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Salah Mussa, Chairman of the Mercantile Group comments: We see these difficult market conditions as an opportunity for the continued development of the Chesterton brand and we believe that Chesterton will thrive and enhance its position in this real estate market. I am very appreciative of all the value that Consensus has added to Chesterton over the years and I look forward to working with them on other endeavours in the future.”
How much? They're not saying. I wonder whether Chesterton still has its in-house historian?
Technorati Tags: estate agents, real estate agents |
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"92 per cent of sales done by our Knightsbridge office so far this year were to foreign nationals," says Phil Tennant from Hamptons International.
Desperate vendors. A slow market. A cheap pound. It's not a bad time for wealthy foreign bargain hunters, according to the Telegraph. Hold on tight for the next interest rate cut.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate |
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Primelocation offers buyers and sellers an international reach, and its portal is a mine of useful information, including useful guides for homeowners, landlords and movers. It features property from 4,000 leading estate agency firms, and the voice of Terence Stamp in its ads... which makes me happy. The Rat and Mouse needs the support of forward-looking organisations like Primelocation if it's to continue bringing you your daily dish of property news and gossip, so we hope you'll support them in return, by using the search box in the top right hand corner.
If your firm is interested in advertising on the Rat and Mouse (stop press: 205,000 page impressions in November), contact me here for more information.
Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse |
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Knight Frank's index of posh London home prices fell 3.6% in November, the second largest fall since the record began (it was beaten only by last month's, of 3.9%). The annual index is now down by 14.1%, with 9.3% of that falling out in the last three months. Interestingly, family houses - previously pretty immune - fell more than flats (4.1% to 3.2%).
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate |
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Land Registry house price data is being accused of misleading buyers, since it doesn't reflect repossessions or auctions. This year, repos are likely to represent 6% of residential property transactions, and so the argument goes that they need to be included in any representative data. But a market isn't simply about supply and demand. It's about time, too. As any gazunderer knows, time constraints on the part of a vendor can have an unusual effect on prices. Repos and auctions bring a particular urgency to the deal... are they really a good way of measuring house prices on the open market?
Technorati Tags: property, real estate |
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House prices are down 1.1% in November (less of a drop than October's 1.3%), leaving them 8.1% down on the year, and about where they were in January 2006... which was, if I remember, expensive. In London, specifically, the annual index has dropped 9.5%. Interestingly, there's (kind of) evidence that volume might have bottomed out. The time it takes to shift a house is now 11.8 weeks, compared to the previous report's 11.9 weeks; and vendors are accepting 88.9% of asking price, compared to 89.2%. Is there enough volume for such small variations to be meaningful? That's arguable.
Technorati Tags:
property, real estate, London
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Royal Bank of Scotland borrowers in arrears will now be allowed a six month head start, before the bank sends the repo-men in pursuit. As unemployment inevitably rises, it will be seen as good news by most, and is likely to become a common policy among the lenders. According to the BBC's Robert Peston, it will be seen as less than good news by the estate agents, who have apparently been relying on the disposal of repos as a revenue stream. It's not clear to me how (in reality) a month or two added to the normal period of grace is going to dry up the repo-market. More here.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, property, real estate, real estate agents |
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It's a 1.5% fall in October, leaving the October-to-October figure down 10.1%... or at summer 2006 levels. London's fall is more moderate, at 8.6%.
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Read it here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate |
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Managing Partners Limited, an investment adviser and fund manager, is in the process of acquiring almost an entire street of houses in Portsmouth at prices as much as 40 per cent below official asking values.
Most of the purchases are repos, none were for more than £100,000. Two years ago, they were changing hands around the £200,000 mark. And we're supposed to believe only fools are buying now? At this kind of discount, and assuming you're in a position to afford the debt and find the tenants, there's surely not much risk. It's all - as it always is - about the deal.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate |
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Plans by The Fabulous Candy Boys to convert Chelsea Barracks into a complex of 300 luxury apartments, with a giant underground car park below, have run into trouble thanks to a tiny 19th Century chapel, long ago deconsecrated, but of significant architectural value and sitting right in the middle of the site. Representatives of English Heritage, the V&A, the Victorian Society and the Ancient Monuments Society have joined with the specially formed Chelsea Barracks Action Group to demand a listing for the chapel. More here. And you can see the plans for yourself, here.
Technorati Tags: architecture, development, London, property, real estate |
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