LOGIN
4th November 2022 by Jonny Dyson Property Insight 0

Newsletter November 2022

NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2022 End of an era for cheap borrowing For most of the past decade the UK base rate has not exceeded 0.5%. As we write, the base rate has just gone from 2.25% to 3%, the biggest hike since 1989. The era of cheap money is over. However, unlike the domestic housing market, the prime London sector is less built upon a basic need for debt, and loan to value ratios tend to be low on average, and with cash purchases commonplace. There is a distinct difference between wealth and liquidity, so understanding how interest rates influence the different sectors of the market is key, and the ability to cut through the hysteria or bias in the press more important than ever. Cheap and easy money has inevitably encouraged speculation from those who had access to such funds, but the higher transaction costs introduced since the earlier/mid part of the last decade has kept this to relatively low levels and there is far less ‘heat’ in the prime London market to what we saw back in 2007/2008 or 1990/1991. So, with interest rates very much at the forefront of our minds at the moment, we spoke to our […]

Read On
4th November 2022 by Jonny Dyson Property Insight 0

Focus on Notting Hill

FOCUS ON…NOTTING HILL Having lived and worked in various parts of London for 27 years I have built up an encyclopaedic knowledge of this amazing, ever-changing city. Many people have suggested that I share my knowledge, recollections and recommendations about some of my favourite parts of London and so, finally, I have put pen to paper (or rather keyboard to screen). Focus on… will be a regular feature on our website and I’m kicking off with the much-loved area of Notting Hill Jonny Dyson The rich and famous Ever since Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts graced our screens with the film of the same name in 1999, Notting Hill has been synonymous with the acting and music ‘set’ in the early noughties. From a personal perspective I remember days before the internet when various household names would be regulars in our office – from Madonna to Robbie, Geldoff to Noel & Liam, they became regulars through our doors. No security, no makeup, and surprisingly few airs or graces, they were just regular humans trying to find a home. The not quite so rich and famous Notting Hill has always had a bohemian feel, and even today the rich and famous […]

Read On
6th September 2022 by Hugh Obbard Property Insight 0

Temperatures Rise On Many Fronts

NEWSLETTER LATE SUMMER 2022 Temperatures rise on many fronts The prime London market hasn’t exactly reflected this summer’s weather, who would have thought an English summer would see 40 degrees!….but that’s not to say it isn’t feeling pretty hot in parts. Here are a few stats to put this in context: Prices continued to rise across prime London in July ending the month 7.7% higher than last year and 4.2% higher than their pre-pandemic average (2017-19). This represents the highest growth rate since January 2015. Prime rental market is up 25.8% on last year (note this reflects coming off a Covid adjusted low, but rents are circa 15% above pre-Covid levels). Due to extreme supply shortages, year-on-year new lets were down over 45% in July, leading to the lowest number of properties let in the month of July since the LonRes database began (2005) Knight Frank reported the number of offers accepted across the capital in July was the highest for ten years, “underlining the current strength of appetite for higher-value property in London”. High value property transactions are exceeding pre-peak levels. THE GOOD, BAD & UGLY UPDATE At the beginning of the year we took our lead from spaghetti […]

Read On
19th January 2022 by Hugh Obbard Property Insight 0

What lies ahead in 2022?

NEWSLETTER WINTER 2022 What lies ahead in 2022? Happy New Year to all. We have great expectations for 2022 and see the combination of rapidly rising rents, pent-up buyer demand and extreme limits of stock pointing in one direction as far as the prime London market goes. The return to normalisation of interest rates is something to be aware of needless to say, but the prime market is less sensitive to the cost of finance than the broader mortgage reliant national market. Please do have a read of our thoughts and experiences below. The Good The prime London market is at the start of a cyclical recovery. In contrast to the broader national market and, more recently, the country hot spots, until last year the prime London market had shown little signs of recovery from its average 20% fall in values from the 2014/2015 peak. Pent-up demand is obvious, as was illustrated with the easing of international travel restrictions in Q4 last year which translated into overall transaction levels for 2021 exceeding 2019 and for the over £5M sector reaching levels last seen in 2013. Prime rents are appreciating rapidly and are back to being well above pre Covid levels. […]

Read On
16th September 2021 by Hugh Obbard Property Insight 0

Now it’s London’s turn

NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2021 Now it’s London’s turn The most recent figures from Nationwide on the UK housing market are quite an eye catcher. Year on year, prices are up 11%. The reasons for this extraordinary growth in a time of pandemic and multiple lockdowns are many. With the pandemic spreading, the government stepped in with a stimulus measure by suspending Stamp Duty on the first £500,000. An immediate saving of up to £15k in a market where the national average house price stands at £248,857 (Nationwide). This coincided with mortgage rates hitting an all time low with sub 1% five year fix deals being offered from early summer. The pandemic of course slowed the world down and this in turn led to a review, for many, of priorities and lifestyle in general, home and work/life balance being high up on the list.   The result has been a rampant domestic housing market with first-time buyers desperate to take advantage of cheap mortgages and square foot challenged city folk making rapid decisions to escape to the country and live the rural dream. As things stand there is nothing to suggest the market will not continue to rise, albeit the pace will […]

Read On
Back to Top