Professional help with your biggest purchase.
Nobody wants to operate on themselves and few would conduct their own divorce and yet almost everyone thinks that when it comes to finding a new home they are the best people to search for one, fall in love with it, evaluate it and then negotiate the best deal. TheContinue Reading
Budget 2023
He stood up and spoke for an hour and a half but in the end it turned out the famous red box was empty, there was nothing in his Budget for the housing market, no changes to tax and nothing specifically on Stamp Duty which some tax consultants had expectedContinue Reading
You & Yours – 4th Jan 2023
Savills research guru Lucian Cook and I spoke to Winifred Robinson on what we can expect from the housing market in 2023.Continue Reading
A year to forget?
2 x monarchs, 3 x Prime Ministers, 4 x Chancellors and God knows how many housing ministers/secretaries. A mini-Budget or ‘fiscal event‘ as it had to be called. Rocketing interest rates, double-digit inflation and house prices at one point up over 15.5% in a year! However, on a selfish levelContinue Reading
BBC PM Program
A look back at the year and a glimpse into my crystal ball with Evan Davis on PM.Continue Reading
Six things that a buyer shouldn’t do when dealing with an estate agent.
Some tips that I shared with Homes & Property in the Evening Standard have created a bit of comment but if you’re thinking of buying a property then my advice is to hope for the best but to plan for the worst. Estate agents (I’m one, by the way) areContinue Reading
Forecasts for 2023
The official UK House Price Index told of near-16% growth in the 12 months to July 2022, with the latest reading still tickling double figures but prices have now stalled. There have been 14 consecutive questers of positive house price growth. A correction is necessary and inevitable but what a difference a mini-BudgetContinue Reading
Christmas comes early.
Data published this morning by Hometrack, the data company owned by Zoopla makes grim reading. The analysts forecast a cold winter with almost every one of their dials flashing red. “It’s almost as if the housing market has moved into Christmas mode eight weeks early,” Hometracks’ boss Richard Donnell toldContinue Reading
Autumn Statement 2022
After the turmoil of the ‘Fiscal Event’ of 23rd September we were all hoping that there would be nothing in Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement for the housing sector but in the end he had one or two things that are worth mentioning. In September, former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng increased theContinue Reading
Chatting with Phil Spencer
A catch up with my old friend Phil and a look at the market during one of the most politically unstable times that either of us has witnessed.Continue Reading
Over 100k off-market sales
According to Hamptons data £30.9bn-worth of property changed hands without public marketing in 2021, according to an estimate by a property fund. In an interesting article in Prime Resi it is estimated that nearly 100,000 homes changed hands on the “off-market” – which in this instance means quietly marketed withoutContinue Reading
What’s going to happen?
Whilst fashionable to have a wild stab in the dark about what might happen to the housing market I’m afraid I can’t – yet. Everything changed with the mini-Budget but that was only two weeks ago. In April one group of financial prognosticators said they expected house prices in 2023Continue Reading