I went to a lunch yesterday given by a publisher. It’s an annual event and I usually give all such events a miss. Shy and retiring as I am I was persuaded by a colleague and it was actually good to see a few old faces I see all too often. The old timers are thinning out, one lovely guy has just bowed out with MS, it’s the sort of business here in central London that you only leave when forced through illness. Many have tried to leave but came back. But I digress.
Archive for the ‘London Property Market’ Category
Estate agents ARE the canaries of the wider Economy, so what do they think.
June 4th, 2010 by Ed MeadWhilst standing in a bank queue this morning I overheard a guy at the back saying “…and the dreaded gazumping is back”.
That’s not the way it feels to me at the moment and it’s a perhaps timely reminder that estate agents are the canaries of the wider economy.
Market Report – The Matchbox Property Guide 2010
May 25th, 2010 by Ivor DickinsonSo, what does 2010 hold for the London property owner? After a slow start February and March saw significant activity in the sales market and prices continuing to rise at the same rate as they did in 2009. However, as we came in to June it was a very different story. It is as if the entire United Kingdom was like a punch drunk boxer, reeling from blow after blow as it discovers the full extent of Blair and Brown’s profligacy over the last twelve years. I seriously believe that the British people are increasingly nervous about the future and the slow decrease in activity in every sector of the property market is largely caused by fear. Never a good emotion when confronting big decisions about whether to rent or to buy, how much to spend or when shall I make my move? The lack of property available to let will mean rental prices increasing month on month and demand for property in central London will mean sales prices holding up, but not necessarily increasing significantly.
HIP replacement
May 24th, 2010 by Ed Mead
If you want a HIP replaced these days, even on the NHS, you get it made of unobtanium and it’ll last until you’ll have more fun in one of those electric trolleys that mad old people charge around in.
At the moment the replacement HIP we’ve been offered in the property business is like damp cardboard, in other words worse than useless. Rather like Labour abolishing the House of Lords with no idea about what to replace it with much trumpeting has accompanied the removal of the packs but nothing else has been said about what’ll replace it.
No Wonder Estate Agents Get a Bad Name
May 12th, 2010 by Ivor DickinsonIt’s hard to believe, but this, I promise you, is an actual advertisement from an estate agent in London.
‘Walsingham Place, Clapham. We hadn’t made it as far as the bedroom when the perfect buyer sprang to mind. So we called like a shot. And just as we thought, they loved the house. So, viewing, great offer, exchange and completion without the house even going on the market. That’s local know how – better results in action.’
With 70% of World’s wealth in property maybe this is the job for you?
May 6th, 2010 by Ed MeadIf you want to work in the wonderful world of property, and with c. 70% of the world’s wealth wrapped up in it it’s not such a bad idea, there are a plethora of choices many of which you wouldn’t necessarily think about straight away. You can either be a wide boy or a boring old stiff. Sorry, allowing my prejudice to shine through there, I mean you can be a salesman or a true property professional. You can sell, let or manage a property, for which you need no formal qualification, or you can decide you want the surety of a long term job with equally long term qualifications.
Time for buy to let to come out of the freezer…
April 28th, 2010 by Ed MeadIt’s easy to run scared from buy to let. It had as much bad publicity as any other sector in 2008/9 and at D&G we’ve been managing all sorts of rented properties for over 50 years.
There may be only a handful of mortgage products out there but perhaps no fewer by proportion than there were for ordinary purchases. As usual with any investment sector there’s always a degree of overshoot on the downside, as there is often with upside too, and it’s probably true that prices an in recovery mode at the moment, even if it’s a bit too soon to say it’s going to last.
How do you want to be served, Robots or Humans
April 13th, 2010 by Ed MeadI’ve just had a call from a recommendation. He currently lives in E11 and knows what he wants to spend but not where he wants to live. These days central London, even prime central London, can embrace areas as diverse as Hampstead, Chelsea, Nottinghill Gate, Earls Court, Kensington, Wandsworth, Islington, Mayfair to name but a few….you get the idea. For anybody thinking of moving the main thing they need is to talk to someone, and preferably someone who knows what they’re talking about. His first question was about how long my team had been together and did they know the area.
What makes Kensington and Chelsea special
August 20th, 2010 by Ed MeadRBKC, only four letters but given they denote an area that contains some of the most expensive real estate on the planet it’s not surprising that people aspire to live here, and that the property market here polarises opinion.
Firstly some facts; if you use May 1995 as a base of 100, as of May 2010 nationally the index had gone to 265, but in RBKC it’s gone to 458. So over the same period property in this sought after location has increased 216% more than the national average. The average property price is c. £870k. (Land Registry)
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