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Entries in February 2006
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As if HousePriceCrash - a popular website set up to document the crash that never happens - and FirstRung - a website for angry FTBs - aren't entertaining enough separately, here they are together... and the result is hysterical. FirstRung reports on an (apparent) attempt by HousePriceCrash to undermine the credibility of Rightmove's property price index, as the company slides, its tracks greased with champaigne, towards a £400 million flotation. HousePriceCrash has (again, apparently) suggested to Trading Standards and the UK Listing Authority that they take a closer look at some of the figures on the website. The accusation is that Rightmove's massaging house price listings to push up the index ahead of flotation. To give HousePriceCrash credit, they do appear to have asked some salient questions regarding property portfolios which may or may not be showing up in the index as individual homes. But exactly why Rightmove would want to do big up the market when they're in the business of taking advertising off estate agents is a mystery. (Surely, places like Rightmove will do best when estate agents are tripping over each other trying to get their properties noticed.) Anyway, the forum entry that appears to have caused this whole unpleasantness is here... and it's a good read.
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The property price index situation might lack clarity right now, but it's all good for landlords. Whether it's as a result of buyers choosing to rent in an uncertain market, or first-time-buyers still simply priced out is unclear. But, according to the latest RICS quarterly survey, tenants are returning to the market (the biggest increase in demand in four-and-a-half years), and rents are up (for flats, it's again the biggest increase in four-and-a-half years). More, here.
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After a lively start to the year and official fears of a new mini house price boom amongst Bank of England economists, this morning's figures by Nationwide (adjusted to take into account the expected seasonal variations) report a 0.2% fall in February (after a 1.5% rise in January), leaving the year-on-year figures down to 3.7%. More, here. Meanwhile, the Evening Standard reports that the Nationwide report sent actual shivers through the estate agency industry, by casting doubt on the market's positive spring outlook. Click this to download a copy of the February document as a pdf.
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We had a few server difficulties. If you emailed us this morning - and you can be bothered - a "re-send' would be appreciated. Thanks.
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The Sunday Times reported on the latest hurdle as Camden Council's planning department sits to discuss Argent's 600 page document on the future of the King's Cross wasteland. Has regeneration ever been discussed so much, and yet taken so long? Matthew Goodman attempts to find out, with a very interesting look at the state-of-play across London, including Elephant & Castle, White City, Battersea Power Station, Arsenal and, of course, the Olympic East End. Read it, here.
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Saturday's Guardian carried news that it's all-systems-go for Knightsbridge's latest icon to excess. Bowater House is going, to be replaced by a development of 86 apartments overlooking Hyde Park. The developers are a consortium including the Bank of Scotland, the architect will be Lord Rogers and the project will be managed, and the interiors designed, by Candy & Candy. The talk is of higher than high end, with price tags reaching £20 million.
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Hometrack reports a third monthly rise - a gain of 0.4% (the largest single amount in over a year and a half). Interestingly, it's a regionally mixed picture, not every place is thriving, and overall it still leaves an annual decline in prices. London - however - has been thriving, driving the figures with a 0.9% monthly rise. More, here. The Independent looks a bit closer at the London market with help from Knight Frank estate agents. And according to them, it's buyers from the Middle East, China and India who are injecting a bit of life into the prime London residential sector.
Purchases of prime London properties by buyers based in Asia Pacific have risen from zero two years ago to almost 10 per cent in the final quarter of last year. Middle Easterners, who were inactive in the London market at the start of 2004, took 7 per cent of the market at the end of 2005.
We'll bring you a link to the Hometrack report as soon as it appears on their website.
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He has homes in London and in Hampshire, a part share in a Languedoc holiday home, part share in a home in Greece, and then he's landlord for a further five properties: a house and two flats in London, and a house and a flat in Oxford. Clearly, he needs more. This, from his leadership campaign manifesto:
"Housing has become the Cinderella of the Government's social policy. Too few affordable homes are being built, particularly in the South and in existing urban areas rather than greenfield sites."
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It's time to update the old how much does a good local school add to the value of your home figure... and it's a giant £25,000 extra offered by London parents. What's more, if those London parents are earning more than £50,000 a year, it rises to an almost stupid extra £43,000. More here.
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More in this Category - Linkage
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First overstretch, then directorial incompetence, then armed snipers, then a junkie workforce, recent reports of losses reaching £106 million and emergency meetings with bankers as the FA announce an alternative venue for this year's cup... and now this... more than 60 Wembley workers, including foremen, placing bets with Paddy Power bookmakers that the stadium won't be ready in time for May 13.
What's cheaper than Wembley Stadium? [February 16]
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Matt Roper, of the Mirror, is. He examines "the real reasons we're being fleeced this winter", comparing fuel, council tax, petrol and water bills to the record profits being made by providers. It's a piece we can expect to see again and again over the next few months.
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Fancy a peek inside Moby's hilltop home, 50 miles outside of Manhattan, as featured on MTV Cribs and yours for three and a half million dollars? Oh, go on then. Click here for a guided tour [warning: irritating ambient music].
International celebrity property round-up [February 7]
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There are large LCD screens, each worth £1900, in both reception rooms, a small £400 television in the kitchen and TVs concealed in cupboards in the main, guest and children's bedrooms. Even the ensuite bathrooms have tellies built into the ends of the baths; the remote controls are designed to float, of course.
 The flat, described here in the Telegraph, is in South Kensington's Onslow Square, and it's owned by property developer Anton Truter. And, apparently, he's not so freaky. A recent report reveals that the average UK home contains 4.7 televisions. The figures on either side of that mean are interesting too, and appear to confirm our secret snobbery. The highest UK ownership rate was in Ballymacbrennan in Northern Ireland (6.2 sets, several of which are probably hot); in Belgravia, the figure's just 3.1 sets. And what of the people without televisions? Have you noticed how desperate they are to portray themselves as "above" tv, and to make sure that you know they don't have room for such a contraption in their homes or their lives? Until you're so sick of hearing it that some internal irritation-inhibitor reminds you to stop asking them "hey did you see...?" An example? Here's television-free Libby, talking to the Telegraph... pay attention to how much information she manages to pack into her penultimate sentence:
"I'm almost embarrassed to admit it," says Libby. "People are always astonished when they find out. I feel such a luddite. But I've always got my art to do in the evenings and Ollie has his academic work. We don't have time to watch television.
Almost embarrassed to admit it... but... go on then.
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 Today's Independent reports on ground being broken in SE1 by residents of the Jam Factory development, who have created an extremely well functioning virtual community, a website, with forum, blog and intranet, called MyJamFactory. What makes MyJamFactory so special is that it's good. Very nicely designed. Very smoothly functioning. Very useful. And treated with respect by the end users - who have harnessed the power of the internet to promote and enable neighbourliness:
The intranet has myriad uses. People might use it to find a cleaner or to arrange piano lessons, says Bond. "When I e-mailed to say: 'I'm going to pick up some wine in France, does anybody want some?' I had 10 orders from people. Someone might say: 'I've had my bike stolen, does anyone know a good lock?' And when someone was mugged recently, people rallied round, sending messages of support."
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It's not London, it's Manhattan, but it's too cool to ignore. Here's Curbed with details of a two-bedroom apartment with a Led Zeppelin album cover for particulars.
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It's a typical day in the tortured life of the Guardian reader. Bags of money - eye on that second home on the west coast, or perhaps in France or an old Balkan country if they want something with which they can really entertain a dinner party - but is it ethical enough? Or will they get their Guardian ghetto pass revoked? Let's go to a columnist for absolution... fingers crossed... but... dammit!... that looks like a "no".
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More in this Category - Linkage
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With a children's slide shooting down from the attic, a pair of beds that look like space pods, blue rubber floors and pink walls -- not to mention a museum's worth of contemporary art and design -- one easily could mistake the London home of Kenny Schachter and Ilona Rich for an avant-garde playground.
The Schachters' Chelsea townhouse - celebrated here in the Chicago Tribune - was designed by Ab Rogers, whose own home the Rat and Mouse looked at recently. Ab clearly believes children should sleep in pods (his own kids do; so why not the Schachters, for Christ's sake?). The Rat and Mouse isn't going to generalise about that kind of thing, but we've got nothing against pods per se. Or children. Or architects. In this instance, however, it appears the Schachter children themselves have had the last say regarding the pod arrangements. They apparently prefer to sleep on a large mattress on the floor. Ah, "Shanty Town Chic", know it well.
Wimbledon Zip Up [January 11]
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Rightmove (who are about to be very well off) spread the cheer today with evidence of a house price surge - or, to be precise, an asking price surge. Nationally, prices have risen 2.7% January to February, making the average asking price £201,600, the first move above £200,000 since the survey began in the summer of 2001. In London, the figure has reached £238,235. More, here. Or press this to download a pdf of the actual report.
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According to David Burrows, writing for Reuters. Buy-to-let rental yields were flat in 2005, he says, so what to do about it? He talks to Ben Robinson, from fund manager New Star, who reminds us that commercial and residential property follow different gameplans, and if you're already exposed to the residential sector (you own the house in which you live), you might be wise to avoid the world of six or 12 month leases and maintenance responsibilities and expose yourself to a little commercial sector goodness, from a fund with 10/15 year leases and blue chip clients. Other ways to get some property action without being a landlord include stock flotations (see Rightmove's flotation) and spread betting against the index. Read the full piece here.
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 Own up. Because, if you are, you might want to attend this drinks party (alright, conference) organised by Wandsworth Council. There'll be advice, they say, about what the council can do to help you (energy efficiency grants, assistance letting the property etc) and a Q&A. It's on Monday, February 20. We're not suggesting it's going to be fabulous, but it might be useful.
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The International Herald Tribune tells the story of property developer Mike Spink and his choice to build a giant, 5,200-square-foot family house in the Holland Park Avenue district, in a space in which he could have built a row of mews houses. He says part of his reasoning is that he wants to produce a property that can't be compared (in terms of value) with anything else... because there isn't anything else remotely like it in the neighbourhood. Is it a good plan? Well, his record so far is pretty good - they say that none of his developments have remained on the market for longer than 24 hours. The new one is due for completion in the summer, and he's talking about £9 million. You can read more, here.
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 The Times carries an interesting piece about South Kensington's Ornamenta, a company that can take one of your photographs and turn it into a giant, wall-sized, wallpaper mural. Clients have apparently used the company to brighten up small rooms with extravagant skyscapes, fill a room with memories of a safari taken 40 years ago, and one man asked for a replica of the Journey of the Magi, from Florence's Medici chapel, on the walls and ceiling of his London dining room. (Think about that last one for a moment and then immediately forget it.) Read more, here.
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Well, almost everything, obviously. But we like podcaster Neil Dixon's choice. For a full £145 million less than a big field, you can have "the most advanced sea-going vessel on the planet... the latest naval destroyer, HMS Daring". Daring is bigger than any warship the Navy has previously commissioned, it's powered by electricity and it boasts more firepower than the entire Type-42 fleet. Wembley Stadium will have lots of toilets, two tunnels and chalk lines. Dixon himself would be happy with the £145 million difference. Catch his podcast, A Minor Technicality, here.
More Wembley woes [February 10]
Wembley kills off Multiplex boss [May 27]
Wembley shoot-em-up [March 1]
Share dive after Wembley news [February 24, 2005]
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 ... before getting a mortgage, that is. The wave of valuation skepticism that resulted in a couple of lenders closing the door on new-builds continues, with both the CML and RICS warning that buy-to-let landlords can expect to face a few more hurdles - particularly regarding so-called "incentives" (cash-backs on new-builds for example) - before being granted a mortgage. Let's hope investors realise they're being done a favour - greater transparency and scrutiny is in everyone's best interests. Haven't they enough on their plates? More, here.
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That's the message from 23 economists polled by Reuters on the subject of house prices. Only eight thought UK property was fairly valued, none thought it was undervalued. You do the maths. The current upswing (if there really is one) may well be temporary, they say, and we should take the effects of higher household bills in the second half of 2006... seriously. More, here.
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Jonathan Hunt - the man behind Foxtons has just paid himself a £3 million dividend, according to this morning's Telegraph podcast.
World's most unpopular estate agent buys house in Kensington [November 21]
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More in this Category - Linkage
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There's news here that Rightmove is preparing for a stock market flotation that could value the company at more than £400 million. The website attracts 10 million visitors a month, apparently, which we think is roughly in line with the Rat and Mouse. Rightmove MD Ed Williams also says the company is planning on getting into the lucrative HIPs racket.
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... according to the estate agents. There's a survey out by the always-optimistic Haart estate agents suggesting London prices rose by 2% in January, and as much as 6% in hotspots in the east and south-east of the Capital. Meanwhile, Knight Frank, an estate agent that doesn't like to believe such a place as east London really exists, reports a 1.5% price rise for properties valued £1 million and more. Which amounts to a lot of cheese. More, here.
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"Blond Curtain" is by Dutch designer Nicolette Brunklaus. They're printed silk and priced at £695. Available here
[via design*sponge]
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There's evidence to suggest that at least some of that City bonus money is heading not only towards Kensington & Chelsea but Docklands too. According to agents Felicity J Lord, values went up 0.7% last month - not much in percentage terms, but £18.599 on average. More here.
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More, here.
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Because there's more to Denmark than race-hate cartoons and burning embassies. They make totally radical furniture, too. Here's Danish design house Skagerak, exemplifying a northern European clarity of line and empathy with wood... available in the UK, but you might have to go to Leeds.
[via design*sponge]
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So let's talk about divorce. Graham Norwood, writing in the Observer, looks at how bitter thirty- and forty-something divorcees are grabbing nice, young, wide-eyed first-time buyers' flats up from under them, and using them as a place to sit and seethe and listen to Kanye [warning: sound]:
The message is clear. In the long-term, divorce demographics show there is a need for all those apartments being built and those larger houses that are being split into flats - provided they are at a sensible price which newly single people can fall in love with.
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Prescott's figures might come later than the others, but - based on completions - they have a reputation for reliability. December numbers reach the press today. Annual inflation is shown to have risen to 2.9% (from 2.2% in November). And in London there seems to have been a more marked increase (to 3.8% from 1.5%), suggesting to me that as the year drew to a close the pressure to complete was felt greater amongst buyers than amongst sellers. Press this to download a pdf of the report to your desktop.
Mildly pessimistic start to year from Halifax [February 9]
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 Mr Justice Hughes, who jailed Hamza yesterday, wants to know whether the cleric sold a property in Adie Road, Hammersmith in 2004. He's looking for assets to use to offset the costs of the trial. He'd particularly like to hear from the agent who arranged the sale. So, if you're an estate agent in the W6 area, try to think back to 2004... did you represent a big bearded man with a hook? Alternatively, residents of Adie Road... does the photograph remind you of the man who gave you the tour? Do you recall noticing an excessive amount of race-hate material on the bookshelves? Drop us a line, and we'll pass on your comments. More, here.
Bradshaw, Hutton and Hamza - nabes [December 14]
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A mature view, from L&C's David Hollingworth, on the mega-mortgage. There are times, he says, when consolidating loans into a single, lower-rate mortgage might make sense. And he quotes a few of the best deals, pointing out one which encourages you to reduce your loan amount when you can, no penalties attached. Personally, I'll take some convincing. After all, the lenders know even more about borrowers' financial habits than anyone.
New mortgage calculator [October 19]
Great new crazy mortgage [June 16]
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I missed the original story which apparently ran in the Sun... but it appears that property developers Multiplex can now add a junkie workforce to the list of reasons (overstretch, directorial incompetence, armed snipers) why Wembley's running late.
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Since posting this, a kind Rat and Mouse reader has pointed out a story in the Telegraph, for those who just can't get enough obscene designer dog furniture.
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More in this Category - House prices
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The average central London property costs about £4,000 per square metre to buy, but the cost of extending in the city is only around £3,000 per square metre. So an extension could save both cash and stress.
Yes, you know you're at a middle-class London dinner party when you hear the words side return. Here's FindAProperty celebrating the Capital's must-have kitchen extension.
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The company is founded on a vision: to pioneer and create unparalleled design solutions for our furry friends. By combining the best craftsmanship, animal husbandry and a unique personal service, WOWBOW sets the standard for a new class in pet furniture.
Have you ever tried shopping for high-end pet furniture solutions? I didn't think so. Well, no matter - that was then. This is now.
 
[via design*sponge]
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HBOS's first house price index report of the year suggests a 0.4% fall in the average national house price for January... their first report of a fall since May last year. The annual figure remains the same, though... a 5.1% increase. Other significant data/comments? The occasional fall is to be expected in a slow market, and high utility bills are likely to slow the market. However enquiries and loan approvals are continuing to rise. Download a pdf of the report by clicking this.
Wednesday morning property price linkage - so how do we interpret this morning's Land Registry figures? [February 8]
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Typing that felt strange. Fun. But strange. The story is that the National Association of Estate Agents doesn't like some of the gazundering it's been seeing because nothing (at best) reduces the commission or (at worst) completely kills a deal quite like a gazunder. Or is that cynical? And for the rest of us, whether vendors or otherwise locked further up or down the chain, there's nothing as evil. The NAEA want legal means of outlawing the gazunder... but as long as the survey takes place after the offer, that's going to be difficult. Most sensible is some kind of anti-gazunder/anti-gazump deposit - paid by vendor and buyer at acceptance of offer - which will be released on either completion - or on evidence of a genuine problem (with the survey perhaps, or a drastic disagreement over completion dates). More, here.
Terrible tales from the hard end of a buyers' market [December 5]
Gazunderer nailed, happy ending [September 16]
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"You see it quite often in my part of central London," says Mark Sommerville of Chard, an estate agency in Notting Hill and Kensington. "Someone just puts down a wooden floor and installs a plasma TV when they sell a flat, and they add £50,000 to the price. It works sometimes, but not always."
Over at the Telegraph, Graham Norwood asks whether the answer to a stagnant market is to throw in a few gizmos. What isn't clear, is whether the gizmos of which he writes are a private equivalent of the free cars or season tickets developers have been bundling with London apartments. Or whether they just make the property look cooler - suggest a lifestyle - and then vanish with the vendor when he/she moves on. The piece ends with an entertaining but highly unscientific list of property tune-ups and what they might add to an asking price. More important - in a slow market - is whether they might just distinguish the property from the one down the road, and help it shift.
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More in this Category - House prices
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More in this Category - Celebrity homes
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Remember Curbed's Manhattan estate agent beauty contest? Now it's the turn of our favourite American interior design blog ApartmentTherapy... and the movers. AT promise movers of both sexes, and the series will continue, Mondays. Can London compete? Somehow, we really doubt. But if you disagree, send us your pics - we'll post them and forward them to AT in a spirit of friendly competition.
These are estate agents [August 10]
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Another Treasury mess. More, here.
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So where is that £2.5 billion (estimated payout by the end of 2006) of mis-sold endowment compensation being spent? Well, it was meant to have been spent paying off the giant mortgages that the mis-sold endowments aren't going to cover. But according to this piece in the Telegraph (filed February 8, but which we can magically bring you right now)... it isn't. Nationwide reports that half of its claimants have opted for a cheque, rather than an immediate reduction in the loan. And that's never a good sign. Meanwhile, only 5% of Norwich and Peterborough borrowers are reducing their loans. Which still doesn't answer the question. Where's all that money going? Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
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According to the Sunday Times, re-mortgage customers have been getting smoked by Alliance & Leicester to the tune of hundreds of pounds, for compulsory surveys conducted by surveyors who don't even bother getting out of their cars. It would almost be funny - if it wasn't in the context of soaring arrangement and exit fees from almost all the lenders. Remember, you're wasting money if you don't switch. And then you're wasting money if you do.
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Apart from a couple of crazy blogs, the Rat and Mouse hasn't recommended another property website in a little while. But that changes this morning, with a a search portal that's already altered my property porn search habit more drastically than anything since the 3D walkthrough. PrimeMove.com is the brainchild of an ex-Savills estate agents whose CV includes The London Office, and its premise is (like all the best ones) so simple it's radical... why search half a dozen property portals when you can find everything via a single site? In practice, PrimeMove.com looks to the example of Google, and operates via a fast and streamlined UI that just works. Type in a region and price guide and size guide and you're rewarded with a map peppered with properties for sale or rent represented by very satisfying Monopoly-style icons. You can swap to aerial photograph view and - because the technology's based on Google Maps - you can zoom in and out, and drag the map in any direction in real time (rather than wait while the page reloads). Click a property, and you're given some details; click again and you're redirected to particulars at one of a number of specific portals (including Rightmove, Propertyfinder and Smart New Homes) who have given PrimeMove.com the keys to their directories. So far, there are already more than a million properties listed. As more agents and directories sign up, we see a time when PrimeMove might really become the Google of property searches... a single, first port of call for UK (and, eventually, international) property searches...
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That's Sarah Jessica Parker's idea of London, anyway. May we suggest a house-swap. There's bound to be some Londoner considering a move to Manhattan. Perhaps to escape traffic noise. More, here.
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Thanks to a Rat and Mouse reader - commenting on our earlier post about the continuing tension between online property listings and high street estate agents - for sending us this link to the ruling. Also:
The important thing for all to remember is that for the website to be adjudged as an agent, it must do more than just advertise the property. It must produce sale boards and/or pass on offers and/or arrange viewings and/or provide full sales details. Those websites that act solely as advertisements for property for sale (the majority of the big portals such as Rightmove and Propertyfinder) are not classed as agents.
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The first wok-friendly electric hob? It's certainly a talking point; and it comes courtesy of Kuppersbusch, available here.
[via Trendir]
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Really, it was just a matter of time before the ongoing feud between the high street estate agents and the low-fixed-fee DIY home-sales websites would come to a head. And now - the OFT are involved, and they've come down on the side of the agents (which is a first). They've ruled that a website that links particulars to a househunter, and then househunter to vendor, is, in effect, an estate agent. And so, when a vendor privately accepts on offer from a buyer the vendor found via a website, he/she is technically in breach of any sole agency agreement he/she might have struck with a high street agent. In which case... the vendor should pay the agency commission, too (even though the agent wasn't involved in the deal). People are getting upset about this, and commentators are suggesting that lots of online property sales sites are going to go bust. But - you know what? - it wasn't that long ago when the same commentators were saying lots of high street agents were going to go bust because of the threat posed by cheaper online alternatives. It's certainly a point to be endlessly debated... whether a website is acting as an estate agent or merely a noticeboard. (Although, in my experience, an even more interesting point would be how many estate agents act more like noticeboards than estate agents... but that's for another post.) Perhaps it's time for vendors to take the plunge and use websites first, rather than as some kind of backup. Read more, here, and let me know what you think.
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Confusion reigns, regarding Jolie and Pitt's property ambitions. The latest? Jolie's sold her Buckinghamshire mansion (the figure being thrown around is £21 million). Yes, she's looking to buy in London (somewhere near Madonna apparently, so that there's somebody to pop in and water the plants while she's saving the Third World). But she's planning to live in LA. More, here.
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Prices are soaring, apparently, in Merton, where prices rose 0.9% in January - way above the 0.1% national average (all figures courtesy of Hometrack). Merton was equalled only by Kensington & Chelsea - where prices, aided by six months of City bonus chatter - were almost certain to rise. More, here.
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Somebody really, REALLY like his Eames.
[via design*sponge]
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 There's 20% off stock at Chelsea's well-regarded MPauw chair and sofa specialists. MPauw make great new furniture, but their speciality is in reupholstering the old stuff in the best possible taste. Apparently, you can get an extra 10% off by telling them you read the Bargain Britain column in the Telegraph, even if you really read the Rat and Mouse.
[via the Telegraph]
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Or rather, their people are flathunting... for a London pad which they can use as stop-off between the airport and the Buckinghamshire mansion. during their many trips abroad collecting babies. More, here.
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More in this Category - _Other
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