil engineering, building contracting, surveying, energy performance advisers, interior designers and so on. For purpose of this website, the definition of property includes undeveloped land and parts of the building.
A property can last for years - built in the 1130s the Manor at Hemingford Grey is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Britain and much of the original house remains intact; in Herefordshire, Hellens Manor was granted in 1096 and is a living monument to much of England's history - but whilst there are many ancient properties around the country still standing and in regular use, the notable building booms include the Tudor period (1485-1603) (on vast tracts of land following dissolution of the monasteries); Elizabethan (1533-1603) (early Renaissance); Georgian (1720-1840); Regency early-19th century; Victorian (1827-1901) with expansion brought about by the Industrial Revolution, railway network, trams; Edwardian (1901-1918), and particularly in Greater London and provincial cities, during the 1930s, 1950s, 1970s-2000s, and the present day.
The individual character and street-scape of cities, towns and villages is personified by the dominant architectural styles and age of their properties. There is also sometimes a marked difference between the public sector and private sector properties, particularly in residential property. During the 1920s and 1930s, the demolition of old 'slum' properties and the moving of tenants onto new Council estates led to the construction of large tower blocks of flats for social housing. The development and expansion of towns and cities is reflected in the story of shopping throughout the ages.
The main attraction of the UK property market, particularly for overseas investors, is its organisation, sophistication and transparency: the choice of property available, the supply of buyers and the legal and property valuation system; also the UK is well served by domestic and international banks, creating a competitive environment for funding.
Although many reputable organisations carry out research into the state of the property market at any time, in fact there is no single property market as such. Since property is an illiquid asset, the market value of each property depends upon much the actual buyer would pay and saleability upon finding one buyer to become the legal owner (albeit the actual buyer is not necessarily just one person or entity). So, when you invest in the property market, it is wrong to try to assess the direction of the market as a whole, there is no level playing-field: property is not homogeneous, everything that can be known about a particular property is not necessarily available, all buyers and sellers do not have complete information on the prices being asked and offered in other parts of the market, barriers to entry or leaving are restricted.
The property market is not a ‘perfect’ market, and that is just as well, because the purpose of a perfect market is not to make profits, but to efficiently allocate resources. In a perfect market, profit is a sign of inefficiency, whereas in an imperfect market, profit arises in direct proportion to the imperfections. In a perfect market, there is a large number of buyers, a large number of sellers, the quantity bought by any individual so small relative to the total quantity traded that individual trades leave the market unaffected; the product is homogeneous (the same property for all buyers and sellers), all buyers and sellers have complete information on the prices being asked and offered in other parts of the market; and there is perfect freedom of entry to and exit from the market.
Although property transactions are independent of one another, the legislation, rules, regulations and the interpretation of transactions between owners/vendors (sellers), purchasers (buyers), landlord and tenants, and mortgagees, comes under property law, an area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land and immoveable property).