"What downturn?" asks Jasper Conran. His Chiswick Mall (those nice ones by the river... occasional flooding, a few good pubs, huge bay windows, views over an island) house has recently sold for £12.5m, breaking its own record (£7.25m) as the biggest Chiswick deal ever. Walpole House is set back from the road... it's an ex-home for vagrant girls and an ex-boys' school (the model, apparently, for Miss Pinkerton's Academy). Conran bought it just two years ago. Asking prices in Chiswick have been hit harder than most. According to Land Registry documents Conran sold the house on May 30.
Knight Frank report that the average price of homes in London's nine most expensive neighbourhoods fell 1.6% between August 2007 and August 2008. However, there are distinctions to be made within the data, with the lower end (homes worth £1m or less) being most affected. "Super-prime" territory (properties worth more than £10m) gained in value in July, by 2.9%, leaving them an astonishing 19% up on the year. Profiting from high fuel prices, Russian and Middle Eastern buyers don't know the meaning of credit, never mind crunch.
Bradford & Bingley have posted a £26.7m first-half pretax loss, with bad debts continuing to rise. That's down from a £180.4m profit, the same time last year.
Apparently, Lambeth Council have "take action" against as many as 400 squatters who were reported to have taken control of a south London housing estate called Limerick Close, emptied, but not secured, by the authorities. According to locals, the place had been turned into party central... music late into the night, bottles and bombfires everywhere. The news is that bailiffs with battering rams paid a visit to the site, and encouraged the squatter to leave. But when people leave one place, they have a habit of turning up elsewhere. It's physics. In this instance, they've turned up at William Gardens, in Putney, where they've taken control of a Ministry of Defence building, recently used by soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to Nationwide, prices are down 10.5% on the 12 months, the biggest annual fall since the final quarter of 1990. And it's not over yet... the rate of the slide rose a little, too, with a 1.9% drop in August, after monthly falls of 1.5% in July and 0.9% in June.
In the States, This American Life is a radio institution... an hour of intelligent, theme-based documentary with a liberal slant. Here, it's less well known, although it's possible to subscribe to the free weekly podcast via iTunes. For a good introduction, check out this streaming 60 minutes focussing on the credit crunch... what happened, how, why.
South Audley Street's Blenheim Bishop is the latest estate agency to - according to this - wind up its sales division. Founder Jonathan Vandermolen is quoted as saying he simply can't make it work. The agency will, however, remain open for lettings business.
According to a Financial Services Authority statement, quoted here, "a third of the sampled firms have terms in their mortgage contracts that allow them to vary their charges which, in our view, does not comply with the law and principles set out in the statement and so may be unfair." (The "statement" is January 2007 statement of good practice, which is supposed to have put an end to lenders improvising on the fees front.) The FSA is writing to the lenders concerned, but doesn't rule out legal action in instances of serious breaches.
Recently news of a property portal launch, scheduled for autumn and masterminded by none other than the National Association of Estate Agents, has not only dented Rightmove’s share price but the confidence of an entire sector. But with Web 2.0 technology cheap and the Google-mapping experience tested on numerous other property search sites, wasn’t something like this inevitable? Weren’t our wily estate agents always going to opt for their own, free solution rather than pay for somebody else’s?
Our publisher, on Rightmove, the National Association of Estate Agents, and the rest of the competition for clicks, in his weekly guest column, over at Citywire.
The market for flats might be flat, but it's marvelous in mews-land. The Rat and Mouse hears on the grapevine that mews-specialists Lurot Brand are breaking records faster than Phelps, securing £1,220 a square foot in Hyde Park Garden Mews (previous record: £1,112) and £1,256 a square foot in Leinster Mews (previous record: £1,000). While the National Anthem's played and Team LB receive their medals, we can inform you that the properties in questions sold for £2.2m and £1.44m.
The British Bankers' Association's latest figures show approvals down 65% on this time last year for July, a tiny improvement on June's figures. Total lending was unchanged. More here.
Accordiing to the Independent, Savills will reveal a 45% slump in business when it reports half-year results on Thursday, and all the talk will be about job cuts. Meanwhile Foxtons, just a year after a private equity buy-out, is apparently using NM Rothschild to restructure its debt. More here. Builders Bovis are also feeling the pain. The news here is that its profits have fallen by four-fifths in the first half of 2008... and that's being mirrored in the interim dividend payment, which will be 5p a share (from 17.5p last year).
As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...
... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.
And on the subject of branching out, news reaches us that Nestoria's now in Germany, too... not long after recent expansion into Spain and Italy. Congratulations, Nestoria.
Back in February, we reported on a test case between the Office of Fair Trading and Foxtons, concerning the legality of letting agents' renewal fees... either money for old rope or fair fees for finding an ideal tenant, depending on whether you're landlord or agency. In London they're fairly standard. I've recently paid some. There was a time when you could negotiate a discount... but it's getting harder. The case is currently in limbo, which would make you think that , as things stand, landlords are legally obliged to pay the fee they agreed in the contract, until/unless informed otherwise by the High Court. Not according to a judge at Edmonton County Court, who appears to be refusing to enforce the law until it's proved reasonable. Isn't that the law, backwards?
The average annual savings rate in America is now a paltry £200, not much more than the value of the coins that fall yearly into the cracks of the average sofa.
I don't know where she gets her figures... but, personally, I'd suggest investing in a purse or something.
But that's neither here nor there. The thrust of the piece is a well-reasoned attack on, first, the [il]logic of equity release...
You were a fool, so went the new wisdom, to sit on all the equity that your ever-more-valuable house had accrued, and should, as many banks advertised, "put that money to work". But "put that money to work" really meant "spend it".
... and, secondly, on the idea that debt or bankruptcy are lifestyle choices, devoid of an ethical component. Although the piece is unlikely to win her many friends - for a novelist, her style is peculiarly charmless; and the idea of a media-artist-mid-Atlantic gadfly ("... in Brookly, where I spend summer") lecturing those forced into debt by, perhaps, the loss of a McJob isn't going to her endear her to everyone - it's based on good sense, and says something worth saying. Read it here.
Campaigners who want to rescue Forest Hill Pools' Victorian frontage from planned demolition by Lewisham Council believe they might have shifted the argument in their favour, with news that neighbouring Louise House - which was also slated for demolition - has been granted a Grade II listing by English Heritage. The pools have been closed for a couple of years. The plan was to replace it with new facilities, elsewhere, but use the site for flats. Campaigners want the council to keep the frontage, and simply build a new pool behind it. There's more information here. Want to know what all the fuss is about? Great photograph... here.
According to research by GE Money, 3.4m people have been turned down by mortgage lenders in the last 18 months, many of them repeatedly. One in eight have had more than three refusals.
That's according to figures from Debtwire, and they don't include agencies cutting down on staff. Debtwire estimate that as many as 4,000 offices could be closed by the end of the year, that's one in three UK estate agents. More here.
Not much to smile about, especially if you're working in the property industry, you'd think. And yet, over the past month, the media has been peppered with some surprising, some outrageous, examples of bullishness in the face of adversity.
There’s a neurological function – a release of endorphins – that causes a person otherwise under stress and pain to experience a kind of euphoria. Long distance runners know it. They call it “runner’s high”. Japanese Kamikaze pilots knew it. It was what got them out of bed on the morning of a raid, helped them eat their breakfasts and (somewhat illogically) put on their crash helmets. Call me a cynic, but I see a correlation, here.
What was it... a moment of madness? Something induced Brixton Estates to attempt to inject a little humour into a largely un-funny situation by illustrating the front cover of its interim report with an image of the four horsemen, and quoting Bob Dylan inside its pages:
There must be some way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
The report likened cash-rich opportunist buyers to thieves, and reluctant vendors to jokers. The other news was that Brixton Estates - which specialises in commercial property - showed a loss for the first six months of the year. More here.
The vendor's step-father's refusing to move out, so when the flat goes to auction, on August 26, it will sell with all its contents, including a 52-year-old man. Viewings are apparently difficult, since the man's refusing to let anyone in.
Seven people - aged 18-25 - have moved into east London apartments that they built themselves, as part of an initiative by Havering Council, Family Mosaic Housing Association and the Community Self Build Agency. The project began at the very beginning, sending the first-time builders to a local college to pick up construction qualifications. More here.
According to Rightmove, asking prices are down 2.3% nationally in August, leaving them 4.8% year-on-year. In London, the August figure was 5.3%, with Wandsworth being hit particularly hard, asking prices falling 7.9%. Annually, the London figure's down 3.8%. Rightmove's Miles Shipside, in his accompanying comment, blames the scarcity of mortgages, and suggests buying in the Olympic areas as the best hedge against falling house prices. More here.
As the fallout from Rightmove's controversial insistence on charging agents higher re-joining fees continues, Globrix boss Daniel Lee tells EstateAgentToday that he thinks Rightmove's behaviour "reads like a suicide note". With so many hungry and ambitious recent start-ups snapping at Rightmove's heels, surely they couldn't have expected to get away with this without a few teeth marks. And this is interesting and potentially very significant:
However, Rightmove also faces another new challenge, in the form of Property Live, the National Association of Estate Agent’s new portal. This will be a free membership benefit and its launch is just weeks away.
As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...
... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.
That's according to the Telegraph, that illustrates a piece about current property market jargon with some optimistic views of where we are in the downturn. James Greenwood, from Stacks, claims "the bottom is now visible" (insert obvious gag here), after a swifter and more sudden drop than commentators were expecting. Hamptons's Phil Tennant claims the clue's in the loans, with rising loan-to-value ratios pointing to renewed lender confidence in house prices.
The late Sir Ian Gilmore's Old Isleworth home - a mock-Georgian mansion on Park Road - is for sale. Gilmore edited and published the Spectator in the 50s, was Defence Secretary in the days of Edward Heath, and Lord Privy Seal for Thatcher, before a high-profile falling-out in the 80s. He had lived at Ferry House for more than 50 years, and the property has hosted visits by many of the big names of British politics. According to the Times, it's looking a little ramshackle in places, but it's big and has a fascinating history and superb location. It's with Savills, listed at £3.75m, and particulars (pdf) are here.
Thanks to My Property Guide for the kind words. Check out its list of other UK property blogs, and its range of useful resources for buyers, sellers, letters and renters.
Allow me a moment of nostalgia. Allthistalk of balcony-parking for German penthouse owners in love with their cars reminds me of a recent meeting in which I mentioned Vegas... a late-70s or perhaps early-80s American detective drama that was - let's say - a defining influence on the young Ben's image of what it means to be a man. Nobody else had heard of it. Come off it, I said... Dan Tanna? Vegas? I hummed the music. Still, no takers. So, naturally, I moved onto the property, and in this instance it's significant because it's the best example of open-plan living I've ever seen. Dan's lounge wasn't even separate from his garage. He had a drive-in lounge. So - inspired by the German Topos story - I've just hit Youtube, and I'm pleased to discover that I hadn't imagined the whole Vegas phenomenon. It did exist. Enjoy. And dig that lounge.
The New York Times tours director Roland Emmerich's Knightsbridge apartment and finds a stuffed zebra, a 25ft Mao, giant murals painted by the man who reproduced the Louvre's art works for The Da Vince Code and...
... dioramas with scenes of notorious events like the actor Hugh Grant’s encounter with a Hollywood prostitute and the torture that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. “People can spend an entire evening discussing a film,” [interior design] Mr. [John] Teall said, explaining what some might consider obsessive attention to detail. “I liked the idea that a house might inspire the same” reaction.
According to Tory think tank - the Policy Exchange - the way to finally tackle north-south geographical inequality and regenerate ailing cities is to move them... to London. Half a million new homes should apparently do it, and there'll be plenty of time to build them while the northerners load up their jalopies with mattresses, chickens and banjoes. The Standard claims David Cameron is distancing himself from the report, assuming when Cameron uses the word "balmy" he means "extremely foolish", rather than "pleasant or comforting". We're not so sure. You can download the actual PE report by clicking this.
That's according to research by the National Association of Estate Agents. Two-thirds of agents claim buyers have "expressed doubts" about going ahead; a quarter have actually seen deals fall through, overtly as a result of fears about buying before a Stamp Duty break. More here.
Bake bread, said the Traditionalists. The aroma of warm dough will subconsciously remind them that this is a home, not just a house, and homes sell at a premium. The Developers advised neutral colours; a blank canvas on which a buyer could paint their own picture, because there's nothing more disastrous than trying to impose your taste on somebody else. The Theatricals disagreed. The fine art of home staging demanded character, darling; you should see your house as a theatre set, where a supreme lifestyle performance will so move the audience they'll turn immediately to the agent and make an extravagant offer. They were, back then, all correct. In a frenzied bull market, you could hang a portrait of Hitler above the fireplace and - if the property were in the right location and south-facing - you'd get an offer.
Our publisher tackles the fine art of selling a home in a bear market, in his weekly guest column for Citywire, here.
The two-bedroom apartment above The Travel Bookshop - inspiration for and important location in Notting Hill - is on the market. Owned by the vendor, author and publisher (and bookshop owner) Sarah Anderson since 1981, it has its own front door, a good location on Blenheim Crescent and an eccentric feature window... a kitchen window looking down into the bookshop's skylight, giving a view of daytime browsers. It's with KFH, here... offers in excess of £899,950.
It's the RICS's monthly swellness index, and it's a little ambiguous. Few agents were feeling bad and reporting falling prices in July than in June, and there have been increased buyer enquiries for the third month running. Swell. Except actual sales per agency dropped to their lowest since records began in 1978... each office is currently shifting less than five properties a month. Of course, the question is... what effect Stamp Duty uncertainty? More here and here.
I'm back... lovely fortnight at the coast, thanks to those who asked. Wifi was non-existent, 3G dongle-connection blew with the wind, and TV/radio was outlawed. I did read the papers, however, and was as shocked as (presumably) you to watch the Stamp Duty "story". So... somebody nudges the Government and tells them the property market's ailing. Great... a chance to, not just damage something but, utterly destroy it, really slam the last nail in the coffin lid and walk away with a stupid smirk. Darling and Brown step up the mark... why not have a public argument about Stamp Duty? Why not hint that you're about to completely repeal it - and so stall the few sales about to exchange - and then do nothing? Even better, why not put it about that:
Although work is under way on a range of options involving possible changes to stamp duty and other measures to help buyers, there is deep scepticism about the idea in the Treasury.
Will the last Labour-voting estate agent switch off the lights before leaving the room...
As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...
... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.
Okay, let's end with a £2.7m penthouse blowout... a three bedroom apartment with roof terrace and conservatory in Bolton Gardens between West Brompton and South Kensington. To be honest, it's the conservatory wot won it for us... very pretty. According to the particulars the current owners use if for dinner parties. Well, who wouldn't, darling? So that's it for this year's summer fortnight of feature property... slower to shift than in 2007, but fun to look at anyway, I hope. Normal service will resume Monday.
Ah, Mayfair... the only place where a one bedroom property gets listed at £750,000. One bedroom, one bathroom, one reception room and three-quarters of a million pounds if you want them between in New Burlington Place, between Bond Street and Regent Street. Particulars (in pdf) here.
Florentine bronze sculptor Mario Manenti apparently built these artists' studios in the mid-1920s. This one's small - one bedroom, one living room, one bathroom - but it's a cosy and historically interesting hideaway just off the Fulham Road. It's with Chesterton, particular here, guide price £625,000.
I just can't get enough of these daring, architect-built modern houses. In previous years, I've featured lots of blue plaques to create some kind of balance. This year, I'm being selfish. This strange construction by Bere Architects won a whole mantelpiece of awards in 2007. It's built on a landfill site between two Victorian houses, at the front it's thin, at the back, slightly fatter. A solar thermal installation and a heat exchange system makes it cheap to run. It's on Prah Road in Islington, and the guide price is £899,950. Particulars, here.
Last month, theRatandMouse reported a 1.7% fall in house prices on London's most princely streets. Today, figures released by Knight Frank show that July wasn't much better for the fabulously wealthy either. Annual growth is still (just about) positive, but the average 'prime central London' property lost 1.6% in value during July, the third consecutive monthly fall.
Basically, I'm not here. I know it looks as if I am... you're reading this, and everything... but that's the magic of technology. I'm on vacation, and (in what has become an annual tradition at the Rat and Mouse) I'm leaving you with a little festival of property, as recommended over the last couple of weeks by readers and agents. What's different this year is that you might also be reading some additional content courtesy of guest blogger Poppy Dinsey.
If you're an estate agent and you're upset that I've used one of your images... email me here, and I'll remove it the first opportunity I get.
As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...
... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.
During the early 1990s, Emmanuel 'Toto' Constant was the feared and ruthless leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or 'FRAPH' to its friends. He’s widely accused of killing, raping, maiming supporters of the overthrown former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Now, he’s based in Queens, New York, and the good news is that he’s finally facing trial – except not for war crimes, or mass murder or mayhem. He’s facing trial for stealing money from institutional lenders by inflating the value of property. In other words, he’s on trial for mortgage fraud, the crime du jour.
Judging by the large doors and the odd, triangular layout, it looks as if this interesting house in Hanover Yard, Angel, has at some time had some non-residential history. If anybody has any ideas, let us know. It's with Foxtons, guide price £1.35m.
