The London lettings market shows no signs of slowing down in 2012, in fact its positively booming.1stavenue.co.uk
Reports and news on whats happening in the property market around South East London and the Docklands
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- I'm obsessed with property; good property. That and getting my company name out there.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Lettings market remains bullish dispite rumours of double dip
The London lettings market shows no signs of slowing down in 2012, in fact its positively booming.Thursday, 12 January 2012
London continues to shine for investors
Buyer confidence may rest on a knife edge but we dont build wealth by sitting on our hands.
Despite the continuing Euro debt crisis, Prime Central London residential prices are nearly 38% above their post-Lehman low of March 2009 with strong growth expected across all sectors of the London market this year.
A rise of 10% in rents against 2011 are not outside the bounds of reality as renting becomes the tenure of reality over choice. Pricing is further pushed by Olympic contractors, staff and consultants snapping up multiple apartments around the Olympic Zone; further squeezing an already stock starved local market.
Those willing to add to their portfolios this year are looking to London. Although weakening slightly, the financial crisis has largely missed Asia and wealthy Hong Kong and mainland Chinese investors in particular are buying at Prime London developments in large numbers as London looks increasingly like value-for money.
The fall in the value of sterling over the past three years has made London much more affordable. The Yuan has appreciated by 27 per cent since September 2008 and the Hong Kong dollar is up by 22 per cent. Speculation on sterling remains a key factor for overseas investors in many purchases today.
The forecast for London investment property is sunny on the proviso the Euro avoids a meltdown.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
UK Housing Market beckons overseas buyers

Post credit crunch lows of 2009 have been shrugged of in most corners of London, yet despite some uncertainly surrounding the UK economy at home, there is significant interest among overseas investors in London property and most notably Prime London and Prime Central London. The demand particularly for Prime Central London has lead to 38% rise in asking prices achieved since 2009.
The UK market continues to show strong growth for a number of reasons, not least an attractive exchange rate on the pound.
To put that into context, if you are a buyer in Singapore today, you can take advantage of $2 Sing to the pound on any property purchase. Rewind back a couple of years and it was $3 Sing to the pound. This means that buying a property in London is 33% cheaper than what a Londoner is likely to pay and reflects a massive discount unmatched by any sane developer.
At some point, the pound will bounce back and an apartment bought today becomes a strong income asset, offering better yields with capital value and real growth potential.
The UK tax regime also provides that capital gains on property disposals will be taxable in certain circumstances but not all and with appropriate structuring, it is possible for a non-resident investor in UK property not to be subject to UK tax on capital gains at all.
There are other economic reasons too, East London and South East London, homes values are around half that of West and Central London. Apartments in center area of Canary Wharf vary from £580 per square foot to £750 per square foot, whilst in Prime districts like such as South Kensington apartments are priced at £1600 per square foot.
Despite the gritty inner city feel of much of East London, rental yields on new build developments close to rail or underground links will get you 5% - 7%. With so much value in the London market right now, it seems there is something for everyone if you look East.
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
U.S still number 1 for global investors
America offers the most stable and secure option, but has lost ground to Brazil - considered a hot spot for good yields.The United States will remain the top choice of most global commercial real estate investors this year but the country has lost ground to Brazil, which now ranks second, according to an industry survey.
While the US offers the most stable and secure option in commercial real estate, investors said an improvement in rents and occupancy growth and the repeal of a 1980 foreign investment tax would have the strongest impact on their investment decisions, according to the survey of Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (Afire) members.
For about the past year or so, investors in US commercial real estate have focused on gateway cities such as New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles, driving prices up and yields down.
Meanwhile, commercial property in Brazil, with its bubbling economy and safer investment environment, has become a hot spot for global investors. Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, is the fourth best city for real estate investment, up from 26th place last year.
The US is still very desirable and was second behind Britain for attracting cross-border investment last year, according to Real Capital Analytics’ preliminary figures.
“The negative is it doesn’t promise a whole lot of capital appreciation because the prime markets are already fully priced,” Afire chief executive James Fetgatter said. “By no means will Brazil replace the US, at least not in the foreseeable future. Brazil is considered now a much safer place to invest and a place where you can get capital appreciation and good yield.”
The US lost ground to Brazil, where Brazil’s property market offered the best growth opportunity for their investment dollars.
That was up 14.2 percentage points, moving Brazil up to second place from fourth, and pushing China down to No 3.
Another US barrier respondents cited was the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act. The 1980 act, originally designed to protect farm property from foreign ownership, subjects foreign buyers to both their domestic and US taxes when they sell their investment, unless their home country has a taxation treaty with the US.
As for the top cities for foreign investment, New York remains No 1. London moved up to No 2 from No 3, swapping ranks with Washington. Sao Paulo was fourth and San Francisco moved up five places to No 5.
Europe’s sovereign debt problems and looming recession pushed most of the countries there – except for Switzerland and Poland – off the map for real estate investors.
Emerging markets seem to be getting more popular among potential investors. Brazil topped the list, with China in second place, as each did last year.
Source: Reuters
Monday, 21 March 2011
Pricing your home for an Olympic let

I've already seen some houses, flats and apartments hitting the property portals for the London Olympics and it strikes me that most of the agents haven't got a clue how to price them correctly. Ultimately you have 2 different price structures based on whether a property is owner occupied or a buy to let investment.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Olympic Rental Pricing for London 2012
The official countdown clock for the London Olympic Games may have unceremoniously stumbled to a halt today, but the race for Londoners to rent their properties out during the Olympic Games is well and truly out of the starting blocks and sprinting away at a furious pace.Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Anyone really want a job??

I've finally got around to watching the Apprentice final and there is no doubt that Stella deserved the victory. What's even more remarkable is that Stella had the odds stacked against her from an early age and yet here she is winning the Apprentice and working for Lord Sugar.