Debtwire is an organisation that keeps an eye on the health of real estate agencies in the UK and according to their latest reports there is trouble brewing on the horizon.

The Telegraph posted an article yesterday that painted doom and gloom of the UK real estate affairs reporting that some 1,000 agencies had shut down countrywide since the start of this year. The report was based on Debtwire’s studies and indicates that since every Realtor employs an average of 4 people in their offices that would reflect a total job loss of 4,000 and numbers are expected to rise further for the remainder of 2008.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a possible result to the credit crunch houses in Central London have taken a tumble of 1.5% in the first quarter of 2008. This has been a result of speculation in the City and expectations of new taxes in the Budget to affect non doms.

This whole scenario is affecting the annual growth potential by as much as 22%.

With many employees losing their jobs in the City of London due to the credit crunch issue, buying power and demand for property have been lowered tremendously. The Director of Savills residential research states that: “values aren’t bouncing back as fast as in 1998 and 2001 after dropping one or two quarters.”

Read the rest of this entry »

With all the doom and gloom surrounding the property markets, we felt it was about time to take a look at those markets that have remained robust and healthy throughout the current credit crunch. So here are five markets that have consistently performed well, regardless of the ups and downs seen recently.

Manhattan, New York

Read the rest of this entry »

Estate Agent vs Analyst

If anyone, either in the U.K or the U.S.A needed an incentive to look overseas for their next property investment, recent reports released in both counties should provide it.

Rightmove, an online U.K estate agent recently released a report that shows UK asking process have dropped for the third month in a row.

In the last month, the average asking price for a house in the UK dropped 0.8 per cent to £230,428, bringing the annual rate of increase down to 3.4 per cent – the lowest since December 2005.

Read the rest of this entry »

Price per square foot can be an interesting approach to pricing real estate and we though it would be interesting to compare luxury condominium prices around the world to other types of space for sale. How much space in a luxury condominium would you get for £100,000? These prices are based on Knight Frank’s annual wealth report 2007 and may have changed slightly since then. These are the top ten contenders.

1. London

London currently tops the list. £100,000 buys you 43.5 square feet. Coincidentally, this is exactly the same footprint as the Ford Escape, an American SUV. So you can rest assured you will be able to park the car at this price.

Read the rest of this entry »

London once again defied the skeptics and remained on target for a 17% increase in value in 2007 despite falling prices in much of the rest of the country.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors reported that “house price growth remained negative for the second month in succession,” and “new instructions declined for the fourth consecutive month at the fastest pace since June.”

Having said that, London was the only region in their monthly survey to experience a rise in instructions, and according to the Financial Times House Price Index, “prices in London rose 1.1 per cent in August compared with July and the annual rate of growth accelerated to 17.6 per cent, from 17 per cent in July. This was almost double the pace of growth of the south-east, the area with the second-highest increases, where prices were up by 9.4 per cent over the year. The cost of the average home in the capital is £363,364, compared with the national average of £225,826.”

The FT index suggests that overseas demand, rising immigration and City bonuses are fueling the London price increases.

Some areas around the country were less fortunate with price drops reported in the North, East Midlands and Yorkshire & Humberside and stagnant prices in the North West, South West and East Anglia.

Whether or not London can maintain this continued growth in the face of credit squeezes, reduced mortgage lending and dropping prices in much of the rest of the country remains to be seen and many analysts are predicting a slow down or reversal before the end of the year. For the moment though, it looks as though London is shoring up the whole market.

Links:

The Financial Times

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

The Halifax House Price Index

The Land Registry House Price Index

London is supposed to be one of the most expensive cities in the world, but, having recently read a report on the cost of a parking space in Manhattan and reports of people paying upwards of £500 per month in Tokyo, I thought a comparison would be in order.

According to the New York times, this woman is cursing herself for not taking advantage of an opportunity to buy a parking space outside her loft apartment at $165,000 when she had the chance. A few months later, the spaces were changing hands for $225,000. Also according to The Times, the AVERAGE cost of a parking space is $165,000. Average.

London spaces have changed hands for as much as £250K but here are a few London bargains I found.

For the measly sum of £80,000 one can buy a garage on the Fulham Rd, SW6.

Craigslist also have a few bargains available, and this one jumps out. Considerably cheaper than the spot in Fulham. “I am selling my parking space in Whitechapel. It is on a private gated road next to the London Hospital. It is just outside the congestion charge zone so is very convenient for the City etc. It has been valued at £25K but I am keen to sell quickly.”

Sounds like a bargain to me. Although they might consider the use of an Estate agent to jazz the sales pitch up a little. “Bizou parking space in sought after neighborhood. Minimalist black, with no yellow in sight. Handy lack of walls makes for easy car positioning. Good renovation project. Might suit a young couple with small family.”?

Read the rest of this entry »

A Million Dollars. It certainly sounds like a lot of money. Just say it out loud: “A Million Dollars,” now say it slowly, “A Million Dollars.” It still sounds like a lot of money, but what will a million dollars buy in London, Europe or Africa or South America? As I began researching this article, the phrase, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison,” came to mind. Obviously, some countries vary widely from area to area, but here are some interesting properties for sale from around the world that all have the same price tag – A Million Bucks.

London. In London, one million bucks will secure a 3 bedroom flat in W6, a short walk from Hammersmith Broadway. This particular flat is offered by Foxtons and comprises one reception room, kitchen, three beds and one bath over 87 m sq. Leasehold with a share of the freehold.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s now almost three months since we last wrote about the New Star International Property Fund. During time it has exceeded its original (launch phase) target of £200m, reporting that £206m was actually subscribed. However, the same period has seen turbulence for investors in the new fund’s big sister, New Star’s Property Unit Trust, with lower returns sparking a rush to get out.

What’s certainly not open to question is New Star’s thoroughness in stating case through advertising in good times and bad. The group launched a new campaign in the personal finance press specifically to deal with the bad publicity arising from the switch to ‘bid basis’ pricing when the volume of ‘sell’ instructions threatened to undermine the model that a property fund like New Star’s works on.

Read the rest of this entry »

Beach Huts on Brighton & Hove [Photo credits to Rollinho on Flickr]

With more evidence and general agreement that property price rises are set to stall in the UK, the Telegraph has published an article suggesting that Brighton and Hove are diverging from other parts of the South East of England. The reasons given for the strong recent growth are chiefly the attractions the town has to relocating Londoners. These not only include Brighton’s interest and seaside location but the quality of the train services to London. Not only is the train service relatively good but commuters have a choice of London termini (Victoria, Charing Cross, Blackfriars and London Bridge) so a swathe of central London is walking distance from the train. However, it needs to be remembered that the train journey takes 80 to 90 minutes and won’t be cheap. The local council says that 4,500 Londoners relocate to Brighton every year.

Read the rest of this entry »