Passing the Baton

Nick Churton from our Mayfair Group global network looks beyond the Commonwealth Games to a slower paced event where the losers could be left without a home.

The Commonwealth Games has been a spectacular success of which Glasgow and Scotland can be proud. 


All the events have been exciting to watch - but perhaps none more so than the relays on the track, in the pool and in the triathlon. 

We all love a good relay. Yet some people may not have noticed another long-running event held over recent years in that other great sporting arena – Westminster. This is the minister for housing relay.

The government has just announced its fourth minister for housing since the start of this parliament four years ago. The Labour government before it had nine ministers in charge of this portfolio during its thirteen-year term. In a country that is crying out for some sort of cohesive housing policy – an area of government which, like health, education and the economy, needs long, long term goals and strategy - these statistics are a very poor indictment.

Thirteen housing ministers in seventeen years: one could be forgiven for questioning the deep commitment to housing policy from both sides of the House. In this relay both Labour and Conservatives have been passing the baton every fifteen to sixteen months on average. That’s hardly time for each runner to get up to speed, never mind time to create a sensible, sustainable, and socially, morally and environmentally acceptable legacy for future generations.

Anyone who has passed or taken a relay baton at full tilt will know how difficult it is to do well. Sadly the recent housing ministers all seem to have been travelling at walking pace at the changeover. So it’s not even the case that we are able to enjoy the action. There is no real action going on. But we would like to think that something is being done to provide enough modern and efficient homes for a modern and efficient society, and that the country can be saved from lurching from housing boom to bust. 

We also need reassurance that the failure of successive governments to implement meaningful long-term housing policies over the past four decades will not mean that low-paid workers and those who provide our vital social services struggle to even save up for a deposit, never mind qualify for a mortgage.

Let’s hope that whoever is in charge after the next general election will select a minister for housing who is good enough to hold on to his or her baton long enough to help make Britain be a place where everyone can find and afford a place.

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

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Christies House Price Index - Local property prices now 7% above previous 2008 peak

The latest Christies House Price Index, uses the most up to date reliable data from the Land Registry, and also confirms that property in the local area continues to represent an outstanding investment.

Medium and long term gains are still exceptional. Based on past performance potential buyers will be very encouraged to see that prices have risen by 34% over the previous ten years and by an astonishing 164% over the previous 15 years.

What is perhaps even more impressive is that prices are now 33% higher than they were five years ago and are now more than 7% higher than at the previous peak of the market in March 2008.

The comparison is based on the average price of all local properties sold including flats, maisonettes, all types of houses and bungalows. Figures for June onwards are not yet available - the Index will be revised as soon as the data is released so please check this page regularly for any updates.

Date..............Average Price.........Average Price June 2014.......YEARS............INCREASE

Jun-99..............£110,142..........................£290,958.........................15.....................164%

Jun-04..............£216,795..........................£290,958.........................10.......................34%

Jun-09..............£218,537..........................£290,958..........................5........................33%

Over the years, and particularly in recent times, demand for properties in Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Worcester Park, Ewell, Epsom, Banstead, Chipstead, Kingswood, Tadworth and surrounding towns and villages has increased dramatically. Much of this demand is due to the location of the properties we sell, which are ideally situated on the fringes of London, bordering rural Surrey greenbelt countryside with picture postcard villages and market towns full of rich heritage and character.

Buyers flood into the area to take advantage of a wide range of leisure and shopping amenities. The local schools are nationally renowned and attract large numbers of enquiries, ensuring that property sale levels and prices have remained well above quoted national averages.

Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Worcester Park, Ewell, Epsom, Banstead, Chipstead, Kingswood and Tadworth all enjoy flourishing local communities with many popular cafés, restaurants and varied independent shops and businesses; this, coupled with many high street names, creates an enviable mix of retail and food outlets. Combined with excellent road and rail links, demand for property remains constant and represents an exceptional investment.

Christies have an unparalleled understanding of the area and are dedicated to ensuring customers are always informed – not just on the property market and prices, but also the area and amenities. When looking at buying a new home, we believe it is imperative that our purchasers are fully informed about all aspects of the potential move.

Your estate agent should be able to answer any of your questions regarding this. We are proud to represent this area and convey that passion to anyone looking to move here.

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

www.christiesworld.com

Christies House Price Index - prices now 5% above previous 2008 peak

The latest Christies House Price Index, uses the most up to date reliable data from the Land Registry, and also confirms that property in the local area continues to represent an outstanding investment.

Medium and long term gains are still exceptional. Based on past performance potential buyers will be very encouraged to see that prices have risen by 31% over the previous ten years and by an astonishing 161% over the previous 15 years.

What is perhaps even more impressive is that prices are now 30% higher than they were five years ago and are now more than 5% higher than at the previous peak of the market in March 2008.

The comparison is based on the average price of all local properties sold including flats, maisonettes, all types of houses and bungalows. Figures for June onwards are not yet available - the Index will be revised as soon as the data is released so please check this page regularly for any updates.

Date..............Average Price.........Average Price May 2014.......YEARS............INCREASE

May-99............£108,826..........................£283,984..............................15.......................161%

May-04............£215,973..........................£283,984..............................10........................31%

May-09............£218,920..........................£283,984...............................5.........................30%

Over the years, and particularly in recent times, demand for properties in Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Worcester Park, Ewell, Epsom, Banstead, Chipstead, Kingswood, Tadworth and surrounding towns and villages has increased dramatically. Much of this demand is due to the location of the properties we sell, which are ideally situated on the fringes of London, bordering rural Surrey greenbelt countryside with picture postcard villages and market towns full of rich heritage and character.

Buyers flood into the area to take advantage of a wide range of leisure and shopping amenities. The local schools are nationally renowned and attract large numbers of enquiries, ensuring that property sale levels and prices have remained well above quoted national averages.

Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Worcester Park, Ewell, Epsom, Banstead, Chipstead, Kingswood and Tadworth all enjoy flourishing local communities with many popular cafés, restaurants and varied independent shops and businesses; this, coupled with many high street names, creates an enviable mix of retail and food outlets. Combined with excellent road and rail links, demand for property remains constant and represents an exceptional investment.

Christies have an unparalleled understanding of the area and are dedicated to ensuring customers are always informed – not just on the property market and prices, but also the area and amenities. When looking at buying a new home, we believe it is imperative that our purchasers are fully informed about all aspects of the potential move.

Your estate agent should be able to answer any of your questions regarding this. We are proud to represent this area and convey that passion to anyone looking to move here.

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

www.christiesworld.com

Mid-Term Report

As we enter the second half of 2014 Nick Churton of our Mayfair Group global network takes stock of the property market. 

We are midway through the property year and while the market seems to have steadied, once again property is clearly big news. The headlines in our press and often the lead items on television and radio news are the housing market and what it's doing or going to do. 

It is frustrating that so often journalists' comments refer to a market which does not really exist at all but rather is a homogenous mix of markets in the north, the south, the east and west - and that other country which is central London. In fact the property market is really made up of thousands of micro-markets. 

Also alarming statements about housing bubbles do not help much. Now the Chancellor, George Osborne, and Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, have prepared measures designed to halt a headlong dive into another housing crisis. 

But the increasing feeling of those who handle the property market every day for a living – estate agents - is that things might have already steadied themselves. Harsher mortgage lending criteria - that have already slowed the numbers of loans; prices - for many - reaching the top of their affordability range, and the sated pool of pent-up first and second time buyer demand all add to a dampening effect.

Further up the market activity in higher price ranges can reflect uncertainty about future government taxation policies. This may grow as we approach the next general election. So these new Bank of England measures can be seen as a sensible precaution against future excesses rather than shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. 

Yes, we need more housing with the release of more Brownfield sites. We need to relax some planning bureaucracy and foster responsible lending – and borrowing. A more enlightened approach to bringing life to our high streets through a greater residential element may help also. All this will assist us in steering away from more boom and bust. 

There will be new challenges such as interest rates gradually increasing in a sensitively controlled way. But there is no reason why a small mortgage rate increase will harm the market in the short or medium term. In general - and taking central London out of the equation - we believe that the second part of the year will be much the same as the first - a balanced market with some really great opportunities for both buyers and sellers.
Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

www.christiesworld.com

Time is Money

If you want your property transaction to go as smoothly as possible then call in the professionals. Nick Churton of our Mayfair Group global network offers some words of advice.

The true cost of moving home should always be counted in more than monetary terms. There is the cost of time and the emotional toll as well.

Time is one of the key components to a successful sale. But nowadays transactions seem to be taking longer than ever. There is no political will to speed things up: in fact new legislation and financial guidelines are acting to slow things down.

So if the authorities and service sectors aren’t going to help it is up to the buying and selling public to help themselves. Fortunately there are some good ways of doing this.

Think Ahead
Buyers are now hampered further by fresh rules from the lenders who are being far more inquisitive about our earnings and spending habits. All this occupies yet more time, and many bank and building society branches are taking two, three and even four weeks to interview applicants in the first place. So buyers should think ahead and get their funds in place early. They should also remember that if they have an ‘in principle’ mortgage arrangement which is more than a couple of months old the new lending criteria rules may mean that they can’t borrow as much now as they were previously told.

Choose a Solicitor Carefully
It’s not all down to the buyers. There is an onus too on the seller. Despite the fact that they may be in a hurry, can their own solicitors act quickly enough – especially when faced with a cash purchaser who wants a swift deal? Many solicitors shed conveyancing staff during the downturn and have not replaced them. This means law firms can struggle to keep up with the dramatic uplift in property transactions. So sellers should question any solicitors before they hire them and gain some strong assurances.

Thinking ahead and not cutting corners will help buyers and sellers enormously to save time and worry. Cheap estate agents and conveyancers may sound attractive at the start of a sale or purchase. But their true cost in money, time and anguish can only be really counted at the end of a transaction. As Red Adair, the legendry oil well fire fighter, said, “If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur”.
Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

www.christiesworld.com

Lights, Camera, Action

Nick Churton of our global Mayfair Group Network looks at estate agency in the media.

Once again the television cameras have been peeking into the working lives of estate agents.  The latest BBC 2 fly-on-the-wall series called Under Offer (Wednesdays, 8.00-9.00pm until 7^th May) has become required watching for many. So how are the estate agents in the programme doing?

Many documentary and reality TV programmes covering matters like this do look for the worst side of the story – and find it. But it is rarely the whole story. It might be a difficult truth about an occupation that the public loves to hate but the vast majority of people in estate agency are not on the side of the baddies. It’s just that it never comes over very well on TV.

As we can see in the programme agents differ greatly depending on which community they reflect. They can also be rather brash and overbearing, and one or two you might prefer not to have round to dinner. But that goes with this territory. Some agents can be indescribably arrogant, base and blunt to the point of rudeness, for which there is no excuse whatsoever. But others are not. Others are charming.

This fly-on-the-wall notices the other side. No matter in what price range the agents are dealing, and how many times their behaviour may make the viewer cringe, the camera also sees them trying to do their best for clients - who can, by deed of happenstance or nature, be very demanding.

We expect our vicars to be humble and our doctors to be painstaking and honestly sympathetic. We expect our teachers to be ideal role models and our policemen to uphold the law and not pervert it. What do we expect of estate agents? Well they are not Mother Teresa or rocket scientists. Their stock is not as high as they would like and they are often seen as brash and pushy. But that is the job. It needs push. The trouble is that many people don’t like pushy agents - until those agents are working for them. At which point the agent can be as pushy as he or she likes as long as the property gets sold at the right price and in short order.

So what we are seeing in the TV series are people genuinely trying their best for their clients – whether it is for £50,000 or £50 million. When a house is sold against the seemingly impossible odds presented by highly constrained lenders, ultra-careful surveyors, over-worked and under-manned solicitors, interlinked chains of other precarious deals, demanding sellers and, all too often, fickle buyers, it seems a miracle that any deals are ever done at all. But these people in the TV programme, just like thousands of agents across the country, do care. Which is why, in the main, people do get to move when and where they want to.

Call agents brash. Call them pushy and overbearing. But when all is said and done these estate agents are not merely pushy negotiators. They are closers. And what anyone wants when selling or buying a property in the UK today is a closer – and a pushy one at that.

Your estate agent should be able to answer any of your home moving questions. We are proud to represent this area and convey that passion to anyone looking to move here.

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

www.christiesworld.com

Christies House Price Index - Prices now more than 3% above previous 2008 peak

The latest Christies House Price Index, uses the most up to date reliable data from the Land Registry, and also confirms that property in the local area continues to represent an outstanding investment.

Medium and long term gains are still exceptional. Based on past performance potential buyers will be very encouraged to see that prices have risen by 32% over the previous ten years and by an astonishing 160% over the previous 15 years.

 

What is perhaps even more impressive is that prices are now 24% higher than they were five years ago and are now more than 3% higher than at the previous peak of the market in March 2008.

 

The comparison is based on the average price of all local properties sold including flats, maisonettes, all types of houses and bungalows. Figures for April onwards are not yet available - the Index will be revised as soon as the data is released so please check this page regularly for any updates.

 

Date..............Average Price.........Average Price March 2014.......YEARS............INCREASE 

 

Mar-99..............£107,219.............................£279,192..............................15.....................160%

 

Mar-04..............£212,259.............................£270,245..............................10.......................32%

 

Mar-09..............£225,199.............................£270,245...............................5.........................24%

 

Over the years, and particularly in recent times, demand for properties in Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Worcester Park, Ewell, Epsom, Banstead, Kingswood, Leatherhead and surrounding towns and villages has increased dramatically. Much of this demand is due to the location of the properties we sell, which are ideally situated on the fringes of London, bordering rural Surrey greenbelt countryside with picture postcard villages and market towns full of rich heritage and character.

Buyers flood into the area to take advantage of a wide range of leisure and shopping amenities. The local schools are nationally renowned and attract large numbers of enquiries, ensuring that property sale levels and prices have remained well above quoted national averages.

Cheam, North Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Worcester Park, Ewell, Epsom, Banstead, Kingswood all enjoy flourishing local communities with many popular cafés, restaurants and varied independent shops and businesses; this, coupled with many high street names, creates an enviable mix of retail and food outlets. Combined with excellent road and rail links, demand for property remains constant and represents an exceptional investment.

Christies have an unparalleled understanding of the area and are dedicated to ensuring customers are always informed – not just on the property market and prices, but also the area and amenities. When looking at buying a new home, we believe it is imperative that our purchasers are fully informed about all aspects of the potential move.

Your estate agent should be able to answer any of your questions regarding this. We are proud to represent this area and convey that passion to anyone looking to move here.

Please contact either Andrew Richardson, Jeremy Richardson or Richard Killoughery on 020 8643 7777 to get moving or email us at sales@christiesworld.com.

www.christiesworld.com