Dear Investor

Having had a great Saturday at Twickenham for the Guinness Premiership Final, I am now back in Liverpool preparing for the Jet-to-Let Magazine Annual Conference in London this coming weekend.  I am pleased to report that the conference is now full with a substantial increase on attendance over last year, which exceeds my growth target for this event and bodes well for an exciting weekend of debate and fun.

Henry and Stephen are both in Marrakech this week finalising an exceptional investment opportunity which already has a number of our investors excited, including myself.  I will not steal Henry’s thunder and will leave it to him to outline the proposal on his return.

This week we secured new offices for the Group and will begin moving in the next few weeks.  We will be located in the heart of the business district in the historic merchant’s meeting place of Exchange Flags overlooking the Town Hall.

We had some good news last week.  The development company’s land bank has seen some exceptional growth since 2006 and a recent valuation of one large plot shows a 200% rise in 18 months.  Further, we are expanding into the Russian market with our schemes and continue to grow our market in the Middle East.

Immediately after the Annual Conference we will be moving ahead with the pre-launch of our latest scheme, The Palm Spa Resort with the official launch on 1st July 2008.

UK Property Market

I have been doing some research ahead of the conference this weekend.  I have been analysing the relative performance over a 10 year period of the 5 main asset classes:  cash, bonds, commodities, equities and property.  The figures make for interesting reading and property significantly outperforms the other asset classes, as you already understand as a property investor.  I have produced a graph of UK property prices going back to the 1940s on a logarithmic scale to make my point visually.

I mention this as I am bemused at the predictable reaction of the UK media (including the BBC last night) to the correction we are seeing in UK property prices.  Markets rise and markets fall, but it is the long-term trend we should follow, not the daily, weekly or even the yearly news.

The great J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) was asked by a young man in the lift one day:

“Can you tell me what the market is likely to do today, Sir?”

“It will fluctuate my boy, it will fluctuate.”

Sensationalism sells newspapers.  Unfortunately, there will always be people who will be casualties of falling prices and rising interest rates and I have great sympathy for those who are presently struggling to make ends meet.  As investors however, we have to switch off the noise and embrace the opportunities all around us.  The trend in property prices over the past 80 years (since reliable figures have been available) is firmly up.  It will remain so. Nothing has changed.

As I have stated previously, the present market will flush out the weak suppliers and weak buyers.  Strong companies will get stronger and weaker ones will fail.  Good investors will get better and less skilled ones will move out of the market.

This is a market where the astute investor will emerge in a very strong financial position. 

The glass is half full, not half empty.