London’s property ‘flippers’ forced to sell at a loss

Investors who buy up London property in the hopes of making a profit are increasingly getting disappointed when it comes to selling.

“As prices fall, many property flippers are unable or unwilling to complete, so face either selling at a loss or losing their deposit”, Black Brick Founder and renowned buying agent, Camilla Dell shared in The Financial Times this week.

Reflecting on her own experience with property flippers for luxury London homes, Camille explained: “The price you negotiate off-plan is the price you pay at the end, even if the market has fallen 30 per cent. Your mortgage lender doesn’t care if it’s gone down. As the buyer, you can inject the equity yourself, or you fail to complete,”.

Read more in the full article here.

Homes the super rich are buying now

What kinds of properties are the wealthiest of the wealthy most interested in right now? Have Penthouses overtaken mega-mansions?

Well, Black Brick buying agent, Caspar Harvard-Walls has shared his thoughts in a new piece for The Times, citing why penthouses are increasingly becoming popular with the super-rich, and buying top dollar.

“It is the classic thing of people trying to call the bottom of the market. For those with American dollars there’s been an extra incentive. The weak pound means that buyers now receive the equivalent of a 40 per cent discount on prices, compared to the first quarter of 2015.” he explained.

Read more in the full article here.

The market is in a twilight zone

Featured in The Times!

In a new piece by Anne Ashworth this week, Black Brick Founder and Managing Partner, Camilla Dell shares her perspective on the current UK property market.

Read the article here.

London’s cut-price mansions: expect more deep discounts

Fears are beginning to grow over the state of the London’s prime property market, as luxury homes continue to sell at cut-prices.

Sharing her insights as a top buying agent for prime central London, Black Brick’s Founder, Camilla Dell spoke with Hugo Cox of The Financial Times:

Reflecting on a recent property purchase of a six-bedroom converted Mayfair pub, Camilla said: “When the bank made a further margin call to reflect the lower value in the falling market, the owner ran out of cash and defaulted, leaving the bank racing to sell the house.”

Read the full article here.

Yes, you can buy near a top school

“One result of the property slowdown is lower prices close to good primaries”, writes Jessie Hewiston of The Times this week.

Sharing his insight as a top London buying agent for prime property, Black Brick partner Caspar Harvard-Walls featured in the article explaining how the slowing UK property market “will mean that people who want to sell a property within a traditional catchment area may struggle, so the catchment area may grow to take in streets that historically would never have had the chance of getting a place at the school”.

“This is good news for those parents and buyers, especially because properties outside the traditional catchment area are usually cheaper than those inside.”, he continued.

Read more in the full article here.

The foodie revolution continues in London

Which are the best neighbourhoods in London for the best food? Black Brick buying agent, Tom Kain discusses his thoughts in a new piece for The Times.

Recommending Brixton and Bermondsey, Tom shared how “These are good examples of areas that have rapidly become more gentrified.”

“A large part of the gentrification is fuelled by the food markets. Many young professionals and families relish the pop-up foodie outlets found in Brixton Village and Maltby Street Market in Bermondsey. It certainly is a draw card.” he continued.

Read the full article here.

Don’t have enough space at home? Buy the house next door

‘Improve, don’t move’ might just be the way forwards if you want to extend and make more space in your home, as more and more homeowners buy the houses next door.

Offering her perspective into this emerging behaviour within the UK housing market, particularly within the prime property sector, Black Bricks’ Founder, Camilla Dell shared her thoughts for a new piece in The Telegraph this week:

“It’s the ‘“’best house in the street’ syndrome that no one really wants” she said. “If you knock two houses together on a street where the average house price is £3 million, it’s unlikely a buyer with £6 million will want to buy there. They will choose a better street. The key is to consider the surrounding area and work within the confines of the market,” she recommended.

Read more in the full article here.

Most likely to: East London’s Zone 1 Crossrail hotspot where house prices are still rising

The launch of the Elizabeth line is going to accelerate Whitechapel into a much sought-after London region, according a new research from The Standard.

In a new article published this week, Ruth Bloomfield reports that the area has been named “most likely to outperform” in terms of property prices over the next five years.

Sharing his thoughts as a prime property expert for London, Black Brick buying agent, Tom Kain shared his belief that Whitechapel will become hotspot for city workers who might previously have preferred a “City-fringes” home in, for example, Shoreditch or Spitalfields.

“It is going to be fantastically well connected,” he revered.

Read the full article here.

How to deal with sealed bids

In a new article for The Times this week, we share our top tips for handling high-end property purchase negotiations.

In the piece, Black Brick buying agent Caspar Harvard-Walls shared his recommendations when it comes to sealed bids, citing how they often appear for “really high-quality, best-in-class properties”

“As an extreme example, an unmodernised detached villa in Holland Park, west London, went on the market at about £13m. A round of sealed bids later, it sold last month for more than £18m.”, he said.

The fixed-upper is fashionable again

There’s a growing number of buyers looking for properties that they can give a complete makeover to.

In a new piece for The Times, Black Brick buying agent, Camilla Dell shares why “faded glories” present fantastic opportunities for buyers to make a profit off of flipping.

“We recently sourced a property in Marylebone [northwest London] for a client that was for sale at £1,200 a square foot,” she said. “The buyer needed to spend £300 a square foot renovating it. However, when complete it will be worth upwards of £1,800 a square foot, making it a great deal.”

Read the full article here.