Focus on Beckenham: Rising London house prices make this a south east hotspot January 29, 2015 Moving out to the sticks to start a family is hardly a new phenomenon, but the rapid rise of inner city house prices means more people are re-evaluating where the sticks start and the rat race begins. As a result, areas like Beckenham, once the preserve of the affluent suburban family, are starting to appeal [...]
Is OnTheMarket.com a portal to a new way of working? Estate agent Douglas & Gordon is on board January 29, 2015 New online property portal OnTheMarket.com launched this week. Set up by the Agents’ Mutual group of estate agents, it hopes to topple the “duopoly” of Rightmove and Zoopla with a multimillion pound advertising campaign due to hit this Sunday. Critics have called the move “regressive” and “anti-consumer”. Ed Mead explains why he thinks it is [...]
London barometer January 29, 2015 Sales Director, Douglas & Gordon At the end of 2014, more offers were agreed than the same time last year despite a 20 per cent reduction in applicants. Pragmatic purchasers seized the opportunity to secure good value for money and, interestingly, fall-throughs were at a 12 month low. As a direct impact of stamp duty [...]
Living the high life in Montmartre January 29, 2015 Green space is pretty scarce in Paris, especially when compared to London, so here’s an unusual pocket of privacy in the city of love In our increasingly over-populated cities, there are few things more valuable than green space. It’s seen as a luxury in many of the world’s cities, but nowhere values it more highly [...]
UK rises in global economic freedom index while France slips further behind January 29, 2015 The UK has bumped up the global rankings of economic freedom thanks to limiting the size of government and cutting taxes. The conservative Heritage Foundation released its annual index this week which uses 10 different metrics to gauge the amount of economic freedom in a given country. The UK has moved up one spot from [...]
New property website has to conquer Google – Bottom Line January 28, 2015 ONTHEMARKET.com, the new property website from the Agents’ Mutual group of estate agents, launched this week with an apparent threat to the “duopoly” of Rightmove and Zoopla. Zoopla, as the less well-visited of the two, seemed in danger as one of the requirements of OnTheMarket.com meant participating agents could only list on one other rival. [...]
Best of the Brokers for 29 January 2015 January 28, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com RIGHTMOVE Panmure Gordon moved the property website group from a “buy” to a “sell” rating, and stated that new competitor OnTheMarket could have the effect of cutting Rightmove’s total number of customers by three per cent. Rightmove’s dominant position is already priced in, Panmure [...]
OnTheMarket will need to win the Google battle before it can really challenge Zoopla and Rightmove January 28, 2015 OnTheMarket.com, the new property website from the Agents’ Mutual group of estate agents, launched with much fanfare this week with an apparent threat to the “duopoly” enjoyed by Rightmove and Zoopla. Zoopla, as the less well-visited of the two property portal giants, seemed in particular danger as one of the requirements of OnTheMarket.com meant [...]
TfL has ambitious plans to become London’s largest property developer within decade January 28, 2015 In another sign the London property market is the place to be right now, Transport for London (TfL) has become the latest to get involved, making a serious bid to become one of the capital’s property supremos. More than 500 sites owned by TFL across London, including its former headquarters in a Grade-I listed building [...]
Low interest rates and less tax to fuel home demand January 27, 2015 The mortgage market saw a slowdown at the end of 2014 but is expected to stage a rebound this year. The number of house purchase approvals was nine per cent higher in 2014 compared to 2013, according to figures released yesterday by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). However, the value of mortgages for house purchase [...]