3rd December 2024
14mins
From trophy houses to compact pieds-á-terre, spacious family homes to race-against-time purchases, 2024 has been an exciting year for Black Brick. Here are our stand-out deals of the past 12 months.
Our client was searching for a family-sized home for regular visits to London, and they were prepared to wait to find the perfect property at the perfect price. They had very precise requirements, preferring houses to apartments and properties that were in good condition, with air conditioning and a lift.
We first spotted this garden square, seven bedroom home when it was listed in May, listed for £13.5m.
This was beyond our client’s budget so we bided our time, knowing that the property was overpriced. When its asking price was dropped to £10.5m we stepped in, and eventually negotiated the sale at a fraction over £10m, or just less than £2,400 per square foot, 4% less than the most recent sale on the street.
The deal represented a great buy for our clients, and also illustrates how price sensitive the £10m-plus, super prime market, has become. According to the latest data from JLL the number of homes sold in this price bracket plunged by almost 40 per cent in the third quarter of the year, the most up to date figures available.
“We definitely see evidence of owners of super prime properties being willing to sell at prices that I have not seen since the Financial Crisis,” said Camilla Dell, managing partner of Black Brick.
“They are sometimes selling at a loss. It is 100 per cent a buyers’ market.”
We also manage the property for our clients through our dedicated Property Management Service.
Good quality family houses are notoriously difficult to find in London’s sought after urban villages, and our British clients weren’t even on the scene to help with the search. Living overseas, they needed a house with five or six bedrooms to come back to.
Their top priority was – of course – great nearby schools. They also wanted a property with office space, a wine cellar, off street parking, and air conditioning.
We found them a perfect refurbished and extended 5,500-plus square foot house close to Clapham Common and with our guidance they were able to secure it for less than £1,000 per sq ft.
Tom Kain, a partner at Black Brick, said family properties can be a particularly tough assignment.
“It is a very competitive market,” he said. “People buy these houses and stay for 20 or 30 years so they just don’t come up for sale very often.”
Our clients were delighted and had this to say about their experience:
“Black Brick worked as our advisor on a London property search spread across four different neighbourhoods. Not only were the property options presented off market in line with our needs but the service and pre work on each of them was amazing (we live abroad). Additionally, the assistance through valuation, purchasing and executing the property including the engagement and briefing of service providers was second to none. I can’t imagine buying a property again without Black Brick’s assistance”.
Our American clients were after a London base and we found them a beautiful mansion flat a few minutes’ walk from Kensington Palace.
Properties like this sell fast – but we had a time advantage because we were offered a viewing of the flat before it went onto the open market.
Our clients understood the urgency and made a flying visit to London especially to view the four bedroom flat, which they loved. We secured it for them entirely off market without it ever hitting the property portals.
Tom Kain estimates that 50 to 60 per cent of homes in Prime Central London are currently sold off market, a number which has been increasing for the past few years.
Some owners choose to sell off market for reasons of privacy – they don’t want endless buyers traipsing through their homes. And special homes, as was the case with Kensington Court Gardens, often sell quickly as demand often outstrips supply.
Finding out about off market sales is an inexact science for buyers, who really need the help of a buying agent to uncover all the options available to them. “Finding out about these properties is purely about contacts,” said Kain.
It has been a buyers’ market in London this past year and that means vendors can be open to negotiation on asking price. According to research from Coutts bank the average negotiated discount in prime London stands at 8.6 per cent. Black Brick has managed to dramatically outperform this average on several occasions.
Hired to help a client’s student daughter find her first London home we sourced a smart three bedroom flat in Whitelands House, a few minutes’ walk from the King’s Road. After a tough negotiation we were able to buy the flat for £1.875m, having knocked a cool £475,000 (or 20 per cent) off its original asking price.
Meanwhile, we helped another client find a lovely mews house in Knightsbridge for them to use as a pied-a-terre. After negotiations they paid £3.75m for the 2,000-plus sq ft property, representing a 21 per cent discount on the asking price.
Tom Kain believes that having a buying agent is essential to identifying where the good deals can be found. “We undertake meticulous research when identifying the right property for clients. Understanding who the seller is and their motivation for selling is key. It is very much a case of buyer beware in London right now, with some vendors who are simply unrealistic about what their homes are worth.”
Kain continues, “There seems to be a built-in thinking that property prices will go up forever,” he said. “In reality in some areas of the market they have not been going up for quite some time. Some sellers struggle to understand that their property might not be worth what they paid for it.”
Some buyers prefer homes which are box fresh, and are willing to pay a premium for a property which has never been lived in before. A key advantage of this kind of home is that they offer the chance to negotiate changes to its layout and décor during the building process.
Black Brick were able to help clients looking for a London holiday home do just this. We found them a brand new, three bedroom, 2,358 square foot penthouse overlooking Lord’s Cricket Ground and viewed the property before its official launch. Our clients loved it but wanted some significant changes – lift access to both floors and bathrooms fitted with designer toilets by Japanese firm
Toto – which we were able to agree with the developer during our negotiations.
“For some buyers buying a new build comes with a comfort factor,” said Camilla Dell.
“Everything is modern, it has got the latest tech, air conditioning, underfloor heating. Everything is going to work, and nothing is going to need work, although we always make sure clients have a thorough survey, mechanical and electrical inspection and snagging report prior to exchanging contracts. New builds also come with benefits like a concierge, lifts, and amenities which makes them particularly appealing to overseas buyers who want something they can lock up and leave.”
Compact and convenient, pieds-a-terre suit a wide range of buyers – overseas investors looking for a London bolt hole, downsizers, and buyers looking for a place for their children to live. In this case our Channel Islands-based clients wanted a base for their regular visits to the capital, where their children are studying.
Their initial plan was to buy in Marylebone, an extremely competitive market where demand far outstrips supply, particularly in the below-£2m market.
We suggested they broaden their horizons by a couple of miles to take in South Kensington, a more convenient choice for Heathrow Airport and with the same villagey appeal as Marylebone.
The apartment they chose had been newly renovated, was in a building with a concierge, and in a super location close to the shops, cafes, and restaurants on Gloucester Road.
Other buyers were interested in the property but, by taking our advice, our clients’ offer was accepted at a price which breaks down to £1,970 per square foot.
A few years ago the idea that a house in this west London suburb would be worth £3m-plus would raise eyebrows. But Ealing has been rapidly coming up in the world, thanks to the new Elizabeth Line which has brought fast train services to the West End and City. At the same time nicer shops, cafes, and restaurants have been popping up, and Ealing is also blessed with some great parks and a common.
Our clients were looking for a family home, and had been looking around south west London but struggled to find a detached house with parking and a good garden within their price range. “The family house market is very competitive in London,” said Tom Cope, Buying Consultant at Black Brick. “When people buy them they stay for ten or 20 years, so they don’t come up very often and when they do they can attract competition.”
To help our clients get what they wanted we pointed them in the direction of Ealing, where we sourced a five bedroom, Victorian house with a large garden and private driveway. Trains from Ealing to the City take around 20 minutes, and there are also direct services to London Heathrow.
With their approval we then negotiated a substantial discount off the asking price, and recommended an interior designer to help redesign the house.
We had helped our young client’s parents buy a London home and they came back to us when they were ready for a place of their own.
They wanted a bright and secure two-bedroom, two bathroom flat, in good condition, in north London, and we found them a beautifully presented upper maisonette with uninterrupted views over Primrose Hill.
Primrose Hill is one of London’s most enduringly popular urban villages, with its pretty period housing stock, open space, and outstanding range of cafes, boutiques, pubs, and restaurants.
“People love London villages because they are quaint, have a sense of community and village life, but are still within central London,” explained Camilla Dell. She believes the pandemic bolstered interest in this kind of home – the quality of life right on the doorstep became crucially important during lockdown periods.
Now that so many people work from home, the ability to find a great coffee, somewhere to have lunch, and plenty of amenities close by have remained key buyer priorities.
Historically, the neighbourhoods on the south side of Hyde Park have always been the most sought after in the capital. For generations the north side, blighted by the busy Edgware Road and Paddington Station, has been less appealing to buyers and thus significantly less expensive.
But Paddington has enjoyed tremendous inward investment in recent years. Billions of pounds has been spent on new homes and offices around the Grand Union Canal, now a lively riverside enclave. The new Elizabeth Line serves Paddington Station, which is the focus of an ongoing £350m redevelopment. And neighbouring Bayswater is also being spruced up.
“There are lots of companies now based around the canal, and this has brought diversity and life to the area,” said Tom Kain. “And Paddington is one area around Hyde Park where you can still get better value for money.”
This was Black Brick’s thinking when a Middle Eastern client came to us for help selecting a three bedroom second home in a lively, central location close to cafes, shops and restaurants.
Paddington’s relative affordability meant that they were able to purchase a brand new four bedroom penthouse with a roof terrace in this up and coming residential location, for well below their £4m budget.
We were able to negotiate a ten per cent discount on list price, and our clients ended up paying less than £1,600 per sq ft.
Our dedicated Rental Search Service is the perfect solution for busy clients relocating to London, in between moves or simply wanting to try an area out before committing to a purchase.
Our clients, a family of four were relocating from Puerto Rico to London and were looking for a modern secure apartment with 3 bedrooms and air conditioning. The property had to be within close proximity to their daughter’s school. The rental market in London has become highly competitive, with less stock available as some private Landlords have decided to sell up and leave the market for tax reasons. According to data compiled by Lonres, in Marylebone, between July and September this year prices increased 10.1% and the volume of transactions also increased by 28.1%.
Tom Cope, Buying Consultant at Black Brick said, “Given the fast-moving rental market, where desirable properties often receive multiple bids, it was essential to be the first in to view suitable options and secure access before other tenants. Thanks to our strong relationship with a letting agent, we were invited to view an apartment that hadn’t yet been advertised. This early access enabled our clients to make a swift decision, allowing us to negotiate a discount from the asking price.”
Our clients had this to say about their experience working with us:
“We had a great experience working with Black Brick Property to find a rental apartment. Thomas Cope, who worked closely with us was prompt, attentive and conscious of our likes and dislikes. We were shown properties that were within our specifications which was efficient and time saving for all concerned. Being new to London, it was good to have someone who knows the housing market well enough to consolidate available properties from various rental agencies. Thomas did his homework and gave us inside knowledge of each property, which enabled us to take informed decisions. It saved us a lot of time and effort!”
We would be delighted to hear from you to discuss your own property requirements. For a non-obligatory consultation, please contact us.
