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Spring Budget 2024: Housing and property announcements from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

Instead of relief from stamp duty, the government today has promised to abolish stamp duty relief in their 2024 Spring Budget announcement.

This means that the Multiple Dwellings Relief, which was introduced to those buying more than one house in a single transaction, has now been taken away. Whilst it was initially intended to support investment in the private rented sector, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that an external evaluation found “it was being regularly abused”.

Black Brick Founder and experienced property expert of over 20 years, Camilla Dell shared her reaction to this news in The Standard, calling the move “shortsighted”.

“Many of our buy-to-let clients purchase sic or more properties and benefit from lower rates of SDLT as a result,” she said. “They are providing much needed rental supply into the market and without this tax break it is yet another deterrent towards investment into the private rental sector. Not good news for tenants as fewer andlords results in higher rents.”

Read the full article here.

‘Another missed opportunity’: Prime property industry reactions to the Spring Budget 2024

Black Brick buying agency boss, Camilla Dell shares her industry insights and reaction to the 2024 Spring Budget this week in a piece for PrimeResi, alongside fellow property experts and consultants.

Commenting on the reduction of Capital Gains Tax (CGT), Camilla called the news, “helpful and a step in the right direction to get the market moving.”

However, in reaction to the abolishment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), her insight found that the change was “shortsighted”, concluding that it was “not good news for tenants as fewer Landlords results in higher rents”.

Read the full article here.

Budget 2024: Prime property’s hopes and expectations

As the time nears for the Spring Budget 2024 announcement, Black Brick boss Camilla Dell shared what she hopes to be revealed in the statement.

Speaking in PrimeResi alongside a host of fellow prime property experts and agencies, Camilla summarised how the luxury property market was feeling ahead of the budget: I think we were all secretly hoping for some good news in this budget as a last-ditch attempt for the Tories to win back some support, but I just don’t see what they can give away tax wise.”

Read the full article here.

Why the UK’s foreign homebuyers will have to pay more tax

No matter which party comes out on top at the next election, the property industry is gearing up for a stamp duty hike for overseas buyers.

Featuring in The Times this week, Black Brick Founder & Managing Partner, Camilla Dell shares that whilst she believes foreign homebuyers will soon have to pay more in stamp duty, she doesn’t think it will be as high as people fear.

For foreign buyers currently, the top rate of stamp duty is 17%. Labour say they would increase it to around 20%, which would mean a hike of between £15,000 to £30,000 for a £1.5 million property. “I don’t think Labour will end up doing it,” Camilla said.

As a buying agency that regularly deals with overseas purchasers, at Black Brick we believe that a rise of 1% point would be “tolerated”. Camilla added: “I don’t think [that] would be too harmful. Some people would think it’s too pricey but in the prime market people can meet the extra costs. It could slow the market, maybe, lead to some softening in prices. Some buyers would say, ‘I’ve got to pay an extra three percentage points, I want 3 per cent off [the asking price].’”

What would be “unacceptable”, Camilla argued, would be the introduction of “draconian measures” like those in place in other countries, such as Canada, which has banned foreigners from buying properties until the end of this year. “[That] would kill the market.”

Read the full article here.

Black Brick buying agency reports ‘busiest-ever’ January as market reignites

We are delighted to be celebrating our busiest January to date this week at Black Brick, with a flurry of deals and a book of clients with budgets ranging up to £25mn.

Announcing the news in PrimeResi, our Founder & Managing Partner, Camilla Dell shared what recent successes our team has had to lead to this huge feat.

Read the article here.

How to beat a cash buyer for a property purchase

Writing in The Times this week, Black Brick Founder and experienced prime property buying agent, Camilla Dell shares her advice to those who are looking to out-bid cash buyers for their next property purchase.

“My first piece of advice is to be organised. Hire a credible solicitor, ideally one that is used to conveyancing in the area or development you are buying in. This gives comfort to the selling agent and vendor that the deal won’t be let down by a poorly performing lawyer.”

Read the full article here.

Meet the bargain-hunting home buyers behind the spike in ‘gazundering’

‘Gazundering’ is a tactic where a buyer makes a lower offer at the last-possible-minute, in a bid to force the seller’s hand to cut the price of their property.

Recently, there’s been an influx of such sneaky tricks. Our buying agent, Caspar Harvard Walls shared his insights in the new piece all about in The Telegraph this week, written by Alexandra Goss.

Read the full article here.

Cautious UK homebuyers are forcing corrections in sellers’ price expectations

The falling mortgage rates may be pushing up demand, but it’s still a buyers’ market out there.

Speaking on the current state of the market and its impacts on buying agencies like Black Brick, our Founder & Managing Partner, Camilla Dell shared her insights in The Financial Times this week.

“Some buyers that were sitting on the fence and renting because they couldn’t afford to borrow will be able to crack on now that rates are more sensible,” she said. “We’re also pretty busy with new US, European and Middle Eastern clients.”

Read the full article here.

Black Brick buying agency boosted by increased cash sales

Speaking in Estate Agent Today, Black Brick Founder reflects on what has been an incredibly successful time for our prime property buying agency.

“It has been an interesting year for the prime central London (PCL) property market. The increase in the volume of clients we are looking after this year compared to last year demonstrates the value that buyers are placing on having a professional to represent their interests in a challenging market.

We have seen a dramatic increase in cash buyers, with the number of cash buyers doubling year on year. This demonstrates that for many high-net-worth buyers, the use of finance is discretionary. The pivot to cash was inspired by interest rates, which jumped from 0% in 2021 to 5.25 per cent today. When interest rates were low even some very wealthy high net worth buyers used mortgage finance, mainly because it was a simple way of protecting themselves from inheritance tax which is only charged on the equity you own in a property.”

Read more in the full article here.