On Tuesday 26 January 2021 the JEAA held a virtual Propertymark Regional “Meet & Greet” session with the new CEO and a local speaker.
Sarah Davies from Propertymark opened the workshop and welcomed the attendees.
Sarah introduced Tim Balcon the new Chief Executive Officer of Propertymark, who has over 20 years’ experience in membership and sector organisations, having most recently led the IEMA(Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment) where he headed IEMA's transformation into sustainability and subsequent year-on-year membership growth.
Tim began with his vision to establish Propertymark as the “go to” professional body for the industry. To achieve this he wants to engage with all member agents and provide more benefits to members and for its member agents to come up with ideas to further professionalise the industry.
His vision includes a stronger emphasis for consumers on Continued Professional Development (CPD), professional qualifications and recognition that members follow a strict code of conduct.
He wants Propertymark to speak as one unified voice. He informed those present that the current NAEA, ARLA and NAVA sectors would be incorporated into one heading of Propertymark, although this would not deter from the different disciplines and skill sets of each sector. He likened this transition to the engineering industry which had achieved a similar exercise incorporating all their disciplines into one body.
Tim concluded by mentioning a membership survey circulated to members to ask for the views of all agents in turning membership of Propertymark into value for all members and consumers alike
Matthew Gill the Assistant Statistician at Statistics Jersey reported on the housing market stating that there were slight increases in the price of property in 2020 by 5% in Q1, 4% in Q2 and 3% in Q3.Q4 statistics are not available until mid-February.
The number of transactions through the Royal Court were the lowest for 7 years in Q2 of 2020 but caught up in Q3. He pointed out that during that time there were no large scale developments completing byway of share transfer such as College Gardens and Westmount.
With less viewings due to Covid, turnover was down with one particular week where only one property passed through the Royal Court!
Matthew concluded his talk by saying that during the pandemic, those who could purchase, did purchase enabling the market to continue during difficult times.
Sarah Davies spoke briefly on the importance of mental health in the workplace, particularly in the current climate of working from home. She highlighted some wellbeing tips:
Sleep Well
Eat Healthy
Get Outdoors
Exercise
Stay Connected
Pay attention to the moment (mindfulness)
Routine
Learn new skills
Meditation and Breathing Techniques
Gill Hunt as President of the JEAA and NAEA Propertymark Regional Executive for the Channel Islands thanked Tim for his informative vision going forward, Matthew for his insight into the house price index, Sarah for her helpful points on wellbeing and thanked all the members for attending.
Gill concluded the event by summarising some local points of interest:
· Jersey schools are back open and non-essential shops that were due to open today, now being delayed;
· Facetime and physical property viewings continue to take place with all precautionary measures being adhered to such as masks and wipes;
· A point of interest in relation to the house price index, properties with more than 5 bedrooms and 1 bedroom houses are not included in the statistics;
· Locate Jersey reported that around 15 – 20 families come into the Island annually – 15in 2020. Some buy a property and others rent until they find a suitable property to buy;
· The stamp duty threshold has increased on properties over £2 million;
· 2(1)(e)residents are permitted to purchase property over £1.750 million;
· High net worth residents are now permitted to purchase a second home, do it up and then rent it out to entitled individuals;
· The JEAA committee continues to meet regularly, currently via Zoom and keep members up to date with news items and informative emails;
· AJEAA sub-committee of Nick Dodsley, Sam Leighton and Shelagh Marett were meeting with the JEP to promote RoPA and professional qualifications;
· The JEAA has recently invited all non JEAA/Propertymark members to join the Association;
· She had attended a recent webinar on Cyber-crime and hope to roll it out to all members by way of a training session later in the year;
· Propertymark holds regular webinars and regional workshops that are open to all JEAA members;
· Propertymark may consider incorporating a locally relevant portion to the qualifications offered;
The meeting closed with Sarah informing those present that the next Channel Island virtual Regional Workshop would be held in April 2021.
