New Year 2011: What are values doing in the village?
4 January 2011
2010 was a remarkable year in the local property market with a surprisingly confident feeling amongst buyers and tenants. We saw rents and sale prices recover to the extraordinary levels of 2007, mostly underpinned by an acute shortage of available property in prime locations.
So what should we expect in 2011? Our sense is that it will be a stable year, perhaps a little less remarkable than those before it. But who knows what surprises our coalition government will pull out of the hat as the year unfolds? We already know that Stamp Duty will increase in April from 4% to 5% on sales over one million pounds; but we don’t anticipate this having a significant impact on transaction levels. What we do expect is that interest rates will remain at their record low for a little while yet which can only be good for buyers. The one thing we can predict with confidence is that Central London will remain the sweetheart of global property, both in terms of investment and as a place to live, so we look forward to another challenging but successful year helping anyone who wishes to get moving!
Autumn 2010: What are values doing in the village?
4 October 2010
We’ve had an extraordinary few months at Mountgrange Heritage with some truly outstanding sale prices and unprecedented levels of new tenancies being agreed. In our last newsletter we made reference to the sense of concern to the impending emergency budget and the potential increase in Capital Gains Tax. In fact, as we predicted, the impact of the emergency budget was close to zero. CGT has increased although not to 40% or 50% as was feared, instead it sits at a more comfortable 28%.
However, 2011 will bring an increase in transaction costs to the property market, with VAT increasing to 20% and Stamp Duty increasing to 5% for sales over one million pounds. The shift in Stamp Duty could spark a flurry of transactions before the change comes in to effect; so if you own a property with a value between one and three million this could be an excellent time to sell.
In spite of economic considerations the love affair with central London residential property is as strong as ever. The strength-in-depth we experience is primarily delivered by buyers from every corner of the globe and all walks of life. We are just as comfortable working with bankers or artists as we are with nationals or internationals – after all, it’s this tapestry of people which makes our Village such a special place to reside.
Summer 2010: What are values doing in the village?
1 August 2010
As the winds of change blow through Whitehall should we expect some turbulence in the property market? Its speculated by many that the impending changes to capital gains tax will provoke a flood of buy-to-let and second homes to the market, we’re not so sure this will happen. Buy-to-let properties have become a crucial component to thousands of people as part of their pension plans, short term selling doesn’t connect with what is generally a long term consideration. We expect that any landlords who seek to ‘dump’ any properties will only let go of the weaker elements of their portfolio.
The long overdue abolition of the Home Information Pack has already encourage more sellers to the market and will allow those seeking to ‘test’ the market the opportunity to do so without investing £300 to £400 in a document which ultimately failed to add value to the house buying process.
So what lies in store for the second half of 2010? We’ve achieved some outstanding sales and lettings our clients so far this year, especially at the top end of the market with international buyers continuing to take advantage of the weak pound. Prime property has, on the most part, recovered to the peak levels of the autumn 2007 and prices seem set to hold firm.
