Musings of the best London Property Buyers Agents

According to Estate Agent Today, Miles Shipside the Commercial Director at Rightmove has announced that they have had their biggest ever day - which is newsworthy, because it comes in the middle of the summer holiday and in the middle of a recession.

Already feeling suspicious, it turns out their second best day was last March, when very little was happening in the property market.  So are people just window-shopping?  We know from anecdotal evidence that people are buying again.  More people seem to be buying this year than last year and there is definitely little stock in many areas in many several price ranges, although we are starting to see an increase in properties coming to the market.

Equally you could argue that everyone is checking up on their house price by browsing house prices for other homes in the neighbourhood.  As for us, Manse and Garret Property Buyers Agents are still forcasting a few bargains before Christmas, and we’re not convinced there will be a genuine surge in house prices in most parts of London, any time soon.

Estate Agent Today

Technorati Tags: House Prices, London Property Buyers Agents, Rightmove

Tags: House Prices, London Property Buyers Agents, Rightmove

Musings from Manse and Garret London Property Buyers Agents

Source: Nationwide

Nationwide Building Society have released their latest house price data for  July, with news that they have registered the third consecutive rise in house prices and that house prices could end the year higher than where they started.  Given the sharp falls in prices last Autumn, year on year, house prices are down only 6%, down from -9% in June. 

Rightmove have confirmed what those of us who work in property every day were aware of: there is considerable number of buyers chasing limited stock and the number of buyers hasn’t dropped since beginning of the summer, as it usually does.

Looking at Nationwide’s figures for non-seasonally adjusted house prices, it is certainly true that  house prices have risen at a phenomenal rate this year.  The ‘average house’ has increased in value by 8% since February of this year, adding just under £10,000 to a house worth £150,000 at the beginning of this year.  However no-one expects the Autumn market to be as busy, although I have just done a viewing with an agent who is predicting a boom, but then there are many in our industry who will do so for reasons of self-interest, whether consciously or not.

The interesting thing from the Nationwide research is that as per the graph above, house prices are now on a par with the long term real house price trend, which should give comfort to buyers hoping to stay in their new homes for a number of years.

As for us, in our capacity as London Property Buyers Agents, I think we will see a relatively bumpy property market over the next six months at least.  A busy Spring Summer next year perhaps and stable Autunm and then potentially a more difficult 2011, depending on what the Tories do.  I do think the worst of the price falls will be over by the end of the year but I also sense a jittery market, so expect minor peaks and troughs.  Time will tell.

Technorati Tags: House Prices, London Property Buyers Agents, Rising house prices

Tags: House Prices, London Property Buyers Agents, Rising house prices

Musings of a London Property Buyers Agent

A disgruntled Leicester Estate Agent has placed an ad in a local newspaper, warning vendors and other agents of the underhand tactics of an investment purchaser, who tried to gazunder by dropping his offer at the last minute which meant a chain of three purchases fell apart.

According to Estate Agent Today, the advert reads: €œWe have had 3 house sales fall through this week due to the actions of SFS Investments of Barkby Road, Leicester. Be Warned!!!€

Michael Wolfe, a partner of Leicester Premier Estate Agents said, €œI was so upset for our vendors  when these clients reduced their prices, effectively pulling out of the sale.

€œOne of the clients has just had a baby, another one is heavily pregnant, and the other was already distressed at selling the family home following the death of her father.

€œThese €˜purchasers€™ are so emotionally detached from the buying process that they have no regard. They quite blatantly strung along these clients to the point where they had packed their belongings and were ready to move.€

He also criticised HIPs, adding, €œAs these particular clients have an in-house conveyancing arm and with HIPs putting the onus to provide all legal documentation on to the property owner, they are able to walk away from the transaction without having incurred a single penny in expense.”

We’ve seen a great deal in the press recently about the North South divide in respect of the recovery of the property market with reports that it’s still grim up North for anyone involved in property, but certainly in the South East, there seems to be less gazundering these days.  The market changed markedly between March and May of this year and after a slow start, as predicted, buyers are piling in concerned that they missed the bottom of the market. 
 
From our perspective as London Property Buyers Agents, while there is so little stock around, gazumping is more likely to happen than gazundering, particularly when buyers have negotiated a good deal and then can’t proceed quickly.  The moral of the story is get organised.  Send in a surveyor quickly, stick to your word and make sure the vendor sticks to theirs.  If it all goes pear-shaped, you could always name and shame!

Technorati Tags: London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agent, London Property Buyers Agents

Tags: London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agent, London Property Buyers Agents