Blogs

Homeowners are slowly coming to terms with lower valuations for their property after price growth expectations fell to an 18-month low, ahead of the general election.

Over the three months to February householders became steadily more pessimistic, predicting slower price appreciation in 2015, according to the property group, Knight Frank.

Despite the low interest rate environment and wide range of cheap mortgage deals on offer, the sentiment index, which each month tracks whether homeowners think the price of their property will go up or down over the next 12 months, fell from 74.9 a year ago

Concerted buying at Acuitus’s first auction of the year has illustrated the opportunities that the sector now offers sellers of all types of commercial property throughout the UK.

The auction raised £25.3m which was 40% up on the corresponding sale last February. The buying power was evident with 10 of the 34 lots sold achieving prices of more than £1m.

Acuitus auctioneer, Richard Auterac, comments: “The buyer base in the auction room is expanding rapidly with national and international buyers who are new to the market acquiring 80% of the lots. This is providing sellers with a major

Using a property auction is the fastest way to sell. If you want a quick sale or have a deadline to meet, then a property auction could well be right for you. Once the hammer has gone down the property is sold but, most importantly, contracts are exchanged on the day of the sale as no further negotiation is permitted. That means the entire sale process – from instruction to exchange of contracts – is achieved within as little as 28 days.

Most types of property are now suitable for auction provided that a realistic reserve price is agreed. If you have a property to sell and are considering sale

Graham Penny Auctions, the most successful auction house in Nottingham, has held its first auction of the year in front of a packed room of buyers and the Homes under the Hammer TV crew.

The auction, on Friday 6th February at Nottingham Racecourse, featured a catalogue of 38 residential property, commercial property, land and other lots from across Nottinghamshire and the rest of the country which raised over £1.9m for Graham Penny Auctions’ clients.

Vejay Pal, senior valuer at Graham Penny Auctions, commented: “Last week’s auction was a great start to the year for us. Our catalogue had a

Auction House London achieved a sales success rate of 87.9% in 2014 - the highest figure reached by any property auctioneer in the UK last year.

According to the latest data, the average success rate in the residential auction sector is 80% - a figure exceeded by Auction House, which sold 87.9% of all homes it listed.

Coming in second and third were Clive Emson at 87% and Allsop Residential at 85.3%.

Auction House London also jumped from tenth to sixth place in the amount of money raised through sales, bringing in £94m in 2014, compared to £54m the year before.

Auctioneer Andrew Binstock puts

Transport for London (TfL) has become the latest to get involved, making a serious bid to become one of the capital’s property supremos.

More than 500 sites owned by TFL across London, including its former headquarters in a Grade-I listed building in St James’s Park, are set to be redeveloped into penthouse properties, new homes and retail space to raise billions of pounds for the capital’s transport network.

TFL will turn property developer to build on some of the 200m sq ft of land it owns, beginning with 10m sq ft at 50 locations across the city.

The development of the first 10m sq ft is

New figures show prices in part of South London jumped by more than 20% last year as more Londoners compromise on a central location in return for more living space.

Prices in Balham outpaced the rest of London in 2014 with 21% annual growth, according to estate agent Marsh & Parsons’ latest London Property Monitor.

Figures show the average Prime London home has risen in value by £95,000 in the past twelve months. But house prices in cheaper Balham have jumped £152,000 over the same period.

Balham, famously lampooned by Peter Sellers as the “Gateway to the South”, where nothing happens apart

With property prices rising just 0.4% over January, the North East housing market seems to be experiencing a tough start to the year.

The tiny (but welcome) rise puts to an end three consecutive months of falling house prices in the region. The average cost of a home in the NOrth East now stands at £144,872 - the lowest levels for nine months.

The overall fastest riser in the region was Blyth, which managed to rack-up 3.1% growth. Tynemouth and North Shields picked up 1.3% and 1.2% respectively. Matching Tynemouth on 1.2% was Gateshead, with Durham City (1%) and Sunderland (0.9%) closely

Foxtons, the high profile London estate agency, says its income from home sales fell sharply at the end of last year.

Commission earned on sales in the last three months of 2014 was 26% lower than in the same period the year before.

The agency explained that the London property market had been cooling off after reaching a peak of activity during 2013.

And it predicted that its sales would be unlikely to rise again until after the forthcoming general election.

"The long term fundamentals of the London market remain sound," it said.

"We do not anticipate a recovery in sales volumes until after

Paragon Mortgages recorded a 58.4% year-on-year increase in buy-to-let lending in the first quarter of its financial year beginning October 2014 as lending volumes rose from £140.2m to £222.1m.

Its operating profits increased 14.9% in the first quarter last year, rising from £26.9m to £30.9m for the quarter to 31 December 2014.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders' figures released in December, buy-to-let figures in October enjoyed a year-on-year increase in loans of 22% and value of 29%, with lending of £2.7bn and 19,600 loan transactions.

John Heron, managing director of Paragon