doughty street property | WC1 property

new homes 2011

2010-12-20T12:15:00.001Z

Provisions in October’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) for Government spending on housing may also have an impact on the attractiveness of the private rented sector as an investment. The CSR cut the affordable housing fund by 50% from £8.4 billion to £4.5 billion. At the same time, it was announced that although rental terms for existing social rented tenants will remain unchanged, new tenants will have to pay rents set at 80% of the market rate, up from the current threshold of 50%. New social housing tenants will also not have the security of “tenancy for life” but rather a “flexible tenure” based on regular means-testing. The result of these changes could be an increase in demand for private rented stock.

New Homes in London

There was, however, a significant change to the social housing benefit system which currently accounts for £20 billion a year in spending. A national capping system is to be introduced ranging from £250 per week for one-bedroom to £400 per week for four-bedroom properties. This is likely to have significant implications for tenants in central London in receipt of housing benefits. Where landlords do not reduce rent levels to match the capped levels, there is the potential for tenants to be unable to meet their housing costs and be forced to relocate to cheaper areas. Broadly speaking there could be a shift from Inner to Outer London and beyond, thereby freeing up some private rented stock in Central London to non-DSS tenants. The latest indications at
the time of writing were that this proposal would not be implemented until April 2012, giving more time for housing benefit recipients to make any necessary changes in response to the capping scheme.

Where Does the Term Barbican come from?

2010-08-31T10:46:00.001Z

A barbican is a term which is used Latin word known as “barbecana”, which means outer fortification of the castle or city. In roman languages such as Persian or Arabic “bab-khanah”, this means ‘towered gateway’ and ‘gate-house’ and in the mediaeval English ‘burgh-kenning’, which means a fortified gateway or outpost like an outer defense to a castle or city, or any tower located over a bridge or gate that was used for the defensive purposes.

Now it is clear that the barbican came to such a meaning and you might have some doubts how the name or term used to the place or area. The Roman fort that became part of the London city property, the wall had towers on both the side of the gate that was later called as Cripplegate. However there are competing says from as far away as Persia and Arabia for the origin of the term itself. The Persia suggest that the Barbican term may be came from joining two Persian words ‘barbar’ and ‘khanah’, which means ‘house on the wall’ however most of the people say that the are not able to find any examples of usage of words. The Arabs are not ready to give up, they also claims that the Arabic word known as ‘barbakh’, which means a channel or canal through which the water flows may have been the source of the loop-hole meaning.

Lastly, and still firmly in the Middle East, they claims the Persian or Arabic bab-khanah, which means gate house, that was usually used for the towered gateway. But, they concede which it is hard to get from that to a Latin type of the term. Several surveys haven been done regarding this particular term and in 1640, Sir Henry Spelman explained the term as a combination of ‘burgh’, which means tower and ‘ken’, which means watch or see.

New flats in EC1

2010-01-05T13:27:00.000Z

New Flats in london

studio apartment in an attractive red brick Victorian mansion

2009-11-26T15:59:00.001Z

A charming ground floor studio apartment in an attractive red brick Victorian mansion block superbly located immediately opposite the Brunswick Centre with is superb restaurants, cafes and shops. Russell Square, Euston and Kings Cross St Pancras International Stations are all within easy reach. The apartment is located to the rear of the block and features stripped and polished wood flooring to the main room.Kings Cros Property

MAIN FEATURES

* Studio Flat

* 249 Sq ft/23 Sq m

* Ground Floor

* Victorian Mansion Block

A flawed credit report meant we lost our dream homes

2009-11-05T13:29:00.000Z

While banks and building societies are cutting rates to meet lending targets before the end of the year, a number of borrowers’ applications were turned down due to mistakes on credit files, and also for supplying disputed information to lenders, by credit reference agencies.

In this situation, borrowers with good credit history can have their mortgage applications delayed or turned down merely for relying on data from these agencies. An eager buyer can miss out on buying his dream home because of a black mark on his credit file. There has been many letters from readers struggling to get mortgages because of credit file mistakes.

Experian, the credit reference agency repairs mistakes within 24 hours of receiving a notice from a bank or building society, but Nationwide is under no legal obligation to fix such problems promptly.

Banks and building societies supply the information given to the agencies under data sharing agreements. Consumers who do not sign up to an agency are not alerted when information is supplied that lowers their credit score.

Experian do not hold responsibility on the accuracy of the information supplied by banks and building societies. They also have no obligation to ensure inaccuracies are corrected within a set time. They say, “We would hope lenders would want to ensure that the information was correct and do so within a reasonable time frame”.

However, John Mann, Labour MP and a member of the committee is to make investigation on credit reference agencies and they are set to come under pressure; imposing tougher standards on the information they keep. These investigations are followed by a Treasury committee inquiry into the industry. A report is to be published this month or early next year.

MARKET ACTIVITY AT HISTORIC LOW

2009-06-30T15:12:00.001Z

Although investment activity was negligible, in April 2009 our investment department sold a freehold building of six apartments and a shop in Gray’s Inn Road, WC1, for Grainger plc, who acted as adviser to the owners, an offshore company. With rental returns falling and buy-to-let funding almost impossible to obtain, it is not
surprising that in the first half of 2009 the only other investment sale that we transacted was in Wimbledon, where we acquired five flats from a housebuilder at a discount.

Given overall market conditions, we had expected to see greater evidence of forced sales of investment stock, but there have been few examples to date. In June 2009, Wharfside, a scheme on Prestons Road, E14, north of Canary Wharf was heavily marketed by developer Galliard. Trinity Capital which forward-bought the scheme
and then sold it on to individual investors was reported to have dropped its deposit after individual investors failed to complete.

Barclays Bank, which funded the development, subsequently instructed the developer to market the flats for sale at discounts to the original asking prices of 30%-50%. As a result in May 2009, onebedroom flats were back on the market at prices from £165,000 and two-bedroom apartments starting at £230,000, and the scheme was
sold out by mid-June.

One of the Government’s declared aims in its housing policy is to increase investment in the private rented stock, especially by institutional landlords. Recent and emerging legislation, however, is acting as a deterrent in the residential investment market. From October 2008, Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) became mandatory for private rented and commercial property, the need for
the EPC being triggered by the granting of a new lease or tenancy agreement after that date. In the context of Assured Short-hold Tenancies, many landlords will have had to pay for EPCs during the first half of 2009 as lease agreements expired.

When added to lease agreement fees, inventory costs, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, Gas Safety Certificates and, of course agents’ costs, we do not see the potential for the private rented sector to grow further in the present economic context.

On 14th May 2009, the Department of Communities and Local
Government published a Green Paper (for consultation), which
amongst other measures recommended a National Register for
residential landlords. This proposal has been made in order to
improve standards in a sector which has mushroomed in size due to
the buy-to-let phenomenon and the advent of “accidental landlords”.
“The Rugg Review” of the sector, commissioned by the Government
from academics Julie Rugg and David Rhodes of the University of
York, found standards to be uneven across the sector, with concerns
about a minority of “rogue” landlords. If implemented, the National
Register will mean landlords paying an annual registration fee (of
around £50 according to The Times). As a bi-product, the allocation
of a license number to each registered landlord will make it easier for
the Inland Revenue to identify tax evaders.

Ridgmount Gardens, WC1E - £675,000

2009-02-11T16:44:00.001Z

A wonderfully light and spacious top (fifth) floor, two bedroom apartment in one of Bloomsbury's most sought after portered mansion blocks. This property is ideally located just moments from the excellent and varied amenities that the West End has to offer. Residents of the block also benefit from use of the delightful private gardens of Ridgmount Gardens which are immediately opposite the block.

MAIN FEATURES

* Two Bedrooms

* 771 sq ft/72 sq m

* Fifth floor

* Use of private gardens

new homes market

2008-12-15T10:10:00.000Z

Hence, an investor who agreed to buy a unit for £500,000 off-plan with either explicit or tacit support from a mortgage lender, now finds that the lender is valuing it at £375,000, leaving the purchaser unable to complete because at this valuation alternative funding could not
be arranged to meet the purchase price.We have huge sympathy for valuation surveyors, who were subject to litigation by the banks and building societies in the early 1990s crash, accused of over-valuing residential units in a falling market. It is, however, an all too convenient way for banks to legitimately (but often cynically) reduce their loan book exposure to the residential property sector in the current market by putting pressure on valuers, and this is a further example of the banks’ lending policies forcing the market to fall artificially.

In October 2008 research released by Dresdner Kleinwort revealed that some lenders were asking surveyors for both current and 90-day forecast valuations. In effect, this is driving down the valuations at a faster rate, with urban flats in some provincial cities falling 40-50% compared to reductions for houses of 20%. London, and central London Property in particular, presents a very different case to provincial city centres with a high proportion of overseas and “second-home” pieda- terre purchasers. Values are declining at a less steep rate, themarket for sales and rentals is under-pinned by broader and deeper demand and in many parts of Midtown and the City new supply is limited Docklands- Limehouse , however, does look vulnerable in the short-term.

It has a greater dependence on major blocks, including high-rise, high-profile forward-sold schemes, is dominated by buy-to-let purchasers and surrounds Canary Wharf which could be the epicentre of financial sector job losses during 2009. At the end of 2008 over 3,000 residential units, representing 62% of current construction in Midtown, City and Docklands, were located in the heart of Docklands in E14. In Midtown, in contrast, only 223 units were to lack of funding for land acquisition and development now. Some developers with cash are already taking advantage of falling land prices to build land banks for the recovery, accepting that they are unlikely to get funding for construction in the short term. There is still interest from developers for good sites in Midtown, City and Docklands, with up to 20 bidders for one City site in November 2008.

London property boosted by GBP150m green-light

2008-10-17T10:20:00.000Z

A new £150 million property development in London's East End has been given the green-light.

The Wood Wharf project is expected to house around 4,000 people at a site adjacent to Canary Wharf.

The joint venture between Canary Wharf Group, British Waterways and Ballymore Properties will take around ten years to build and will include six new towers, office space and 1,600 new homes.

The venture will provide around 454,000 sq metres of mixed-use space, with a 'commercial heart' at its centre.

The go-ahead has been given in spite of concerns from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) that the east end of the development could become a 'ghetto' due to the high proportion of affordable homes.

'In consultation with specialist affordable-housing expertise, we originally sought to place the affordable, social-rented and intermediate housing closest to the new park and to the existing residential community on the eastern side of the site with good local access, rather than locating it on quaysides adjacent to office buildings," a spokesman for the developers told Architect's Journal.

That situation has now been resolved, with the housing spread more evenly through the project, leaving the developers free to begin work.

MS MAP AND ESTATE AGENTS

2008-05-21T08:00:00.000Z

Chris Pendleton Interview

UK house prices fall by 1.7% in first quarter of 2008 - Nationwide

2008-04-07T08:21:00.000Z

"The annual rate of house price growth slowed dramatically in every part of the UK in the first quarter of 2008, bringing the average rate in the UK down to less than a third of the rate at the end of 2007. The annual rate of house price growth in the first quarter of 2008 was 2.2%, down from 6.9% at the end of 2007. House prices slowed most sharply in Northern Ireland where the annual rate fell from 24.2% to -3.4%, but this still leaves average prices more than £15,000 higher than at the end of 2006." - Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's Chief Economist.

University Street, WC1E - Two Double Bedrooms Flat

2008-01-28T11:52:00.000Z

In one of Bloomsbury's premiere portered mansion blocks, Hurford Salvi Carr are offering for sale a two double bedroom second floor apartment in Paramount Court. The property is in need of complete modernisation but comes with a long lease. The flat would make an ideal buy to let investment or pied a terre. Paramount Court is very centrally located at the north end of Tottenham Court Road. Warren Street would be it's closest under ground station but Euston, King's Cross and Goodge Street are all close by.

MAIN FEATURES

* Two Double Bedrooms

* 728 Sq ft/ 68 Sq m

* Portered Mansion Block

* Close to Euston

Property in Bloomsbury | Property in Clerkenwell

House price gloom 'recalls 1990s'

2008-01-16T14:32:00.000Z

Property prices london are falling to an extent not seen since the 1990s housing recession, a surveyors' body warns.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said 49.1% more surveyors saw price falls in December than reported a rise.

This was the gloomiest figure since November 1992.

Prices have been hit by last year's interest rate rises and tighter lending criteria, Rics said. Other surveys have also indicated the market is slowing.

Recent data from the Department of Communities and Local Government revealed that prices fell by 0.8% in November, compared with a slight rise of 0.1% in October.

The latest research from the Halifax bank and the Nationwide building society suggested the market weakened further in December.

Mortgage approval levels also fell to a three-year low in November. City of London Property

Google Real estate

2008-01-09T15:01:00.000Z

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UK house prices fell for a second consecutive month in December

2008-01-02T22:33:00.001Z

UK house prices fell for a second consecutive month in December, the Nationwide building society says.Prices dropped 0.5% in December after slipping 0.8% in November, but property prices were still up 4.8% year-on-year from December 2006, it said.

The average price of a UK property rose by £8,334 over the year, putting it at £182,080 at the end of 2007.Nationwide said that this month's interest rate cut should help the market recover somewhat later in 2008.

"The housing market has weakened significantly in the closing months of 2007 after holding up more strongly than expected in the earlier part of the year," said Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist.

Rankings

Nationwide data also showed that St Albans was the most expensive place to buy property in a survey of 30 towns and cities.

The average house price in the Hertfordshire town rose 13% to £347,563 over the year.Belfast saw the biggest rise in house prices, up 32% over the year to £306,698 - an increase of £201 a day.Durham and Newcastle saw the survey's only fall in house prices.

Average prices fell 3% in both places to £152,902 and £178,309 respectively.

'Worse position'

Nationwide said lower interest rates in 2008 should help demand recover a little, but said it was unlikely that there would be a big recovery like the one seen after the interest rate cut in 2005.

"This is mainly because housing affordability is starting from a much worse position than in 2005, while interest rate cuts have started from a higher and more restrictive level," she said.

The three-month on three-month rate of growth - a smoother indicator of house price trends - fell from 1.4% in November to 0.9% in December, the lowest since November 2005.

Nationwide said the turmoil in the financial markets resulting from the US sub-prime mortgage market, as well as the problems experienced by Northern Rock, had undermined confidence in the property market.

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted unanimously to chop interest rates from 5.75% to 5.5% at its last meeting.

Many analysts expect further cuts in the new year to support the flagging housing market and the wider economy.

Sell-to-rent

2007-10-16T16:00:00.001Z

One way to make buy-to-let pay in 2007 is by buying below market value, a niche where investors find homeowners who need to sell fast and are therefore willing to accept a big discount.

Buy-to-let book
There are more than 20 guides to buy-to-let for sale on Amazon

The theory is that if a property can be purchased for little, then the rent should always cover the mortgage.

"We market for what we call motivated sellers," says Glenn Armstrong, who owns 130 properties in the Milton Keynes area and runs seminars where he passes on his investment tips to other investors.

"Typical people are couples that are divorcing, that can't stand being in the house with each other. Also, people that are involved in a repossession and actually being forced out of their house by the building society because they haven't been paying their mortgage."

The former owners are then offered the chance to be tenants in what was their former home.

With repossessions up by 30% on last year and profits harder to come by in the traditional buy-to-let sector, it is likely that there will be many more investors relying on this method in the near future.

http://www.anorak.co.uk/news/back-pages/173317.html

2007-05-14T08:42:00.000Z

WE all remember their faces – has-been athletes such as Steve Cram and Kelly Holmes, not to mention Lord Sebastian of Coe, erupting with joy as the decision to award the 2012 Olympic games to London was made. (Pic: Beau Bo D'Or.)
Yet while these ex-Olympians celebrated the undoubted extra media work they’d get over the next seven years, and London property developers danced in the street, the reality for ordinary Britons was less certain.

Now, in a new report for the Greater London Assembly, researchers claim the 2012 games - the cost has quadrupled to a staggering £9.3 billion - will struggle to create a boom in jobs, sport and even housing.

In looking at the impact of the games on former hosts Athens, Sydney, Atlanta and Barcelona, the authors of the report found that the cites all struggled to benefit from the event, with Greece even losing 70,000 jobs just after the 2004 games.

Increased participation in sports also failed to rise significantly after the event while infrastructure improvements mainly benefited international residents and those lovely property developers.

Expect to see a herd of White Elephants rampaging around the East End after 2012.

Selling property online to rise in the UK

2007-05-03T16:38:00.000Z

UK property industry insiders anticipate a surge in online property sales in 2007 owing to the introduction of the Home Information Packs. From June 1 2007, everyone involved in selling a home in the UK will need to know about Home Information Packs (HIPs). The anticipated online sales increases will come from the publics lack of appetite for the new fees associated with the packs. The combination of estate agents commission and new compulsory Home Information Packs is set to give UK house sellers a double dose of selling fees.

Gavin Brazg of www.TheAdvisory.co.uk is editor of the property advice website which helps home sellers by providing free and impartial advice to help sell property in the UK. The site contains information covering selling your house without an agent, selling property to a specialist cash buyer and through an estate agent.

Mr Brazg ‘We are industry insiders that have been dealing with estate agents, property lawyers and other industry "professionals" for longer than we care to mention. We've seen how the general public is taken advantage of and we've witnessed a lot of unnecessary heartache and financial loss. The insider knowledge we share in this website is the information that rogue "property professionals" don't want you to have. I believe Hips will have a dramatic effect on online and private sales with home sellers in search of a cheaper alternative

Nicholas Marr CEO of Homegofast.com ‘We work with hundreds of agents and private sellers and believe freedom of choice is paramount. Many of our private sellers just can’t afford commission payments. They are faced with large stamp duty fees, huge mortgages, ever increasing house prices and now Hips. Some UK estate agents will pay up front for a Sellers Hip however this could come with very stringent contracts so that they do not lose out to time wasters or sellers that want to change agent. Our experience indicates that once a seller goes it alone and sells a property privately it is rare for them not to reach for their keyboards in the future. Selling property privately online is here to stay and Hips will help sellers prepare properly whilst buyers will become better informed.

A Home Information Pack contains:

An Energy Performance Certificate which tells you how energy efficient the property is
Other compulsory documents, such as an index of contents, a sale statement, searches and evidence of title Optional documents, such as the Home Condition Report

More Information at http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/consumer/

£1.1bn HSBC deal seals capital's status as property market leader

2007-05-01T11:00:00.001Z

The global banking giant HSBC pulled off the UK's largest-ever commercial property deal yesterday, selling its London headquarters for a record £1.1bn to the Spanish property group Metrovacesa.

The bank also sealed an agreement to lease back the Docklands tower block for the next 20 years at an annual rent of £43.5m - giving the Spanish investors an initial yield of just 4 per cent on their investment.

Recent large deals in the UK commercial property sector have yielded in the region of 4.5 to 5 per cent. It is believed the company was willing to accept the lower yield due to the high profile of the property.

The company said it aims to become one of the world's leading real-estate investors.

HSBC also secured an option to extend its lease for an additional five years at the end of the 20-year term. However, Metrovacesa, which is believed to have beat some 14 other bidders to secure the deal, has a 998-year lease on the property.

The sale of the 210-metre tower block locks in an investment return of more than 100 per cent for HSBC, which spent some £500m building the skyscraper at the turn of the millennium. The company moved into the building in 2002, and now has some 8,000 staff working in the block.

Metrovacesa's purchase shatters the recent record for UK commercial property deals, which was set only last month when Beacon Capital Partners, the US real estate investment group, snapped up Citypoint for £650m at a yield of 4.85 per cent.

Citypoint is one of the largest office blocks in the City of London property , housing a number of offices, as well as a gym, shops, bars and restaurants. More >>

London boom is spreading

2007-04-17T09:27:00.000Z

London property - Barbican property, Clerkenwell flats , prices have spread to the rest of the country, according to Rightmove, the property website.

In its latest survey, the group claims property prices rose more than 1pc across all regions in England and Wales last month.

Last month, average property asking prices saw the largest monthly rise in 5 years, up 3.6pc or £8,307, said Rightmove.

Miles Shipside, commerical director, said: "Sellers' asking prices provide one of the earlier indicators of which way the market is headed, and whilst a boost is to be expected arouond Easter, £8,000 in a month is the largest amount we have ever recorded. Every region saw major increases, with the minimum jump being £3,000."

The average asking price for a property now stands at £236,490, £30,816 higher than a year ago.

The group said it expects the impending introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs), on June 1, to boost the number of properties coming on to the market next month.

Stock hungry estate agents will see it as a one off uk opportunity for a "feeding frenzy", as they try to persuade sellers to put their houses on the market before HIPs June deadline.

Mr Shipside added: "The early indications are that the Spring timing of the run up to HIPs implementation, combined with the current market conditions, will lead to a distortion of traditional market forces over the coming months.

"We have a unique set of market conditions, and followers of housing fortunes should not regard this as the start of another national boom. As prices go higher, fewer buyers can afford to get on the ladder, or trade up, and that will restrain ongoing increases in many parts of the country."

Luxury property prices in central London

2007-04-13T09:23:00.000Z

Luxury property prices in central London have soared to their highest level in almost 30 years, but will be hit by a slowdown within the next six months, estate agent Knight Frank has warned.

The influx of foreign buyers, mainly from Russia and the Middle East, coupled with a strong bonus season in the City, drove property prices up by 3.1pc in March, the highest monthly rate of growth in 28 years, Knight Frank's latest market survey revealed.

The estate agent said the average luxury house in London's prime locations, such as Belgravia and Chelsea, now sells for £5m.

However, the group expects returns for 2007 to come in at around 20pc, down from 31pc this year.

Liam Bailey, head of Knight Frank Residential Research, said: "The super strong market will not last much longer - perhaps four or five months."

International demand looks set to continue, with increased interest from Chinese and Indian buyers over the next few months.

Despite this, Mr Bailey warned that the wider central London market is more closely linked with the fortunes of those in the City, and "all it would take is a downturn in mergers & acquisitions activity, or in hedge funds, and the property market would take a downturn too."

He added: "Affordability is still an issue, even at the top end of the market.

"London property has outperformed most other big European cities, with the exception of Moscow - where prices in prime areas have grown 70-100pc in the last year, depending on who you talk to."

Top end of London property market to ease

2007-04-12T11:42:00.000Z

Luxury property prices in central London have soared to their highest level in almost 30 years, but will be hit by a slowdown within the next six months, estate agent Knight Frank has warned.

The influx of foreign buyers, mainly from Russia and the Middle East, coupled with a strong bonus season in the City, drove property prices up by 3.1pc in March, the highest monthly rate of growth in 28 years, Knight Frank's latest market survey revealed.

The estate agent said the average luxury house in London's prime locations, such as Belgravia and Chelsea, now sells for £5m.

owever, the group expects returns for 2007 to come in at around 20pc, down from 31pc this year.

Liam Bailey, head of Knight Frank Residential Research, said: "The super strong market will not last much longer - perhaps four or five months."

International demand looks set to continue, with increased interest from Chinese and Indian buyers over the next few months.

Despite this, Mr Bailey warned that the wider central London property market is more closely linked with the fortunes of those in the City, and "all it would take is a downturn in mergers & acquisitions activity, or in hedge funds, and the property market would take a downturn too."

He added: "Affordability is still an issue, even at the top end of the market.

"London property has outperformed most other big European cities, with the exception of Moscow - where prices in prime areas have grown 70-100pc in the last year, depending on who you talk to."

Traditionally, the London market has led property prices across the country, creating a ripple affect.

However, Mr Bailey said: "There is no way in two years time you'll see this sort of growth in the country - not even in the South East."

London property investment still hot, says Arlington

2007-04-10T14:19:00.001Z

Speculative development is picking up in the central London office sector, which is outperforming all other areas of the UK property market, but is not yet able to match demand, according to property investment management firm Arlington Securities.

However UK commercial property returns as a whole have slowed over the last six months. The total return for the IPD annual index over 2007 is projected to be 10% compared to the 2006 annual return figure of 17.9%.

Arlington UK fund of funds manager Richard Gale said: ‘The surge in rental growth was initially led by the West End, but the City has also seen a sharp improvement in the last six months. However rental levels in the West End, when viewed in relation to City rental levels, remain almost as high as ever.

‘The sharp increase in rents in central London has been driven by increasingly fierce competition for available space. In the City, the major Grade A buildings available, Moor House, 99 Bishopsgate and the Gherkin have been mostly let. The few available Grade A schemes are experiencing substantial rental growth.’

The Arlington UK Fund of Funds, which was launched in January 2007, allows investors to invest in a portfolio of balanced and specialist funds investing across the UK. The minimum investment is £100,000.

Property on Doughty Street

2007-04-05T09:23:00.000Z

Doughty Street and its continuation of John Street, is a much sought after location for both residential and commercial occupiers. Originally a street of residential Georgian townhouses their usage gradually changed during the late 1900’s as commercial occupiers, mainly literary groups and law firms spilling over from the nearby Inn’s of Court took up occupation.

From the early 1990’s to the present date, Doughty Street has witnessed a resurgence of residential occupiers converting its fine houses back to family homes. These new and affluent residents realize that they are living in arguably the finest residential street in Bloomsbury.

On average only two houses are sold each year on Doughty Street, These grade II listed houses range in size from 3,000 – 6,000 square feet and some are blessed with long 40 – 70 ft Gardens.

There are also a few purpose built houses that have been configured as one and two bedroom apartments.

Marketing Your Property with Hurford Salvi carr london estate agents

2007-04-03T09:45:00.000Z

Hurford Salvi Carr are one of London’s leading property marketing agents, who develop both traditional and online marketing strategies to produce effective and innovative marketing campaigns that appeal to a target audience. We will ensure that we will select publications to market your property that reaches the appropriate audience profile.

We regularly advertise our clients properties in the Sunday Times, The Times, Financial Times, The London Evening Standard, The Wharf, Counsel, West End Review and Canary Wharf magazine.

We publish our own City living and Docklands magazines which are circulated to 50,000 local addresses, together with our extensive database, including corporate tenants, relocation companies, corporate and buy to let investors, and our overseas contacts.

Our creative team includes graphic designers, media buyers and web designer, while our website enables us to reach a global audience.

Online Marketing

The Internet plays an important role in the marketing of your property and our online presence at http://www.hurford-salvi-carr.co.uk/ is as effective and compelling as our traditional marketing offline. Our approach involves the latest developments in the fields of digital technology, virtual reality and online marketing.

Hurford Salvi Carr subscribe to all the major property websites including:

www.primelocation.com/
www.rightmove.com/
www.findaproperty.com/
www.propertyfinder.com/
www.naea.co.uk/
www.homesonview.co.uk/

Our website produces hundreds of new enquiries each week and our investment into search engine optimisation ensures that our instructions are accessed by potential purchasers as soon as we are instructed to market a London new property.

Public Relations

The company enjoys excellent press relations with the leading property journalists in London and the directors appear regularly on the radio, television and in the national, international and property press.

At our regular PR briefings we are able to highlight trends in the market and profile individual properties that are newsworthy. Independent third party endorsement combined with a coherent advertising strategy combine to promote your property to the maximum audience.

Research

Our Research publications including our Half Year Reviews are widely circulated and reported in the press and provide an in depth analysis into market trends, sub- market activity, the planning pipeline and give us the opportunity of highlighting the future direction of the residential market in London.

	Our Spring 2007 edition of City Living is now ready to download

CITY & DOCKLANDS RESIDENTIAL REVIEW 2006 For a PDF of this Bulletin CLICK HERE	CITY & DOCKLANDS RESIDENTIAL REVIEW, 1ST HALF YEAR 2006 For a PDF of this Bulletin CLICK HERE

CITY & DOCKLANDS RESIDENTIAL REVIEW, 2ND HALF YEAR 2005 For a PDF of this Bulletin CLICK HERE	LIVE/WORK For a PDF of this Bulletin CLICK HERE

First time buyers reliant on family

2007-04-02T16:01:00.000Z

More first-time buyers (FTBs) are relying on financial help from family and friends in order to get on the London property ladder, according to new figures released today.

Research from Hometrack showed that 14 per cent of FTBs relied on help from relatives or friends in 2006, although a further 14 per cent were able to buy a property without any financial support.

The drop in buyers able to go it alone is blamed on soaring house prices and interest rates up at 5.25 per cent.

Hometrack claims that while FTBs in the 1980s and 1990s were regarded as market drivers, established homeowners with existing equity are now driving prices up, and FTBs out.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said that more FTBs are likely to turn to the rental market as house prices continue to climb.

He said: "In the short term the pressure on first time buyers will lead to increased demand for rental properties, which in turn will lead to higher rental values.

"The current growth of house prices is unsustainable when so many people are being priced out of the housing market," he added.

The average cost of a home in England and Wales currently stands at £173,400, based on Hometrack's survey of 3,500 estate agents in England and Wales, up 6.7 per cent on last year's figures.

London shares higher midmorning, M&A news lifts BT Group, property issues gain

2007-04-02T10:39:00.000Z

London Property | London New Homes

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares remained higher midmorning with BT Group up on fresh consolidation news across the telecom sector while property stocks got a lift from favourable broker comment, dealers said.

At 10.15 am, the FTSE 100 was 15.80 points firmer at 6,323.8, having reversed initial losses, but off an earlier high with the broader indices mixed.

Early volume was moderate with 517 mln shares trading in 99,336 deals.

M&A hopes helped BT Group ring up early gains on news Pirelli is in talks to sell two thirds of its controlling shareholding in Telecom Italia to AT&T from the US and Mexican mobile phone operator America Movil.

The Pirelli stake is held via its Olimpia unit, which controls Telecom Italia SpA via an 18 pct holding.

The negotiations are based on a price per Telecom Italia share of 2.82 eur minus the net debt of Olimpia, it said.

BT Group took on 3-1/2 at 307-1/4, Cable & Wireless rose 1.8 at 168.4 and sector peer Vodafone also gained, 1.5 higher at 137, clawing back some of Friday's investor day losses.

M&A news also provided a lift to Experian, up 15 at 599, amid talk US credit checking peer First Data Corp is in discussions with private equity group KKR about a possible 25 bln usd bid.

Reports suggest a deal could be announced as early as today.

As it was, Compass Group rose to the top of the FTSE 100, up 9 at 349, as buyers emerged following last week's 5-month trading update which beat expectations prompting several broker upgrades.

The stock was also benefiting from Friday's announcement of its share buyback programme which will run until May 15.

Elsewhere, Daily Mail took on 21 to 833 as consolidation hopes were stirred after German peer Axel Springer said it could invest more than 2 bln eur on expanding internationally should a 'unique opportunity' come along, according to the firm's CEO Mathias Doepfner.

Europes largest publisher of newspapers and magazines could spend something close to the value of the aborted bid it made in 2005 for ProSiebenSat.1, Doepfner told the Financial Times.

Last weeks news that advertising revenues at its Associated Newspapers division increased by 10 pct in the five months to the end of February was also continuing to help the share price.

ITV was also courted, 1 stronger at 110 as the commercial broadcaster was reiterated a 'buy' at Goldman Sachs following last week's FA Cup rights news, which it says makes the group a more attractive takeover target.

In a note to clients, the broker said the rights win potentially makes ITV more attractive to Virgin Media, which is reported to be working on a second takeover bid should BSkyB be forced to divest its 17.8 pct stake.

Inside Out reports - Property Hotspots

2007-03-30T09:38:00.000Z

Two property experts take Sumit on a tour around London's hottest spots....

Sumit gets the lowdown on where to buy property in London and he uncovers the capital's hot spots.

He meets two property gurus, Andy Coleman and Carrie Segrave, in an effort to get them to share their secrets with Inside Out.

Carrie, the editor of The London Property Guide, tells Sumit about the best locations.

Her advice is to focus on areas that are experiencing new development such as new housing estates or flat complexes.
Carrie says that you must always "go to the planning department before you move in".

Landlord

Andy is a landlord with an eye for picking up properties in areas with potential to become popular amongst trendy London buyers.

He knows his stuff - dabbling in the property market over the past 15 years has made him a multimillionaire.

Andy says: "You've got to be near the train stations and near the buses."

Sumit consults over 100 of London's top property experts in order to let you know about London's hot property areas।

barbican property | London property blog | London Property Management

About Hurford Salvi Carr

2007-03-29T15:17:00.000Z

Hurford Salvi Carr are an innovative firm of london property advisors and development consultants who have become synonymous with urban living in central London. Our experience and expertise in both the residential and commercial markets, in the City West End, Docklands and East London put us at the forefront of london property estate agency.

Since 1996 Hurford Salvi Carr have been a driving force of the 'city living' phenomenon having sold more than 2500 new homes in over 150 developments, the majority created from former commercial premises, and we have played a pivotal role in the repopulation of Clerkenwell and the City fringes.

In 2003 a high profile 300 msq was opened at Limehouse Basin in London's Docklands, providing a focal point for the company's agency activities for Canary Wharf, and a strategic location for our new homes operation at the heart of the Thames Gateway.

As real estate agents the company is widely respected throughout London and are well known in property circles around the world. Our reputation is based on the accuracy of our advice, the quality of our marketing, and most importantly for achieving results.

The Company is divided into six divisions, specialising in Residential Sales, New Homes, Residential Lettings, Residential Investment, Commercial Agency, and Property Management. In many instances the skills of each division combine to provide our clients with best advice. Our fresh approach and award winning marketing expertise compliments our service.

We are committed to providing a personal service to each of our clients and we maintain the highest standards in every aspect of our business.

Our success is no accident - Let our experience work for you.

Doughty Street WC1 - History

2007-03-29T15:00:00.000Z

Completed in 1790, Doughty Street is an exclusive period tree lined avenue within a popular and prestigious Bloomsbury location. The Grade II listed district has witnessed a wealth of historical events and noble residents who lived or worked in the street.

Charles Dickens lived at No 48 between 1837 and 1839. Whilst living at Doughty Street he published some of his most famous works, including Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby . During this time, Doughty Street was gated at either end, and manned by porters.

Doughty Street Property