Tods Murray and Eurohypo A.G. jointly hosted a seminar on 11 June at Tods Murray’s Edinburgh office on the subject of “Borrowing and Investing in Property in Today’s Market”.
The seminar was chaired by Roddy Maclennan, head of Tods Murray’s Property Finance team, who was joined by John Maclean, Regional Director – Scotland, Eurohypo Origination, Peter Dixon, Global Financial Economist, Commerzbank and Ed Stacey, Managing Director, Eurohypo Derivatives.
Roddy Maclennan
John Maclean
Peter Dixon
Ed Stacey
The seminar, which was attended by almost 70 property investors and developers, covered the current debt market, the economic context and the outlook for the property market, interest rates and the general economy.
John Maclean believed that market conditions were tough, but in some respects, better than early 2007 (over-bidding, unrealistic yields). He added that this market dip, whilst serious, was in no way comparable to earlier "crashes" such as in 1992.
Peter Dixon expressed the view that we were in the midsts of a slowdown as opposed to a full blown recession. This point was echoed by Ed Stacey who was keen to emphasise that much of the woes in the banking market were attributable to the near collapse of interbank borrowing and persistently high Libor and Swap rates. He too stressed slowdown, and a sense that we really were at the start of a new cycle, and that there was some way to go before an element of normality returned to the Banking market.
For Roddy Maclennan, the seminar confirmed his view of a lack of liquidity and available funding in the market and that it may not be until the New Year before things improve.
If you would like further information on the subject of borrowing and investing in property in today’s market please contact Roddy Maclennan on 0131 656 2000 or roddy.maclennan@todsmurray.com