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.

In spite of media reports suggesting the UK is heading back into recession, increasing numbers of high calibre City and Canary Wharf tenants are escalating demand and competing for dwindling rental stock, further boosting rents.

1st avenue research points at headline rents across Prime London and surrounding quarters showing strong improvements this month up an average of 11% against December and surging unbounded past the pre crash market peak of March 2008, with rents at least 17% more pricey than a year ago.

With a market so constrained and new applicant registrations volume up 58% on January 2011, landlords are taking advantage of record rents and improving gross yields by re-negotiating periodic tenancy agreements and renewals from an almost bullet proof position .

The rental outlook depends on which side of the fence you are standing on. Today, for landlords - the horizon is blue without a cloud in sight.

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.

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.

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

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.

The hard facts that are bound to disappoint the buy to let investor is that unless you own a property with 3 or more bedrooms, its unlikely this gig is for you. For instance, after working out all the costs associated with a short term let of this kind anyone doing the maths should know that a one bedroom flat or apartment should be priced at a minimum of £325 per night.

If you're considering renting your property during the Olympics, you will need to see our essential guide to renting during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Call the office and register your interest and we'll send you a copy stat!

Office: 020 8293 8600

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.

Savvy residents in the boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich and Newham are already placing their properties with us as our no nonsense guide clearly highlights the pros and the cons of an Olympic Rental.

The Olympic Property Report gives pricing needed to actually make money and the costs likely to be faced. If you want to get involved, dont delay. Call the Olympic Property experts, we would love to hear from you.

Get out front early!

Call: 020 8293 8600

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.

It's what Stella wanted. Where am I going with this? I'm recruiting for an administator at the moment and I decided to put the position up on the job centre website. Within 2 days I had over 200 CV's sitting in my inbox. Of those 200 odd, some hadnt attached their CV's, others had but didnt bother to write anything in the e-mail, many of those that did bother to write something didnt spell check it, or did and I got an American English crossover!

So, many of the CV's failed right there. Others that I opened up were generic rubbish and a few I decided to call. Of those I decided to call, I asked non descript questions so as to engage some conversation and check telephone manner. One of the questions actually was "Why did you apply for this job"? The answer I received in all cases was "which job was it"? I mean come on!! Do you want a job or are you too damn lazy to spend a bit of time looking at what you're applying for?

I actually wonder if any of these people really want a job? Because when I ring, it's a candidates chance to shine and get in front of a prospective employer. So I'm still looking. The moral of this tale is that Stella wanted to excel and improve and grow with a will and a want to get ahead, so in these lean times I would expect job candidates to step up their game. If you want a job you can get one. And more over you can get the job you want if you want it badly enough.

I have come to the opinion that those that dont work dont want to work. Prove me wrong.