Musings of a London Buyer’s Agent

House prices will stop falling before the end of the year according to Simon Rubinsohn, Chief Economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), who addressed the Building Societies Annual Conference yesterday.  He said that predictions of a 45% drop peak to trough were overly-pessimistic.  “I think the overall decline will be more like 25%-30%,” he said.

He warned that the return of the 95% mortgage is likely to have several strings attached and would often be tied to other insurance products, which will mean if borrowers can afford to pay the higher fees they entail, some may find it difficult to qualify.

Explaining that the jump in buyer enquiries had not been matched by the number of properties on sale he added: “This is partly because there are fewer distressed sales [people being forced to sell] €“ partly because home information packs may have put off speculative sellers and partly because people are still reluctant to sell at a price below what they think their property is worth.” 

“Buyer enquiries have risen particularly in London. Our members are picking up on a lot of potential interest from overseas buyers.”

Regular readers will know that we have routine rants about overseas buyers assuming they are getting a great deal because the low cost of sterling coupled with deflationary property prices means overseas buyers now pay significantly less than they would have done 2 years ago in many cases, but they are still frequently paying too much.  However as we predicted, against the tide of popular agreement, London and the Home Counties is standing up much better than predicted and when the bounce comes, it will be felt most strongly here. 

In some parts of prime Central London it’s hard to know there is a recession on.  Overseas buyers without knowledgeable London Buyer’s Agents to advise them are the people to thank for that.     I’ve just had a call from a contact who has been struggling to sell his Hans Crescent freehold for the last 18 months.  He has just accepted an offer £2 million over what we were discussing on behalf of a Client last year, before our Client changed his mind.  And in case you are wondering, our fees would have been alot less than £2 million!

Technorati Tags: effect of the recession on London house prices, house price crash, House Prices, London Buyer's Agents, RICS

Tags: effect of the recession on London house prices, house price crash, House Prices, London Buyer's Agents, RICS

Silicon Valley in East Anglia?

Musings of a Cambridge Property Search Agent

Entrepreneurs are exploring an ambitious plan to improve rail transport between Cambridge and Norwich and create a superior broadband infrastructure with a view to making East Anglia the new Silicon Valley.  While this idea is in its infancy, there are ambitious plans to increase housing in the region but as yet no similar plans for transport.  Mr Freeman, founder of Cambridge biotechnology consultants, 4D Biomedical, described the region as having €˜woeful road, rail and broadband links€™.   Cambridge is already a centre for clean-tech and biomedical development and despite a huge building boom in recent years, property prices are holding up better than expected.

Property Search agents and property anoraks like us will continue to watch with interest.

Technorati Tags: Cambridge, Cambridge Property Search Agent, Property Search Agent

Tags: Cambridge, Cambridge Property Search Agent, Property Search Agent

Musings of a London Property Finder

Well if ever there were green shoots in the London property market they have shown their true colours today.  Attendees of the Savills auction in South Kensington emitted a collective gasp as a 2 up 2 down in Portobello Road in Notting Hill was sold for £908,000 - that is £8,000 more than a similar property was sold for in October last year, since when prices have apparently tumbled.  Given that the house apparently needs near enough £100,000 spending on it – the only assumption that can be made is that the new owner believes the only way is up, or it is their dream location. 

We also highlighted 2 Brayfield Terrace which sold for £458,000, which is probably about right given that other houses in the road sold for about £100,000 more in 2005 and 2006 and it is a great location.

Another gem was 102 Old Charlton Road, sold for £275,000 at auction today.  It was a great buy when we tell you that according to ourproperty.co.uk, the one across the street was sold for £399,000 in July 2007.  2 others were sold in 2007 for nigh on £400,000 and another was sold for the same price a year earlier.  Number 70 was sold in November 2008 for £290,000, £15,000 more but it doesn’t look as nice – it’s one of the ugly ducklings on a largely Victorian Street, so will never be as desirable as 102, which with a lick of paint to the render, will look fabulous from the outside.  As for the horrors inside – well they are just waiting to be discovered!

The main message from the auction room in the view of this London Property Finder, is that plenty of people believe in green shoots.  We are seeing a huge increase in decent stock at auction compared to a year ago, including some in the lower reaches of the million pound plus sector of the market.  And most is selling for 20% or 30% over the guide which is what you would expect in a healthy auction market.  Investors beware: end-users have returned to the auction rooms and they are already getting carried away.

Technorati Tags: Auction property, London Property Finder, Notting Hill house

Tags: Auction property, London Property Finder, Notting Hill house