The unlocking of the English housing market led to an immediate uptick in online browsing and demand for sales as well as rentals.

One week after the reopening of the market, Rightmove reported demand for rental property being up 33% compared to this time last year, with Monday May 18th reporting the highest level of rental demand ever recorded in one day on Rightmove.

One of the defining elements of any evolving economic shock is the lag of reliable data – this is even more the case with the current combination of Covid-19 and a shock to oil prices. Both led to something far different from a “normal” recession, and a reliable picture of what the world looks like now will emerge only slowly over the coming weeks and months. Despite that, we are trying to work with what we have to give you the most appropriate snapshot on the UK residential property market at this point in time, and the performance of the TM home investor fund.

You can now view the full, latest Fund Factsheets, outlining performance of the TM home investor fund, for April 2020.

We continue to have ongoing conversations with the Fund’s Standing Independent Valuer, CBRE, regarding property valuations, and have published an update which can be downloaded below.

Over the past few days all regulated property valuers informed fund managers that a “Material Valuation Uncertainty” clause would be included in their next valuations. The disclosure of their intent to include this clause subsequently results in Depositaries and ACDs suspending dealing in property funds. Unfortunately, we are no exception to this rule.

This is the first time since inception in 2012 that the TM home investor fund has suspended, and is not linked to the fund’s performance, nor to its liquidity which stands at just over 15%.