But it was a case of right house number, wrong road. When Mr Parrott did finally gain entry, he found the bailiffs had emptied his fridge (greedy buggers) and turned off all the utilities. It's an odd mistake to have made. I always thought you had to have an Oxbridge degree (or Ivy League equivalent) to be a bailiff. Anyway, click through to the story, and enjoy the comment left by Peter Jones of Amersham... surely not the first time Falling Down has been mentioned on the Daily Mail's comment section. It's political correctness gone mad.
Following last month's unsettling 0.9% house price rise, the Nationwide index returns to its comforting downward trajectory... a non-confusing 0.4% fall in April, leaving prices down 15% annually. Click this for a pdf of the report. And check out the following graph, which - in an entirely non-scientific way, and without accounting for recessions or pandemics - looks like value about to be achieved.
Congratulations to Colliers Wood-based Samuel Estates, who've been nominated in the best small business category in the ironically-named RBS South London Business Awards. They'll be battling out with a plastic tableware manufacturer and a corporate event light show company in the finals. More here. Meanwhile... not so hot... Executive Estates' Marcia Whyte has been struck off by the Office of Fair Trading, after it emerged that she'd failed to inform a client that the buyer was, in fact, ahem, her. She stood to make a £65,000 killing. More here. The ugly? The Apprentice's estate agent contender Philip Taylor is shaping up to be such a tosser that PropertyTalkLive are daring to ask: Does Apprentice star Philip give estate agents a bad name?
Estate Agent Today has an interesting story about REDC, the big, pile-'em-high US auction business that hit the UK before Easter warning us that "some Brits may well be overwhelmed by the event". If the event was so overwhelming, asks EAT, why won't anybody from REDC give any results?
Sandeman's MD of Essential Information Group, arguably the single source for up-to-the-minute property auction data. We wonder whether REDC's reticence might have something to do with this. We'll watch this with interest.
It doesn't seem like such good value now. A Devon widow is taking Barclays to court to seek an amendment to her 1998 agreement to pay pack 75% of any appreciation in the property's value on its sale. The mortgage will have cost her almost six times the loan amount.
Celebrity property and Government stainage... it's turning into a sleazy day of property news. The latest features the former flat of Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell, who apparently charged the tax payer £100 a month in cleaning fees on his small Covent Garden flat, but managed to lose his deposit when his landlord arrived to find stains not just on the floor but up the walls too. That's correct, the Work and Pensions Secretary left damp patches. He also left a sink which might yet prove to have been the original breeding ground for swine flu. Irritatingly (some may say astonishingly) he also had a girlfriend, who appears to have shared the property at the taxpayers' expense.
According to Now Magazine, Guy Ritchie's just bought a four-storey townhouse a couple of hundred yards from Madonna Mansions. It makes sense. He'll be able to see his kids easily. Watch people coming and going. Keep an eye on the place when it's empty. Pick up the mail. Feed the cat. Water the plants.
According to the Sunday Times, the Government's preparing to sell off Northern Rock. Except, just the good bits. The bad bits - the stupid loans - we all get to keep:
Yeah... because those are just the kind of shares I can take a pride in owning. They're also, apparently, headhunting a banker to run the bad bank book.
If you believe the National Association of Estate Agents, allowing house prices to dip can trigger (or worsen) a recession, because people spend if they feel wealthy, and they feel wealthy when they're homes are rising in value. We've always been of the opinion that the feel-rich, spend-more theory is overstated. What matters are jobs. The unemployed feel poor. They are poor. They lose their homes. Property values drop. MoneyWeek appears to be of that school of thought too. It's employment that will kill or cure the residential property market, not the other way around.
It's up there... see it? Top right... just underneath the very funny faux-dictionary definition box that explains why the Rat and Mouse is the Rat and Mouse. That clever box allows you to search directly for UK sales and rental and even international property from the comfort of your favourite blog's front page. It's powered by Primelocation.com, who list property from more than 4,000 leading estate agencies, carry a mine of useful information, tips and advice across their portal, and who keep the Rat and Mouse going by kindly sponsoring the website. Thanks to Primelocation. Please use the box.
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The Rat and Mouse has had several comments in the last 12 months along the lines of want to sell a house? Drop the price. It's all in the asking price, apparently, and Savills appear to agree.
The apartments in question are at (warning: pdf) Hornsey Road Baths, and according to the agents 29 out of the 40 properties have been reserved in less than a month of reaching the market. One-bedroom apartments in the building have gone on sale for £175,000.
"It defies logic that during the worst recession for a generation the government should ignore some very simple practical solutions laid on a plate in front of it that would cost practically nothing and would have helped the property industry to recover more quickly from the effects of the recession and get back to doing what it does best for society namely building and managing the places we need for business, shopping and leisure."
Michael Coogan, director general of the Council Of Mortgage Lenders:
"The most important element of this Budget for the mortgage market over the long term may prove to be the new asset backed securities guarantee scheme. This potentially offers an opportunity to restart the capital market funding for mortgages that will be a crucial factor in delivering an adequate supply of mortgage credit."
Gillian Charlesworth, RICS Director of External Affairs:
"The Chancellor has recognised the need for assistance to the housing market as essential to helping Britain’s economic recovery. Government action to support mortgage lending should help translate buyer interest, which has picked up in recent months, into actual sales. Additional funding for HomeBuy Direct and extending the stamp duty holiday should also encourage those wishing to get on the housing ladder. Measures announced by the Chancellor will help move towards a sustainable and vibrant housing market for the future."
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank:
"The sad truth for the government is that there are very few significant policy leavers open to influence the housing market. The only one of note - interest rate policy - is now exhausted as a means of kick starting activity. The announcements in today's budget are generally welcome - but set against the scale of the problems in the housing sector they are quite small. Their effect in stimulating activity, whether in terms of sales or in building more homes, is likely to be relatively limited. The positive impact will come in terms of sentiment."
Ian Potter, operations manager of The Association of Residential Letting Agents:
"Yet again Gordon Brown’s administration has wasted an opportunity to improve the quality of stock of lettings property by failing to incentivise landlords through tax relief on labour and materials. Not only would this have helped to stimulate the market, particularly in the construction sector, but it would also have provided the greater standards of rented accommodation that this country desperately needs.”
Peter Bolton King, CE of the National Association of Estate Agents:
"The housing market is the engine of the UK economy and it is likely that this Budget will be remembered as largely ineffectual given the magnitude of the problem. There is very little here for first time buyers, who need more encouragement to climb onto the property ladder – which will get everything moving. Mr Darling has used a water pistol to try to put out a fire.”
various moneys for energy efficient home building and renovation of armed forces housing
-£175,000 Stemp Duty holiday extended to end of year
I know... crap, isn't it?
But the real housing budget isn't about housing at all. With this morning's unemployment figures showing a steady and alarming increase, and Darling's revised "growth" forecast at -3.5% for 2009, it's all about jobs. No job, no house purchase. No job, no mortgage repayment. No job, rental arrears. It's that simple. The real question is whether the jobs and training initiatives announced... £1.7bn for Job Centres, more training and work experience placings, more sixth form education places... can make any kind of a dent in dole queues.
That won't make everything alright. I want to see the MPs who thought it was acceptable to ignore ethics and focus purely on what they could get away with taught a lesson. I want them humiliated and then replaced.
It was a a month ago that the Rat and Mouse brought readers' attention to the passing of the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme deadline for lenders to sign up. We'd heard stuff. What kind of stuff? The kind of stuff that suggested so many major lenders were planning on kicking the whole scheme to the sidelines that it was going to be as effective as a bicycle with square wheels. Today, a mere four months after the emergency scheme was announced, it goes live. Except, without the support of Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, Abbey or Alliance & Lester. Never mind, Government-owned Lloyds, RBS and Northern Rock were all keen...
Officially - according to the High Court - it was fraud. Property developer Alan Beesley had planning permission to build a hay barn on land near commuterland Potter's Bar, and from the outside that's exactly what it looked like. Inside, however, it was a luxury home. Beesley apparently planned on remaining in hiding for four years, after which they'd be legally immune from planning law-related eviction. Full story, plus great photos, here.
See, we can all be estate agents. This man wants you to find London sites for new Travelodges. In return, he'll pay you £500 per room. Oi, the glamour.
Asking prices are up 1.8% in April, according to Rightmove data. It's the third consecutive monthly rise, and brings the annual change down to -7.3% from -9%. Miles Shipside's accompanying comment suggests this is something more than the traditional "spring bounce", but there are plenty of causes for caution... mortgages approvals still historically very low and - perhaps most interestingly - a rising number of vendors coming to the market, pitching high, and then lowering their asking prices after a few months. The one big blip on the map, however, is London... which, contrary to national trends, shows a big fall of 3.2%. Breaking that figure down further, there are rises in Brent, Greenwich and Kingston-upon-Thames... more than compensated for by falls of 7.8% (Ealing), 7.2% (Hillingdon) and 5.7% (Croydon). Annually, if you live in Kensington & Chelsea, you're looking at a 32.3% increase in asking prices. In Newham, they're down 18.5%. For the full report in pdf format, click this.
Kudos to our sponsors Primelocation.com for combining both Microsoft Virtual Earth's "Bird's Eye" and Google's "Street View", to give two different perspectives on a neighbourhood. Click through to a property from your search results, click local information and maps and then choose from Microsoft's view or Google's, to drill down into the neighbourhood. We like... and we thank Primelocation for continuing to help us bring you the daily London property news headlines and more.
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Actually, he turned landlord, amassing tens of millions in property, and 43 London tenants, according to the Independent profile. There are some interesting details about his own gaff, too... a £3m plus house behind Hyde Park Corner, replete with gadgets, including a carbon fibre (yes, F1-manufactured) lift and a motorised table that rises and falls from the ceiling. Very boys' toys.
It was a hard show to take an opinion on. I liked the way it championed local artisans. I thought Kirstie's tour around her parents' pad was unwise; but that's Kirstie Allsopp's fatal flaw... she doesn't appear to have any idea how unusually privileged how own background is or how that alienates a certain sector of her viewers. Interestingly, the result is a programme that appears to assume the hard part of renovating a house is choosing the cushion covers and crockery, rather than paying the workmen to make it structurally sound.
Rightmove claims to have found London's cheapest home... a one-bedroom flat on the 16th floor of a Woolwich tower block. The Rat and Mouse has no reason to doubt them, but can't find the particulars on the portal. The most surprising property mentioned? An £85,000 studio in a period house in Kensington & Chelsea (actually, more like Earl's Court). We have found particulars for that, although no mention of the length of its lease.
It's hard to imagine the neighbourhood with the market, but - according to this - that's how it might be if the current Government and Central Rating Office policy to remove concessionary rates for small businesses continues. Some traders have seen rates increase by 100%. Don't expect small, independent shops to survive. Sign the petition. And according to this, there'll be a demonstration on Saturday.
It's long been said that the time and care taken over viewings is diminishing, but how about this? Ray and Christine Buckler look around a house in Somerset, decide they want it... and only later discover a fire engine in the garden.
There's an interesting piece in Estate Agent Today, posing questions about the legality of recent REDC auctions. The rules are that lenders must obtain a reasonable value for a repossessed property... since, in the UK, the previous owner is liable for the difference between the outstanding debt and the what was raised by its sale. According to data from rival company WhiteHotProperty.co.uk, the auction houses are typically bringing in 30% less than can be achieved. REDC has a reputation for shifting property fast, and charges the buyer a 10% commission. The suggestion is that canny landlords are factoring the 10% into what they pay. Read the full piece, here.
Like numbers? You're in the right place. First off, it's the all-important Department of Communities and Local Government index... late, but accurate, since it's based on completions. The January-to-February numbers are in and they leave the average house price down a record 12.3% on the year, 2.7% on the month. It's the 16th consecutive fall revealed by DCLG data. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors research, meanwhile (which specialises in a tortuous estate agent hearsay method of running an index), shows that 31% more members report increased buyer enquiries than decreased. That's up from 21% last month. The average number of sales per member across the last three months rose... but insignificantly, from a record low of 9.6 to 9.7. Green shoots? Not yet. Finally, Primelocation.com has published its snapshot of prime property asking prices listed on the portal. March saw a slight weakening in the prime London market... with asking prices down half a per cent. Looked at annually, they're down a record 3.44%.
He's quoted in Kent Online, talking at the Kent Design Awards launch, and predicting "an almighty bounce" caused by a recession-induced shortage of property.
Bumping along the bottom means just that... bumping. So there are bound to be occasional ups as well as downs. Their significance is relative to historical data, not just last month's. So, news from the Council of Mortgage Lenders that there has been a 4% rise in new approvals in February isn't bad news; but - with remortgages still -60% and new loans -50% from where they were a year ago - it's hardly good times either. First-time buyers are, its generally agreed, what makes a healthy market move. Included in the CML report... ftbs are contributing average deposits of 25%.
It'll be over by Christmas, according to Lombard Street Research. Their affordability index shows homes at an affordability level not seen for over five years. The methodology, however, is less clear than the more conventional comparison between earnings and house prices, and appears to place a great deal of emphasis on interest rates. With unemployment - a trailing indicator - almost sure to rise... it's hard to share their confidence.
What's the story? Ten minutes ago, The News Of The World was reporting that, following the failure of his buy-to-let empire, Grant Bovey had started a new business... buying "distressed" homes on the repo market. Clearly, it's not the best PR move considering his wife has a TV career based, one might argue, on appealing to the credit crunched, many of who's homes might be in repo-danger right now. Interestingly, It's still showing up on a Google news search.
I know, it's a bank holiday, but I just can't stay away.
Over in Hampstead, somebody's just got some new neighbours. The house in question is valued at £4.5m, comes with half an acre of garden and has views over the heath. And the squatters appear to know their rights, leaving this message in the window:
Any attempt to enter in to this property without our permission is a criminal offence. If you attempt to enter by violence or by threatening violence we will prosecute you.
It's a Centre for Economics and Business Research prediction... lower interest rates, lower prices and increased lending leading to a pick up in the housing market, with approvals and transactions accelerating through the summer months. In January, mortgage approvals were at 32,000. If - according to CEBR - they can reach 50,000 a month by late summer, we're looking at being 8% to 10% off the bottom of the market (in terms of prices). You can see, from that, why such a prediction could lead to wildly different responses.
That's 18 to 34-year-olds living rent-free with parents, other relatives, friends. This time last year, the figure was around half a million. Now - according to research by Abbey Mortgages - it's 1.6m. And there's a further 300,000 aged 35 to 54.
Research by consumer website Unbiased.co.uk suggests that most of us aren't expecting an upturn in house prices until 2010. The buyers are there... 28% of the population are apparently "interested in buying a property". But a quarter of them - that's more than three million people - are holding off waiting for further price drops. That's despite 50% of the population believing they can expect to knock more than 15% off asking price. Read the report here.
Yeah, like estate agents pay their license fees. (A joke... okay?!) Here's a link to the show... and notice that it's Axe The Agent?, rather than Axe The Agent. What a difference a question mark makes. Or doesn't.
An interesting report by the National Landlords Association highlights problems caused by the Local Housing Allowance, introduced a year ago, in which rent is paid to tenants instead of directly to private landlords. In a significant number of cases, the money's remaining with the tenant, leaving landlords struggling to pay mortgages and, in some instances, facing repossession. Research by the NLA shows that landlords are so unhappy with the new system, more than half are choosing to turn away LHA tenants, rather than run the risk of rental arrears and lengthy and costly actions to recover the money. More here.
It's a Grade II-listed Georgian mansion on the Kent coast, and it was Charles Dickens's seaside getaway, the place where he wrote most of David Copperfield. Six bedrooms, gym and wet room... where Dickens, of course, would have pumped that step machine and showered... with a guide price of £2m. Seriously, the property comes with a Dickens museum, plus assorted artifacts, including the writer's original desk. Particulars here.
The Conservatives have just launched a social housing initiative... see here. At its heart, a continuation of the modern Tories' right-wing take on the power to the people principle... social tenants rewarded for good behaviour by being awarded a stake in their properties (nothing patronising about that, obviously) and a trial of a "right to move" system, in which tenants can force council landlords to sell properties and buy new ones if they need to move to a different area. Exactly how this will work between different council-controlled areas and whether there'll be a cap on the number of times a tenant can demand a (costly) move are unclear.
Regeneration of Stepney's crumbling Ocean Estate has been discussed, put out to tender, promised, fudged, kicked under the carpet time and time again during the New Labour years. Now, Tower Hamlets Council is said to be going straight to the Homes & Communities Agency to seek the £160plusm shortfall needed to make the housing civilised. And they're hopeful? Why? What's changed?
The MPs' expenses row has taken a turn today with some attention to MPs who have the use of grace-and-favour properties. Geoff Hoon came under the spotlight first, and the latest name to be hitting the headlines is none other than the Chancellor's. Darling spends time at 11 Downing Street (note to foreign readers: the traditional Downing Street property that comes with the job), and claims expenses for a second home in his Edinburgh constituency. There's just the question, however, of his own London flat, designated for the purposes of expenses his principal residence, which he rents out at a profit. It's all legal. But is it ethical? Should - perhaps - the earnings from the flat off-set the money he claims in expenses? Summary, here.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail wonders whether hanging might be "too good for them". Distasteful?
Isn't it comforting to know that, even in such difficult economic times, there are people whose dreams are coming true. Slavica can count 2009 a good year... she's got rid of little Bernie, and she's got him to pay for a nice little big Belgravia pad. The Times's Lucy Denyer has the scoop on London's first £20m purchase in six months... a Finchattons Belgravia technopad. More here.
Kudos to our sponsors Primelocation.com for combining both Microsoft Virtual Earth's "Bird's Eye" and Google's "Street View", to give two different perspectives on a neighbourhood. Click through to a property from your search results, click local information and maps and then choose from Microsoft's view or Google's, to drill down into the neighbourhood. We like... and we thank Primelocation for continuing to help us bring you the daily London property news headlines and more.
If you want to know more about how you can advertise on the Rat and Mouse, and why it's a great idea, email me here for more information.
Looks like the Nationwide figure earlier this week was something of a blip. It's business as usual with the Halifax House Price Index, down 1.9% in March, leaving the index 17.5% down annually. Accompanying comment, however, does highlight a few rays of light... including a house price to earnings ratio that's hit 4.34... not too far from the long term average of 4.0.
Something of a stealth success in the property and lifestyle magazine market, Country & Town House Magazine has - during the worst property market slump in a generation - shifted from free distribution in London's posher postcodes to news agents' and supermarkets' shelves. The Rat and Mouse talks to its editor, Lucy Cleland, about country bumpkins, city slickers and bridging the divide.
R&M: Tell me about the magazine... when was it launched and what's its USP?
LC: It launched about two years ago as a niche title to offer those who love combining London and country living – whether that’s because they’ve got two homes or like to get out of the city at the weekends and stay in nice hotels or visit friends – a fun, informative and intelligent read about getting the best out of both worlds. There are so many magazines that just cater to either country bumpkins or city slickers, but none that aim to bridge the divide.
R&M: It recently had a name change? [It was originally called Country House Magazine]
LC: Yes, we felt the new name better reflected the editorial message inside. If you read it (which we very much hope you will!), you’ll find a good mix of stories about what’s going on in London and the countryside, from arts and events to fashion and interiors, plus property news and town and country houses for sale.
R&M: What do you know about its readers?
LC: We conducted a survey about a year ago and know that they’re an affluent lot, but definitely not all about money. They are making serious lifestyle decisions about what’s best for their children, how to get the most out of life, balancing work and leisure and knowing what’s important. They appreciate the finer things in life – but are just as likely to be seen digging the garden, making homemade jam and drinking in the local pub as eating out at great London restaurants and attending events such as Glyndebourne and Goodwood.
R&M: Clearly the magazine takes something of an unambiguous stance on the whole second homes/rural communities issue. How do you justify your position?
LC: It’s always a tricky one. Obviously the wealth of the City in recent years has driven an extravagant rise in house prices in desirable areas in the countryside, often pricing locals – who’ve been there for years – out of the market. On the flipside, they do bring money to the area to support local businesses and perhaps are even more mindful of their sometimes tenuous position within the community, so make special efforts to get involved and not be seen to just be the ‘down-from-Londoners’. I feel people are looking for a better way of life, a return to the enjoyment of the space around them, of growing their own food and getting out into the great outdoors and that’s a good thing.
Some of you may remember... Foxtons and the Office of Fair Trading are locked in dispute over a clause in the Foxtons letting contract (and - to be fair - just about every other lettings agents' contracts, too) demanding landlords pay a new commission to agents even when existing tenants simply renew. There's already been a little action, resulting in a Court of Appeal judgement that the final decision will apply to existing contracts as well as future ones. Now, we've a date for the final showdown... April 27. It will be interesting... a contentious issue with good arguments on both sides, and the potential to seriously affect agents all over London.
It's called The London Central Residential Recovery Fund, and - as described above - it's a strange bird-fish, flying-bottom-feeding creature, which will renovate and let out bottom-of-the-market properties in top-of-the-market neighbourhoods. Minimum investment: £50,000, and it's targeting a 15% return.
Hold onto something heavy, the Nationwide index, which has been in free-fall since October 2007 and is one of the bears' preferred measures (last month it showed house prices down 17.6% on the year), shows a rise in average house prices in March. It's a rise of 0.9%, and it leaves the annual house price index down 15.7%. So how's this happened? Reasons to be cheerful (if you believe it's sensible to be cheerful about stabilising house prices) include recent news of mortgage approvals picking up and a consensus that buyer interest is on the rise. Reasons to conclude this may turn out to be a blip include the fact that we're probably still in the early stages of an unemployment cycle... and nothing screws the property market like high unemployment. All eyes on the Halifax index, due to report soon.
If this is correct, the Rat and Mouse wouldn't be surprised if it amounts to something of a redistribution... away from over-stretched amateur landlords and toward more established and cash-rich bargain hunters with well-bedded portfolios.
In a bid to persuade the credit crunched to see their storage facilities as a wise investment, The Big Yellow Self Storage Company has done some interesting if unscientific data analysis. Apparently, more than a third of us have a junk room... a room filled with stuff we probably should have thrown away. My theory is that you can spot that room on visiting somebody within minutes. It's the room with the door closed. Big Yellow combines this statistic with the finding that 31% of us would - if we could - rent out a room to make a bit of extra cash, subtracts the cost of storage from the income earned by renting out the junk room and extrapolates Brits could bring in an extra £38bn a year by moving the crap out and a lodger in.
Your lodger may vary, rental income may go down as well as up, safe if taken as directed, if symptoms persist...
LC: It launched about two years ago as a niche title to offer those who love combining London and country living – whether that’s because they’ve got two homes or like to get out of the city at the weekends and stay in nice hotels or visit friends – a fun, informative and intelligent read about getting the best out of both worlds. There are so many magazines that just cater to either country bumpkins or city slickers, but none that aim to bridge the divide.
