The foresight of America’s realtors, the press furore over John Prescott, and the sagacity of the Chinese elicit comment from John Gummer
Ask most British people what a “realtor” was and they would probably guess at a quadruped from Jurassic Park. Cross the pond and most property professionals would be thus inelegantly labelled. Last week, as The Archers theme tune finished, I was using the Web to tune in to the old Real Estate Cyber Radio when I clicked on to an interview with Sharon Millett, president of US body the National Association of Realtors.
Our Sharon was talking about cyber savvy, and it quickly became very clear that she had it in spades. Realtors, despite their neolithic name, make technological Flintstones of their British counterparts.
Realtors have people working flat out on making the mythic “e-transaction” a property reality. What they coyly call “mortgage origination” is up and running, way ahead of the UK. These websites, in which you can find a mortgage on a commercial investment property, are already big business on the Internet.
Even as I write, the National Association of Realtors’ big guns are bending ears in Washington to make sure that it is the realtors, not the lenders, who develop, and therefore control, the e-transactions as they expand. That sort of hard-nosed foresight is something of which we need a great deal more. The Internet is going to be a far more important force than most expected and now are the crucial years during which one can affect a policy’s formation.
The National Association of Realtors is looking forward to a world in which more contracts are e-mailed and the Web takes over much of the function of local estate agent offices. If the institutions that spent so much acquiring the chains are not to lose out again, as they did with the property crash of the 1990s, they will need to face this issue early on. The Woolwich, Lloyds, Halifax and the rest must recognise just how far the US has gone. If the chains, owned by the institutions, do get their act together in the UK, the rest of the property world had better look out.
Cl”ass” or cl “arse”?
How much longer can this toe-curlingly embarrassing furore over John Prescott’s class, or lack thereof, go on? If only the newspapers devoted a third of these column feet to the transport system, urban regeneration and the regional reshuffling that is all in full swing, we’d all be an awful lot better off.
I don’t agree with everything Mr Prescott says, but at least he says what he believes without reference to his pager. In a government that cares more about style, not content, he’s a refreshing change. If he got hold of planning the way he has got hold of world environment issues, he’d make a real difference. As to whether his pronunciation of “class” rhymes with arse or crass, frankly my dear, I don’t give aÉ
Chinese whispers
After spending this week in Beijing, I am amazed by the change in China. A nation famous for its allergy to foreign advice was actually asking us to help them write its 10th five-year plan! The Forbidden City was welcoming an open dialogue in which the Chinese were willing to be absolutely frank about their problems and their failures. What a long march since Mao!
Best of all, they are not ignoring the development industry. The Chinese understand that only by building more efficient buildings can they meet their long-term targets for emission reductions. It would certainly be contrary to what goes on in China at the moment.
Beijing is expanding very fast, despite the effects of the Asian economic crisis. Some buildings are not occupied and others remain unfinished but, more generally, office blocks and apartment complexes push their way out into what was the countryside. For the most part, this is cheap and cheerful construction with a bit of stuck-on decoration, an odd dragon or two and some traditional-style roof tiling over the entrance. It will demand a great effort to insist on more sustainable building standards but, at least, they seem determined to try.
If only we in the UK could see this as clearly. China hasn’t even signed up to international targets – we have. Cutting polluting gases by 12.5% is a formidable task. We won’t achieve it unless we build in a more sustainable way. Occupancy costs don’t just refer to offices – we need to cut the occupancy costs of the planet, if only to make room for 300m more Chinese!
