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Entries in November 2009
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More in this Category - Celebrity homes
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More in this Category - Linkage
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This Is Money sees Foxtons's overdue accounts as a cause for concern. Accounts were apparently due at the end of October, and haven't been filed. More here.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, Foxton's, Foxtons, real estate agents
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Know someone unlawfully subletting their council house? Then you - yes you - could profit by as much as £500 by snitching on them to the council. It's apparently a growing problem in London, compounded in its seriousness by the current shortage in affordable accommodation in the city, with subletters charging as much as four times their own rent to a private tenant. Housing officers are also being told to keep a particularly close eye on larger properties in central multistorey blocks. According the Guardian, they might be making a few unannounced visits.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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According to FindaProperty.com... it's just 0.1% between October and November, but it's the seventh consecutive rise. Across the year... rents are 2.5% down.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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The fifth consecutive monthly rise according to the Land Registry leaves prices 0.6% up on the month and now just 3.4% down on the year. Interestingly, the north-west of England led the charge, with a 1.9% uplift.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Ah. (But, then, imagine the hot dog smell and all the bird shit down the back of that interactive poll box.) My pet literally is a member of my family. (Then you need to re-think some of your sexual practices.)
According to LetsWithPets, the pro/anti-pet argument is pretty one-sided in the world of landlording, and so they're petitioning lettings agents to try to persuade landlords not to discriminate against tenants with fur (or feathers). More here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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And the story - here - of Walthamstow's Shabbir Chowdhury... £105,000 a year in genuine salary, £3m of fraudulent mortgage loans, 12 properties across London and (the icing on this particular cake) £45,000 in benefit fraud.
Technorati Tags: London, mortgages, property, real estate
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The Mirror describes an interesting close call, highlighting just how imperfect our own land registry system is. Go here to read how fraudsters came so close to landing a property by simply instructing their solicitors to deal directly with a firm of solicitors who were not, in fact, instructed by the vendors. A mortgage was raised, the property transfer very nearly completed.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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I'd heard - on the grapevine - via a number of estate agents about growing numbers of Italians setting up home in London, driven by a combination of a strong Euro and a strange domestic tax situation involving a temporary amnesty. Now - according to Investors Chronicle:
An influx of Italian cash buyers to the central London property market is skewing house price indicators and leading to over-optimistic forecasts of a housing market recovery.
The story comes via, ahem, Capital Economics, and uses data from Savills, who claim 80% of Kensington enquiries and 70% in Knightsbridge are from Italian buyers.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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The Belgravia Squatters have moved into a 34 room mansion at 112 Eaton Square, having been evicted from a 42 room gaff around the corner in Eaton Place. The papers are making a fuss about the fact that Nigella Lawson's a neighbour. Perhaps she'll cook them something. With lentils.
Westminster Council: sell or be squatted [November 18, 2009]
Thursday afternoon linkage - call squatbusters [November 12, 2009]
Belgravia squatters strike again [November 11, 2009]
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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Forty-two thousand, two hundred and thirty-eight loans are almost twice the number of loans granted homebuyers in October 2008, and they're the highest monthly number since January of the same year. Re-mortgages remained low... as borrowers failed to be intimidated by SVRs. Figures courtesy of the British Bankers' Association.
Technorati Tags: mortgages
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Our friend Melanie - house historian for Chesterton Humberts - makes a couple of stops in Putney, focussing on a house on the Upper Richmond Road I've passed and wondered about on many occasions, and a nice pale brick place at the Roehampton end, with an impressive roster of former owners. Read it here.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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Grant Shapps (housing, Tories, pictured here testing one of the millions of invisible council houses promised by his party) apparently confirmed that - under his government - HIPs would be put in the expensive mistake bin. Energy Performance Certificates (do your windows close? tick, have you insulation? tick) are said to stay. HIPs providers, who can't be happy after discovering their vocations and then training vigorously for this demanding and complex job, are said to be scuffling around trying to find something useful to do:
Mike Ockenden, AHIPP’s director, said: “If we are moving to scrap Hips, then we must make sure we are working with the Government for the next stage. We have already introduced exchange-ready packs, which would cost about the same as Hips.”
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Homes in catchment areas for good schools sell at a premium, we all know that. The Nationwide's the latest to put a number on it, and - interestingly - they've factored in the performance of the pupils.
The lender found that for every 10% increase in the Sats pass rate the average price of a nearby house rose by 3.3%. Across England as a whole this meant an extra £5,860 on the average house price of £176,611.
Another reason to call the cops if you catch them skiving off school. That's, of course, if you buy the freakonomics.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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According to local estate agents, prices in some parts of Kabul have risen by 75% in the past year.
Fancy a bit of that? Then grab it fast... before it flies past your ear in pieces. Interestingly, while security is obviously "a concern", the economy is less of one. Kabul is officially recession-proof, as it's almost entirely driven by UN money. But good luck to anybody who might eventually have to deal with bureaucracy and land registry. If you can't feel secure buying in Spain...
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - _Other
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Head over to the Independent for a tour of the place Mika calls home, and reveals a few secrets.
From early childhood Mika would spend five consecutive hours dancing in his bedroom to Nina Simone, Michael Jackson and the Beastie Boys.
You see, it's funny how there are two ways to go from this starting point. One - the Mika way - is to become a big-selling and creative singer-songwriter. The other's unthinkable. Mika's South Kensington flat is surprisingly restrained and elegant by the way. See it here. Leona Lewis, meanwhile, is going. Rumour has it she's paid £1.8m for a nice LA villa. And you can that, here. Finally, over at the Star, the news is that Amy Winehouse has moved into a "boob clinic".
Amy Winehouse has set up house – in the hospital where docs fixed her boobs.
So? I could live in a boob clinic if I wanted.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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First off, a big "thank you" to our sponsor, Primelocation.com. Remember, Primelocation.com isn't just about searching properties listed by 4,000 leading estate agents, the website's a mine of useful advice, information and links. An example? Go here to search up-to-date real life completion prices for UK property. Snoop on your neighbours. Do the maths before making an offer. It's useful, it's free... you need to register, but it's quick and easy. If you've feedback, let us know and we'll pass it on with pleasure.
In October, the Rat and Mouse once again broke all previous records with a new traffic high. If you want to know more about advertising opportunities on the Rat and Mouse, drop me a line. Or if you just want to chat with the Rat, we're on Twitter here, or email us tips here.
In the meantime, look sharp this weekend. X
Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse
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More in this Category - Linkage
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One of Colonel Gaddafi's sons is said to have recently paid £10m for a new four-bedroom house on Winnington Road. The deal was done by Glentree's Trevor Abrahmsohn. No news yet as to whether he's having his folks over for the holidays.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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At a conference on the outskirts of Mayfair, a journalist from the Standard heard some interesting statistics.
The fact that nearly 30% of all new homes in London are sold in places like Hong Kong and Singapore did not surprise the audience of 70 builders and estate agents. Those in the market seem to know perfectly well that teams from agents like King Sturge spend half their lives in humid hotels in Asia.
So? The charge is that the London new-build market is being artificially supported and is dependent on overseas money. Londoners want new-builds, but they can't afford them at prices governed by Asian investment money. It's an interesting read.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Council of Mortgage Lenders data shows October lending up 5% on October, but down 27% on the year. The stats are less interesting than the details... a decade-low drop in remortgaging, caused by low SVRs and tough equity restraints, a pick-up in new loans.
Technorati Tags: mortgages
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Much more, here.
Technorati Tags: design, interiors
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More in this Category - Linkage
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That's what owners of empty and derelict Mayfair properties are being told... sell now, before a bunch of useless key workers take up residence in your lovely empty, decaying mansion. Read here about "chastened" commercial property developer Simon Halabi and his boarded up four-storey Georgian house at 21 Charles Street... new to the market at £30.5m if anyone's interested. The place is in such a state, the particulars carry an artist's impression.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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Funnily enough there's a lot of people who would say that now is obviously not the time to develop whereas when the market was really hot, when it was right at the top, they were saying everyone should develop and you kind of think... no, no, you shouldn't do the same as everyone else you should do the opposite of everyone else.
An interesting interview with Sarah Beeny, here.
Technorati Tags: property, property TV, real estate
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Could Stephen Fry - celebrity Twitter user as he's referred to here - be moving? He apparently commented to an invited audience, recently, that he's looking for an LA base near his old friend Bertie Hugh.
Technorati Tags: celebrity
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HSBC knows, and they're telling. Among the trivia (43,000 new property millionaires in the last 15 years etc):
61% of £1million plus properties sold over the last 15 years were in Greater London. Kensington and Chelsea (18% of sales) and the City of Westminster (12% of sales) accounted for nearly half of all of London's £1million plus sales.
And:
The average house price across England and Wales has risen 213% over the past 15 years from £64,836 in 1995 to £202,813 in 2009 Q2.
Oooh, this has such a 2007 feel to it.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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Andrew Sentance points to evidence that growth might have resumed in the second half of 2009, following last month's surprise (-ingly bad) GDP figures. He reminds us that those were preliminary figures, which may look quite different after revision. More here.
Technorati Tags: recession
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More in this Category - Linkage
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One for property nerds (one or two might read this blog)... In Nantucket, famous from a million limericks, there's a tradition called "the mortgage button". Apparently:
When the mortgage was paid off, the papers were burned and the ashes placed in a prominent stairway's newel post, then the post topped with a piece of scrimshaw, often with the owner's initials etc but originally was plain.
Not only are these scrimshaws philosophically attractive, reminding everyone involved that we're talking here about a loan for a home, not an investment or an equity release of the first of 15 properties that mortgage will extend to, they can be aesthetically attractive too. Check the link for pictures.
Technorati Tags: mortgages
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Rightmove's index shows a fall in asking prices in the four weeks to November 7. Don't worry, says Miles Shipside, it's seasonal... as homeowners shift their attention to Christmas trees and Amazon, rather than offers and mortgages. In Rightmove world, incidentally, house prices are, in annual terms, back in the black... at 1.6%, the highest number since May 2008.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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The Office of Fair Trading has published its Home Buying And Selling Market Study, a substantial project. Estate agents who took part in its questionnaire - or anybody about to move and wondering what to expect from the average UK agent - might like to go here and download the Estate Agency survey... an interesting snapshot of what they do and how.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, real estate agents
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Launched today, ArgosCompare is said to be hooked up with 4,000 mortgage brokers, and may prove to be a major player in the busy price comparison sector, if it can leverage its vast daily contact with consumers.
Technorati Tags: mortgages
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Because the west London agency won the Supreme Negotiator Award last night, beating Marsh & Parsons and Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward into second and third place.
The Supreme Negotiator Award contenders were voted by The Negotiator Awards Academy, which comprises 50 of the UK residential agency market’s top practitioners.
Ed Mead didn't cry while making an acceptance speech. The awards night took place at the Hilton, and guests were entertained by magician and comedian Paul Zenon, who made Foxtons disappear.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, real estate agents
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You see, this is why the Rat and Mouse loves its readers. Thanks to everyone who pointed me in the right direction (see directly below). One fellow blogger (you know who you are) even attached photos.
Without further ado... a lovely three-bedroom Hampstead Village house, somewhat contemporary inside, but you'd expect nothing else, since it's the party palace of none other than Russell Brand himself. We particularly like the use of inverted commas around yoga in the particulars.
The top floor bedroom suite currently serves as a generous and bright office or study whilst the 2nd bedroom is used as a 'yoga' room.
If these walls could talk... Austrian Nazi edition [November 5, 2009]
If these walls could talk... they'd say "re-wind" [October 21, 2009]
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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Word is that RB has just put his Hampstead home on the market, in readiness for a possible move, with girlfriend Katy Perry, to LA. We know this... it's four beds, three baths and a hot tub in the garden. Oh, and it's on for £2.5m. We've a few ideas about which one it is... but we're not confident enough to spill the particulars quite yet. Any information will be treated as anonymous.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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This time, a 42 room Belgravia palace... yours, apparently, if you're a key worker. How generous.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Recession digression
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The new series of I'm A Celebrity (Get Me Out Of Here) starts Sunday, and the latest is that Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan (the brains behind such unmissable TV culture as Million Pound Property Experiment, How Not To Decorate and Trading Up, and pictured here in the nest competing for a large Witjuti grub from the beak of a giant reality TV bird) are expected to join an all-star cast of has-beens and publicity whores, where they'll eat insects and perhaps fashion scatter cushions from fronds. Can't wait.
Technorati Tags: property TV
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A little plug for the Raise The Roof campaign. What's it about?
Since 1997 (i.e. under the current government) no change has been made to the income threshold of the Rent a Room Scheme - the threshold at present is £4,250 a year; the campaign would like to see this rise to £9,000 a year.
So? We'd all like to pay less tax, what makes landlords so special? The answer is that renting out a room is an oft-recommended route toward avoiding arrears and repossession, and yet 60% are above the annual threshold (and 91% in London). Some high-profile commentators are supporting the campaign. Visit it here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Why "official"? Aren't Halifax or Nationwide figures "official"? Not as official... these figures courtesy of the Department of Communities and Local Government count completion prices, so they're about as official as they get. They're also - by their nature - late. So, for September, it's a 1.2% rise in the price of the average UK home (you know, this one), leaving prices at November 2008 levels, and narrowing the annual difference to -4.1%, it's lowest level for 13 months.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' monthly report is all about gazumping, and a runaway market in London like nothing seen since December 1996. Here comes da boom. Now for the other side of the coin. Sales are down at levels 50% lower than in the pre-correction era; a lack of supply is unbalancing the market; the whole RICS survey methodology, which in effect measures what estate agents feel they can get away with, is highly suspect. More here.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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We've been skeptical, recently, about the recent recovery in house prices... pointing out the micro-geographical nature of any increasing prices, the dangers associated with increasing unemployment, increasing interest rates and increasing supply. According to a survey of the property derivatives sector, the recovery will slow from what looks like a 5.5% increase in 2009, to somewhere around half that for the next few years. More here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Apparently, he's on the lookout for a British pub... preferably close to the Chelsea ground. Oi, hands off The Fox.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London
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If MPs don't really have to learn their lessons, and bankers are back on the gravy train before the industry's even started paying off it's debts, then why shouldn't borrowers expect a bit of old-school recklessness? That was presumably the thinking behind this in Saturday's Times:
The piece highlights the "most accommodating" lenders, and shows how to have commissions/bonuses included in "salary", how to borrows up to six times salary, how to achieve a 90% mortgage, how to have your loan fast-tracked. Any mention of caution and responsibility and how we got into this mess? That would be so 2008.
Technorati Tags: mortgages
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Of 721 respondents to an ISPreview.co.uk survey, 75% wouldn't buy a house - no matter how perfect in every other respect - if it couldn't achieve 1Mbps in broadband speed. More than half would pay more for a house with a faster connection. Okay, I know, ISPreview readers are geeks, the kind of people who spend their days using their fast broadband connections to answer questions about how fast is an acceptable broadband connection. But - still - you're looking at the future... when broadband provision is considered a utility as important as gas, electricity, water. More here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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A new week, and about time I said a big "thank you" to our sponsor, Primelocation.com. Remember, Primelocation.com isn't just about searching properties listed by 4,000 leading estate agents, the website's a mine of useful advice, information and links. An example? Go here to search up-to-date real life completion prices for UK property. Snoop on your neighbours. Do the maths before making an offer. It's useful, it's free... you need to register, but it's quick and easy. If you've feedback, let us know and we'll pass it on with pleasure.
Last month the Rat and Mouse broke all previous records with a new traffic high. If you want to know more about advertising opportunities on the Rat and Mouse, drop me a line. Or if you just want to chat with the Rat, we're on Twitter here, or email us tips here.
Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse
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More in this Category - Linkage
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And in Belgravia, no less.
The air is thick with dust; I notice large streaks of it are smeared across the back of Trevor's overcoat.
Filthy bloody Bohemians.
Actually, Eve's apparently an amateur architecture nut, and is elbows deep in townhouse restoration. The Telegraph gets the interesting early viewing that should - by rights - have gone to the Rat and Mouse. On second thoughts...
There is nowhere for us to sit; Sharon, who starred in Holby City and played opposite Trevor in the most recent series of WTD, moves a builder's half-eaten sandwich off a large cardboard box. "Don't sit there," Trevor says. "That's a speaker." So we hover by the large bow window at the end of the room, and look out across the garden, which is the reason they bought the house in South Eaton Place 18 months ago. "We'd never seen a rear aspect like this..."
And that, after playing opposite Claire Goose in Waking The Dead... Anyway, it's an interesting piece, and there's the making there for a very fine Belgravia townhouse.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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The Times runs a nice overview of Savills's short term predictions for some of London's neighbourhoods, and takes a closer look at how they've been doing very recently. It's a good read, here.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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According to the National Association of Estate Agents, who only ever get it right and tell the truth, an average of five homebuyers were chasing each and every property on their books in October. But, and it's a big but, sales were down from 8.5 per agent in September to 7.7. Worryingly, too, the number of new buyers coming onto the market was slightly down. Agents need buyers. And buyers need lending. Could be worse though. In fact, it has been.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Two million pounds is the asking price for Hitler's birthplace. Except Braunau-am-Inn councillors are concerned that the wrong kind of buyer might be interested (exactly what is the right kind of buyer for such a property?) and they're opposing its sale to a private individual. I'm just amazed the property wasn't pulled down years ago. Surely that would have been the right thing to do, rather than leaving a shrine to Nazis. More here.
If these walls could talk... they'd say "re-wind" [October 21, 2009]
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Taylor Wimpey are all sold out, they say, and are planning on raising prices on new homes in the New Year. Redrow report reservations are up almost 50% on last year, and also predict prices rises in 2010.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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According to data from Zoopla.co.uk, there are 35% fewer property millionaires now than there were in November 2007. Which, in many ways, is hardly surprising. But it gets interesting in the detail. In the North East of the country, there are 83% fewer homes worth a million or more. Eighty per cent of homes in the million plus bracket are still to be found in the South East. More of this nonsense, here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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That eye-catching statistic comes from Credit Action, and it's accompanied by this one... 2,553 people are being made redundant every day, which bodes badly for the UK housing market. More here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Lisa Marie may well be on her way... seriously. It was several weeks ago when she broke it to the press.... picking London for its quality of life (things must really be tough in Beverley Hills). But, of course, we all know that Rule No. 1 when getting a nation's press onside is telling them you're definitely going to move to their country, you like it so much. Now, though, her Beverley Hills mansion - in which she's lived since Elvis' death - is reportedly up for sale.
Meanwhile, looks like she might have a lodger, in the form of ex-husband Nicolas Cage. The story here is one of woe... chased by the IR, foreclosed on a property in New Orleans, flogging his UK and German homes, homes on both coasts of the US, in what looks like a giant property fire sale.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, property, real estate
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Considering renovating and selling on? Or getting in some tenants? Need advice on the way forward? Get your entry in before December 9 to win a home visit by someone who knows what they're talking about. More here.
Sarah Beeny - the Rat and Mouse interview [July 27, 2009]
Technorati Tags: property TV
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And a rise of 1.2% in October, leaving the annual change at -4.7%. There's certainly a consistency at the moment, in the world of the property price index.
Market report - Hometrack [November 2, 2009]
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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According to research by Evaluate Technologies, 20% of lenders are charging non-refundable booking fees of as much as £999. The key term here is, obviously, non-refundable, especially at a time of increasingly rigorous vetting. More here.
Technorati Tags: mortgages
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Haart's London Property Index is showing a 22% rise since January, the average price of a London property rocketing from £152,207 to £194, 052. Hotspots? Blackheath Village, Southgate and Willesden Green. More here.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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Can't afford the catchment area tax? According to the Schools Adjudicator, here's the top 10 alternatives (in order of popularity):
- making an application from a relative's address
- temporarily renting a property while making an application
- inventing a marriage break-up, with one parent moving to a fictional address
- claiming to live with a different parent, following a genuine break-up
- using a secondary address, perhaps of a property rented out to a third party
- using an old address
- using a commercial or business address
- using friend's addresses
- actually swapping addresses with friends
- claiming to live in an empty property
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - _Other
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The Morning Star serves eight - count 'em - reasons why you shouldn't buy that house.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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A third monthly rise - 0.2% in October - leaving house prices down 4.2% on October 2008. Accompanying editorial isn't too upbeat, however, warning that the "pent-up demand" is beginning to thin.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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