It will be no surprise to London Property Buyers Agents that The Royal Borough and Fulham and Hammersmith are continuing to lead the charge with rising property prices according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.  Property prices in the two boroughs have increased by 6.6% and 6.4% respectively this year, followed  closely by city favourite, Islington with an average 5.5% rise year on year.

Other areas to have performed well during the first six months of the year include Hackney, where prices have increased by 4.1% year to date and where prices rose by 1.8% in June, second only to Harrow where they rose by 2.4% in the same month.  Westminster, home to Mayfair and parts of Belgravia, Marylebone and Bayswater rose 3.4% year on year, although the best properties have had a good year if priced well.

In our capacity as prime London Buyers Agents, we’ve been in several sealed bid situations this year so far as prime property continues to be in short supply and so well-priced property has sold well during the first half of the year.  We always have searches in Mayfair and there has been a real dearth of good flats this year, apart from the odd portfolio sale, so the few deals we have done here have been off-market.

Now we are in holiday season, the market feels softer, as vendors and buyers retire to their second homes for the summer, but people have to live somewhere and although transactions are down overall year on year the numbers of prime properties changing hands in London is still up on last year.  Interestingly, the number of properties sold in London for over £2million doubled between April 2010 and April 2011 from 71 to 141.  I would be very interested to know how many of those completed before April 5th, when the new 5% stamp duty came into force for properties over £1million.  If the experience of this London Property Buyers Agent is anything to go by, quite alot, I would imagine!

All statistics provided by the Land Registry House Price Index July 28th

Finding a property with outside space in central London can sometimes seem quite a feat (especially if property finding isn’t your raison d’etre, as it is for us London buyer’s agents here at Manse & Garret Property Search!)

With summer approaching the number of buyers eager for outside space increases; competition is fierce and flats with good roof terraces are very quick to go under offer, often sold to keen buyers enticed by the idea of entertaining friends and family on a warm summer evening surrounded by the bright lights of London.

Speaking as a London Buyer’s Agent, I am particularly referring to roof terraces, rather than the humble patio garden, as they are quite the in thing in property and quite understandably so. Patio gardens, often on the lower ground floor, overlooked by neighbours and more often than not lacking in natural light find it hard to live up to The Roof Terrace which is much more likely to provide breath-taking views of London, great entertaining space, and an excellent opportunity to sunbathe, if that’s your thing.

Flats with patio gardens are usually on the lower ground and ground floors; less popular with buyers, especially the security conscious, and so tend to be 10-20% cheaper than a flat on the same road, but higher up. A flat on an upper floor with a good roof terrace, however, is likely to be worth about 10-20% more than a flat on the same road without outside space and will sell much more quickly, and if you are a property investor, it is worth noting that a property with a roof terrace is much more likely to be rented out more quickly and produce a better yield.

If you’d like to find a property with a roof terrace to rival Vista at the Trafalgar and Kensington Roof Gardens then give the best London Buyer’s Agents, Manse & Garret Property Search a call today.

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Tags: London Buyer's Agents, London Flats, London property, London property finders, London search agents, outside space, summer

Musings of the London Property Buyers Agents

We’re no experts on the American property market – actually, we know nothing about the American property market but for us in London, a 36% drop sounds like very bad news – normally reserved for the repossessions market.

So has Hef been foreclosed?  Apparently not, but according to the Wall Street Journal, he and Mrs Hef (they split in 1998) have apparently accepted an offer of $18 million, $10 million less than the asking price from 25 year old Daren Metropoulos, the son of C. Dean Metropoulos, a super-successful private equity investor.

The house in question is not Playboy Mansion, where Hugh Hefner still lives with the ‘playmates’ but the smaller version next door where his wife had been living.

So was it just grossly over-priced to begin with or has Hugh taken a hit where it hurts?  There are a few top end drops in London at the moment, but they are almost exclusively the reserve of the handful of people like us in the know.  If you need London Property Buyers Agents who might just be able to secure a similar gem, in London, you can contact us here.

Technorati Tags: Buyers agents, Hugh Hefner's house, Hugh Hefner's house for sale, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents

Tags: Buyers agents, Hugh Hefner's house, Hugh Hefner's house for sale, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents