How to find a house in an overheated market

This year is proving to be a hot year for the UK housing market, with record highs in both demand and prices.

In a new article for The Times this week, Black Brick Founder & Managing Partner, Camilla Dell spoke about how times like these call for buying agents to help people find their dream home within a tough market.

Camilla shared how, here at Black Brick, we use a targeted letter-drop system with in-house mapping technology to help our clients find their perfect property. “For a client in Dulwich we targeted 20 roads, sent 50 letters, got six responses; my client bought one of those houses,” she said.

Read the full article here.

Black Brick closes £100m of deals in ‘vintage year’

Looking back on 2021 here at Black Brick, we’re calling it a ‘vintage year’, thanks to how many more buyers sought out professional help to navigate the property market.

“2021 was a year when more and more people realised they needed some professional help to secure the house of their dreams”, we shared in a new piece for Prime Resi.

Read the full article here.

The super-prime rent race in London

Renting in prime central London has always been rather particular in terms of proving credentials to picky landlords.

But as the market opens up again post-pandemic, it seems that premium property in London has become even more scrutinising.

Commenting on this emerging trend in property, our Founder Camilla Dell shared her input in The Financial Times this week.

Read the article here.

‘Try before you buy’: homebuyers remain reticent in Marylebone rental apartments

In a new Financial Times article this week, our Founder Camilla Dell shares her perspective on the chic residential neighborhood of Marylebone, central London.

“You’ve got to really love Marylebone to buy a house there,” she said, sharing that while prices in Marylebone are high, they are still typically 20 per cent less than next-door Mayfair, although the gap is narrowing for the area’s super-prime, new-build apartments.

“New-build in Marylebone now trades at well over £3,000 a square foot,” she said.

Read the full article here.

Unrepresented buyers don’t stand a chance in London’s hottest markets

This year’s property market in the UK as proved to be one of the most competitive and brutal yet.

Sharing our experiences this year as a London buying agency, our Founder Camilla Dell has been featured in a new article all about the current state of property in Prime Resi.

In the piece, Camilla declared “I would go as far as to say that it is impossible to buy in one of these very busy markets without a buying agent.”

Read the full article here.

International buyers are back — what does it mean for London house prices?

With lockdown restrictions finally lifted, overseas buyers are already starting to flood in and make waves in the London and UK property market.

Our Founder and Managing Partner, Camilla Dell spoke with Ruth Bloomfield of The Standard this week to share her perspective on the market shifts, as a buying agent of over 20 years.

“During the height of the pandemic, overseas buyers vanished.” Camilla said, sharing how in September, her phone started ringing again and her client roster now includes buyers from across North America, Africa and the Middle East keen to drop £2m to £5m on a PCL property.

Read more in the full article here.

Is now a good time to buy luxury property in London?

London’s premium property sector is certainly coming back to life, with overseas buyers returning and international trade getting started up again.

Sharing her perspective as the owner of buying agency Black Brick, which was founded in 2007, Camilla Dell has been featured in The Times this week, discussing the current state of prime central London property.

“We have the most enormous pipeline with over £50 million worth of properties under offer, anything from flats priced at £2 million up to £25 million,” Camilla said, adding that “The New York market is hotting up and some American buyers might think they’ve missed the boat there and decide to buy here instead,”.

Read the full article here.

Market for London’s top-end homes showing ‘signs of life’

With Savills recently reporting that prime central London is growing “for the first time since September 2014, despite the absence of international buyers”, it’s fair to say that the capital’s luxury housing market is alive and well.

Our Founder, Camilla Dell is delighted to have been featured in a new article all about the sector this week in The Financial Times.

In the piece, she shared how the market is “finally showing signs of life”, thanks to the recent easing of travel restrictions. “It started in August when we suddenly had a lot of Middle Eastern clients coming over,” Camilla explained, adding that more clients arrived at the beginning of the school term, with prospective buyers coming mainly from North America, West Africa and the Middle East.

Read more in the full article here.

PCL flats are back in demand!

We are delighted to see our good news in Prime Resi this week, sharing how our buying agency has signed eight new clients in the last two weeks alone.

All of these clients are excitedly looking for luxurious London apartments in the capital’s most exclusive neighborhoods.

“It was tumbleweed for 18 months but now it is a frenzy”, our Founder, Camilla Dell shared.

Read more in the full article here.

Why Britain’s punitive tax system risks deterring Middle East property investors

Experts are reporting that the UK’s rising tax rates are only making our residential property market less attractive to any wealthy overseas buyers.

As a prime central London buying agent who deals with numerous Middle East investors, Black Brick’s Founder and Managing Partner, Camilla Dell shared her perspective on the matter in a new piece for The National this week.

“Whether you are buying property in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore or Sydney – there is significant tax and other additional costs, such as agency fees, to pay,” she said, adding that wealthy buyers should expect to pay high levels of tax when purchasing property in such a sought-after city like London.

Read more in the full article here.