Musings of a London Property Finder

Six months ago and pretty much all last year, Property Finders like me could rely on absolute bargains at auction for Clients keen to do some work.  At the time, we complained that there wasn’t really anything available over £300,000.  Now there are plenty of quality properties in good areas but in our view the amazing discounts have mostly faded away.  Here is our pick at the next Savills auction, but don’t expect fabulous bargains if you attend on the day.

Flat 5A Arkwright Road (pictured) is a case in point.  Hampstead afficionados will know that Arkwright Road is one of the most sought-after residential streets in the area and characterised by huge villas, most of which have been turned into flats.  The one bed flat with a turret, is on the top floor and situated no more than a brisk 10 minute walk to Hampstead tube and the heart of Hampstead village.  It needs a great deal of work and the buyer needs to contract to do the work and sell to an owner occupier but presumably an ambitious owner occupier could buy it immediately and call in the builders.  With alot of work, it could be an amazing flat and with a £250,000 price tag – looks to be excellent value.  We think it will go for over £300,000 maybe more.

Flat 2 in Old Royal Free Place will be an interesting lot to watch.  A two bedroom flat over 3 floors in need of modernisation, it is not ideal for sharers, since one of the bedrooms is galleried and overlooks the main reception room although perhaps a young architect would be keen to take it on?  With a guide of £295,000 it will be an interesting one to watch.  Many of the flats in this beautiful period square are still inhabited by housing association tenants, including female ex-offenders.  On the plus side it is a fantastic location in central Islington, very close to Angel tube station, Sainsburys and the high street shops of Upper Street.  Flats in nearby Theberton Street can sell for over £500,000 and even one bed flats in that area can achieve £400,000, so £300,000 for this essentially, ex-housing association property, seems fair.

Following the success Savills auction department have had with property in sought after W11, Savills have several flats for sale in the area.  Lot 55 is at first glance a bit of a gem.  It is a two bedroom top floor flat in a beautiful white stucco building on Elgin Crescent.  It has the use of the private gardens so quintessentially Notting Hill and unusually for an auction property, is in ‘reasonable’ decorative order with a modern kitchen and bathroom according to the auctioneers.  The exterior and communal parts have recently been redecorated we are led to understand.  Surely the resulting bill is not the reason for the owner to sell we ask?  Sadly it is after 5pm on a Friday and Savills have rightly gone home, so we will leave the due diligence on this and the other gems, to you, dear readers and join the other London Property Finders for a well-deserved glass of wine!

Technorati Tags: central London property, cheap Notting Hill flats, London Property Finder, Notting Hill property bargains, Savills auction

Tags: central London property, cheap Notting Hill flats, London Property Finder, Notting Hill property bargains, Savills auction

Musings of a London Property Finder

Election fever today as the country goes to the polls to elect the MEPs, who have a much worse record on expenses, one would presume, than that the motley crew who sit at Westminster.  However life outside elected politics continues but there were no surprises when the Bank of England released a statement today saying that the Monetary Policy Committee had voted to hold the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%.

The Committee also voted to continue with its programme of asset purchases totalling £125 billion financed by the issuance of central bank reserves. The Committee expects that the announced programme will take another two months to complete but with all the talk of green shoots, many commentators are now rather grudgingly admitting that it might have worked.

From the view of a London Property Finder, we are certainly seeing an increase of activity at all ends of the market.  First time buyers are keen to buy; it’s flat hunting time for parents seeking a safe home for their offspring due to start university in October and foreign buyers are still keen to invest in the UK while their currencies buy them more pounds than usual.  All in all, the combination of low interest rates and cheaper house prices are encouraging people to buy and keeping prices steady at 2006 levels in most cases in London.  Now if only all the property buyers would all employ us to do the looking!

Technorati Tags: Interest Rates, London Property Finder

Tags: Interest Rates, London Property Finder

Musings of a London Property Finder

A month ago Anthony Bolton, frequently named ‘Britain’s leading fund manager’ gave an interview to Bloomberg predicting an end to the bear market and said that we are now at the beginning of a long running bull market. 

His reasoning is essentially that from his analysis of previous bear markets, in terms of length and severity, he believes we’ve passed the low point.  He regards sentiment as being at a low not seen since the 1970s, despite some recent improvements and that this has led to investors holding historically high cash positions.  Money market funds in the US are now half the size of the stock market, compared to just 20-25% in previous lows.  Further, on many metrics, stocks are on historically low valuations and he rejects the view that it’s different this time, and that we need to throw away what we’ve learned over the past 35 years. Specifically, he does not expect the S&P 500′s low of 666 to be revisited, and anticipates this rally lasting for several years. 

Bolton has been bullish about pretty much all sectors, including property and questionned the wisdom of holding only traditional ‘recession stocks’ such as government bonds.

This morning it seems rival fund manager Invesco Perpetual’s Neil Woodford has dismissed this view, warning that the downturn has ‘a hell of a long way to go’.  His reasoning is that economic recovery won’t occur until both the UK and global economies have rebalanced, which means reducing leverage and rebuilding the banking system to a point where it is prepared to lend to businesses again.

‘My view is the problems that led to this recession - problems of excessive leverage in the consumer economy, excessive leverage in the banking system - have not been corrected at all,’ Woodford said.

‘There’s been no discernible, no significant increase, in consumer saving. There’s been no rebuilding of balance sheets effectively in the personal sector.  If anything, leverage has increased in recent months and arguably because of course there’s been a fall in asset values and a fall in house prices. So there’s been no paying down of debt. The banking system has to some extent reduced its leverage but I believe it has a hell of a lot further to go.’

Certainly both views are based on truth and this London Property Finder firm certainly won’t be pitting their wits against these two city heavy weights, except to say that there still seems to be a great deal of cash sloshing about, certainly in property, both from within the UK and in-bound as foreign investors pile in.  Who can blame them?  They smell bargains when the Brits stop buying and sterling falls.  As we all know, many fortunes are made out of a recession and the canny are keen to invest where they see value. 

It is true that Joe Bloggs is probably more highly geared than he was 18 months ago, but then it’s unlikely he is going to get us out of the recession, except for the fact that he keeps spending and helping businesses to grow and banks to keep lending.  Also, we work closely with several banks and anecdotally they seem to be lending where the business plan stacks up and they think they are going to get their money back.  And that’s the point.  The mood seems to have changed, people with cash can see opportunities and they know they need to invest to keep their money working.

In my capacity as a London Property Finder, not a week goes by without me spotting a truly amazing bargain and if I had any spare money, I would certainly be shopping and it wouldn’t be shoes!

Technorati Tags: Bottom of the market?, London house price crash, London House Prices, London Housing Market, London Property Finder, London property prices

Tags: Bottom of the market?, London house price crash, London House Prices, London Housing Market, London Property Finder, London property prices