The property hotspots immune to the house price downturn

Particular towns and regions in Britain are starting to see pre-pandemic transaction levels, Ruth Bloomfield writes in The Telegraph this week.

Sharing his insights into why this may be happening, Black Brick partner and experienced property expert Caspar Harvard-Walls shared:

“In early 2019 we had Theresa May as prime minister, we were going through the agony of Brexit, and there was the worry of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister. Confidence was very, very low, and transactions were low. Comparing now to then is a comparison to a real low point.”

“Overseas buyers have certainly been returning to London. They are not worried about interest rates, it is all about confidence, and they are also benefiting from the weak pound. A lot of domestic buyers in these areas work in the financial markets and have done really well in the last couple of years so they also have money to spend.”

Read the full article here.

‘Sticky’ prime central London set for deal drought

We’re sharing our insights into the prime cental London property market this week in PrimeResi, warning that it will take a while before vendors accept that buyers are much more price-sensitive at the moment.

“I have found that there tends to be a long delay, in a market which is slowing, for that message to sink in for sellers that they need to be realistic about prices,” our managing partner Camilla Dell, commented. “We are just starting to see prices coming down a bit – even where we have been previously told that a seller is in no hurry – and some sellers are becoming more amenable to negotiation.”

Read the full article here.

Why wealthy Turks are buying up pricey postcodes in London

Financial instability in Turkey seems to be drawing residents to buy up property in prime central London, in an effort to secure the safety of both their families, and money.

Camilla Dell, founder of buying agency Black Brick, shared in The Times that the currency crash means some Turks can only afford to rent in London at the moment, but the wealthier ones are keen to get their money out of the country.

“Many Turks fear the longer Erdogan remains in power, the worse the country’s economy will become. They have lost all hope that he can turn it around. His handling of the earthquake disaster [in February] has only cemented this thought in the mind of many Turks, both locally and Turkish expats,” she said.

Read the full article here.

Eight questions an estate agent doesn’t want you to ask — but you absolutely should

Black Brick Managing Partner and experienced property buying agent, Camilla Dell has shared her insights and advice to buyers in The Standard this week.

“Information is critical to be able assess price, ability to negotiate, timescales and whether there are any potential hidden reasons why you may not want —or be able — to buy that property,” she said. “It’s a very British thing to not ask and be polite, but buying a property is one of the most expensive things a person buys in their lifetime.”

Read the full article to learn more here.

What would a Labour government mean for the prime property market?

This week, our Founder and Managing Partner, Camilla Dell joined a host of fellow industry experts discussing the future of the UK’s prime property market in PrimeResi.

“A Labour win isn’t going to have a positive impact on the super prime London property market. Labour want to increase tax on overseas buyers which is already at 15%, an extortionate amount.”, Camilla shared. “Most overseas buyers aren’t even competing with first time buyers as they are buying well above £1 million. What the London property market needs is more affordable stock, not higher taxes. Higher stamp duty will cause the market to stall meaning fewer transactions, but not necessarily huge price falls.”

“The last time stamp duty went up the London market fell pretty much in line with the increase. How much the market falls this time all depends on what the extra increase looks like.”, she continued. “A 60% tax, such as what the Singapore government have brought in for overseas buyers, would be disastrous and would erode confidence in the market in London. Right now, most overseas buyers are unaware of the changes a Labour government would implement if elected but I imagine that will start to change as we get closer the GE”

Read the full article here.

The home improvements that could take thousands off your property price

Speaking with David Byers in The Times this week, Black Brick’s Founder and Managing Partner, Camilla Dell shares her top tips for what to do (and what NOT to do) to get the best price for your property.

“Basements by their nature are dark and have no windows, so you have to consider how that space will be used. For example, bedrooms cannot be designated or sold as a bedroom unless it has a window,” Camilla commented.

“Some of the worst basements I’ve seen are multilevel ones. Space is often created for beauty salons, massage rooms, gyms — but the reality is these spaces are rarely used. Buyers do not place as much value in terms of price per square foot on basement space as they do on floors that are above ground. The differential can be as much as 50 per cent in the worst cases,” she said.

Read the full article here.

The off-market agents trading trophy homes for the super-rich

Black Brick Owner, Camilla Dell was delighted to be interviewed to feature in this new piece for The Times this week, revealing how off-market agents like Black Brick are so many prime property buyers’ secret weapon.

“Private banks, law and accountancy firms, family offices — it’s anyone and everyone working with ultra-high-net-worth individuals,” she said, sharing how Black Brick’s database includes 300 buying agents who can be “cherry-picked” depending on the clients’ requirements.

She also shared that 50% of the deals she advised on last year were off-market, while so far this year the figure is at 55%. “It’s a bit like a game of poker, sellers don’t like to show their cards,” she said. “Privacy, security and confidentiality have probably become more prevalent. There’s more wealth, and more millionaires and billionaires around who don’t want their properties to be advertised. Just for security reasons, having a floorplan online can be a huge risk and a great resource for burglars.”

Read the article here.

Inside London’s prime property stalemate

London’s “stalling” amid a prime property stalemate between sellers who are refusing to cut prices and buyers who won’t offer more, The Financial Times has reported this week.

Sharing insight into the current situation, Black Brick Founder Camilla Dell shared: “We have lurched from one crisis to another and although the latest issues in the banking sector don’t directly impact London property, they affect sentiment and people’s investment portfolios,”.

“If people are feeling less wealthy, they are going to be nervous.”, she continued, reflecting on why people are being extra stubborn about their budgets this year.

Read the full article here.

Creative ways to live with an ex-partner, if you can’t afford to move out

The rising cost of living is causing some divorcees and ex-partners to have to stay on living together, post breakup.

Our Managing Parter, Camilla Dell features in The Times this week, sharing some of her own stories of working with people in the prime property market who have recently split from their significant other.

She recalled how she once found herself looking for £50 million houses for a divorcing wife, then preparing her for court “so she understood the property market and running costs better and was prepared for cross-examination,”.

Read the full article here.

How to negotiate buying a house for a fair price

Most house hunters have a wish list – it might be all about location, it might have to be immaculate and turnkey, or the standard of local schools might be the key issue.

But the one thing all buyers want to avoid is overpaying. They want the perfect property, and they want to secure it for a good price.

Getting a good deal on a house means doing plenty of research, and it requires delicate negotiation skills, a strong nerve, and plenty of diplomacy.

In this guide Black Brick explains how to decide what to offer for a property, how to negotiate a house price, and how to renegotiate if a survey throws a spanner in the works.

The price is right

According to the latest research (February 2023) by house price analyst LonRes prime London buyers pay, on average, eight per cent less than a property’s asking price. This proves that there is often substantial wiggle room between what a vendor would like for a property and what they will be willing to accept.

Understanding where to pitch an offer is a fine art that needs to be based on very solid knowledge of what similar properties have sold for recently. By recently, we are talking the last six months. And by similar we mean not simply in the same neighbourhood and roughly the same size. London’s property market is highly nuanced, prices vary between floors within the same building and between one side of a street and another. You need to harness this local knowledge to understand how much a property is really worth.

Other factors to consider include how much demand there is in the market, and the circumstances of your vendor. It is always worth finding out how long a property has been on sale for, whether the vendor has a set time frame in which to move, and whether they have found a property they wish to buy.

Don’t burn your bridges

In a slower market some buyers are tempted to make a cheeky lowball offer. This approach can often backfire, particularly in London where forced sales are a rarity. Vendors – and their estate agents – may dismiss you as an unrealistic chancer. A sensible offer backed up by evidence is a far more professional and persuasive approach.

Don’t get carried away

During the pandemic many buyers found themselves engaged in bidding wars to secure the most sought after homes. Many later regretted paying over the odds in a moment of collective madness. Once you have decided what you are prepared to bid on a property then stick to your guns – unless money really is no object – because some vendors have unrealistic expectations and are in absolutely no rush to sell.

Invest in help

Yes, you can go it alone when buying a home but unless you are very confident in your market savvy, and very familiar with the area you intend to move to, it can be a recipe for overpaying.

Estate agents work for vendors, not buyers, and although they should answer straight questions honestly it is in their interests to gloss over issues and encourage high ball offers. A buying agent could stop you making costly mistakes, help negotiate discounts on asking price, and make sure deals go through.

Renegotiating house price after a survey

Your original offer on a property is not legally binding until contracts have been exchanged. Before that you will want to commission a survey to make sure that there are no hidden, and expensive, problems to deal with.

Very few properties are entirely perfect. It is normal for a survey to show up small maintenance matters. But if it reveals serious structural problems – for example subsidence, dry rot, or a roof in need of imminent replacement – it is perfectly normal to go back to your vendor and renegotiate.

The first step is to get contractor quotes to prove how much the work will cost to undertake.

Then you – or your buying agent – will discuss the issues with the estate agent. Sometimes a vendor will agree to make good the works to bring the property up to scratch before you buy. Alternatively, you may be able to come to an agreement to reduce your offer to cover some, or all, of the cost of carrying out the work later.

Renegotiating house price after an offer has been accepted

If you have second thoughts about an offer after it has been accepted you could attempt to renegotiate a lower price – a practice known as gazundering.

Clearly this strategy is not going to please your vendor.

But it does happen, and it is perfectly legal.

A recent survey carried out by quick-sale company House Buying Bureau found that one in three vendors claim to have been gazundered recently.

Sometimes their original offer was reduced because either a survey threw up problems, or because a buyer’s mortgage company valued the property at less than they had offered.

However some vendors suspect their buyer was simply trying to hold them to ransom, in the hopes they would take a lower offer simply because they wouldn’t want to start the sales process from the beginning again.

But attempting to renegotiate without a very compelling reason for doing so is a high risk strategy. Particularly in prime London where vendors tend to be highly discretionary and in no rush to sell if they feel like they could do better elsewhere.

Thinking about your property in the long term

Smart buyers future proof their investment by buying a property they can envisage living in for the medium to long term. That way they can sit out ups and downs in the property market, content in the knowledge that the underlying trajectory of house prices in London is an upward one, while minimising buying costs. This means thinking carefully not only about what you need now, but what might become important to you in the future, like proximity to good schools and outside space, and room for a family which may expand.

Buying costs have certainly reshaped the way we live in the UK. In 1988 people would sell up and move house every 8.6 years. Today they stay in a home for an average of 23 years, according to a recent study by Zoopla and Hometrack.