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A roof terrace for a helipad is one of the unusual demands from buyers in London
Roof terraces strong enough to take a helicopter’s weight, squash courts in the basement and car galleries to display vehicle collections are among some of the most extravagant home buyer requests in the prime London market. A survey from agents Marsh & Parsons also shows that there have been enquiries from prospective owners and tenants looking for recording studios, panic rooms, staff living quarters and swimming pools or hot tubs. Overall, the most popular property requirements are more traditional. Aside from the usual number of bedrooms, a south facing outdoor space is the most common request in London property searches, closely followed by off street parking and separate home offices or studios. The holy trinity of transport links, shops and London parks show no signs of being toppled as the top three amenities buyers want to be close to, cited by all Marsh & Parsons agents polled. In Kensington, proximity to Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens is closely sought after, while in Barnes the duck pond is the centre of many property searches. After outdoor space, school catchment areas are the next most important amenity to be close to. In terms of interior design, wooden flooring is de rigueur, with almost a third of agents identifying it as the most popular style trend at the moment, just ahead of bi-fold doors. Ikat patterns and prints also remain a popular choice. Wireless speaker systems are currently the most sought after home item. More than a quarter of Marsh & Parsons agents cited integrated AV systems as a must have for top end London purchasers at present, with Sonos systems revealed to be the brand of choice. Other popular features in the luxury market include temperature controlled wine cellars and log burners. ‘No matter what your budget when looking for a new home, there are some fundamentals that are ubiquitous. Being close to shops, parks and tube stations are the ultimate must haves, but many London buyers have to compromise on one or more of these asks, as such optimal locations come with a price tag to match,’ said Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons ‘Some buyers and tenants come to us with very unusual and specific requests, but luckily London’s rich and varied housing stock provides a wealth of choice, and properties to suit even the most particular of tastes from staff quarters to tree lined driveways. But no matter how lavish the requirements are, the chances are that we’ll have fielded a similar enquiry before,’ he added. Continue reading
UK Property Ombudsman calls for new Act to reflect developments in the sector
The UK’s Property Ombudsman has called for the introduction of a Property Agents Act as the current situation is not open or consistent enough. The call from Christopher Hammer, who is coming to the end of his nine year term as Ombudsman, believe the latest data shows that provisions do not go far enough in terms of disclosure for agents, tenants and landlords. The figures show that more than half of the 9,141 enquiries received related to lettings disputes, nearly double that of sales. Hammer says this reinforces the importance of legislation introduced a year ago, making it a legal requirements for all letting agents in England to register with an approved redress scheme. ‘A Property Agents Act would update the Estate Agents Act 1979 to reflect developments in the sales market and most relevantly now, bring lettings into a precise framework where all agent activity is covered by one piece of legislation,’ said Hammer. He has suggested licensing of agents, standardised tenancy agreements and compulsory client money protection could all be areas included in such an Act. The figures, published in The Property Ombudsman's 2015 Interim Report, reveal that membership levels have grown by 16% in the first half of the year. A total of 1,587 complaints, up 34% on the previous year, were resolved covering sales, lettings and other jurisdictions between 01 January and 30 June 2015. Some 3,641 additional sales and letting agents registered with TPO and a total of 34,944 agents registered with TPO across all jurisdictions, a 16% increase on the same period last year. Overall some 9,141 consumers contacted TPO regarding a property dispute, an 8% increase on the same period last year. More than half, 58%, of all the enquiries received were regarding lettings disputes with 5,303 enquiries logged, nearly double that of sales enquiries which represented 30%. Complaints grew by 34% overall with 1,587 cases reviewed, of which 934 were against letting agents, up 30%, and 596 were against sales agents, up 39%. Continue reading
New home building sector in Australia sees three years of growth
The new home building sector is the star performer of the Australian economy having seen three years in a row of growth, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA), the voice of Australia’s residential building industry. The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that despite a modest decline in new dwelling commencements in the June 2015 quarter, there was still a record number of 211,976 new homes started in 2014/2015, an increase of 16.9%. ‘That is a phenomenal result which caps three consecutive years of growth for new home building, only the fifth time in the last 60 years that this feat has been achieved,’ said HIA chief economist Harley Dale. ‘Through its broad reach the new home building sector has delivered a strong economic dividend to Australia during a period when many other sectors of the economy have struggled,’ he pointed out. He also explained that while new dwelling commencements will fall in 2015/2016 they should remain elevated at what would still be the second highest level on record. ‘The key to the short term prospects for new home building is how much work in the pipeline is converted into actual activity and it’s not coming through as quickly now. An orderly decline in commencements in 2015/16 remains the most likely outcome,’ Dale added. A breakdown of the figures shows that there were 53,314 dwellings commenced during the June 2015 quarter, a decline of 3.2% from an upwardly revised March quarter. Detached house commencements fell by 2.9% to 28,046, while ‘other dwelling’ commencements declined by 4.9% to 24,482. But there are regional differences. New dwelling commencements increased in South Australia by 12% in the quarter, by 54% in Tasmania and by 76.4% in the Australian Capital Territory. But they fell by 1.6% in New South Wales, by 0.5% in Victoria, by 9.6% in Queensland, by 10.5% in Western Australia and by 36.1% in the Northern Territory. Meanwhile, the latest data shows that prices growth for land for building new homes has eased off slightly. The latest HIA-CoreLogic RP Data Residential Land Report shows there was some relief from the tight conditions in Australia’s residential land market in the June 2015 quarter. National residential land sales increased by 17.6% while the weighted median residential lot price increased by 0.6% over the quarter to 5.2% higher than 12 months earlier. ‘A rise in land sales was accompanied by an easing off in the pace of price increase in Australia’s residential land market. This compares with previous quarters which saw strong price increases amid declining land sales,’ said HIA economist, Diwa Hopkins. ‘While the June quarter result is an encouraging development, what needs to occur is similar results being sustained over the longer run. That is, a larger and more consistent flow of shovel-ready land needs to be brought online,’ she explained. ‘For this to happen, policy reform needs to address the key land supply bottlenecks including unnecessarily long planning delays, slow… Continue reading
