Newsletter September 2010

Not being party political animals shouldn’t, we think, preclude giving credit where it’s due and we (well, those of us at Beaney Pearce who took part) loved the 5th September London Skyride.

For the uninitiated, this was a 15km ride by no fewer than 85,000 cyclists along some of central London’s most famous and busiest roads – all of which were closed to traffic for the day. Filled with cyclists travelling in both directions, at times the Embankment looked more like a Shanghai commuter street circa 1985, as you can see for yourself from the video clip.

The combination of the growing…

Bucking the trend of some of the gloomier commentaries of late, our average selling price for apartments over the last month is up 34%, year-on-year, with the total volume of sales only slightly down.

In fairness, commission rates have hardened – a clear indication that buyers are thinner on the ground.

This is not to say, of course, that values have risen by 34%. Last year, our sales were dominated by smaller units being snapped up by private European buyers, often combining desires for student accommodation, a family London flat and an investment. This skewed the average size and price…

Average rents of two bedroom flats in RBK&C let by Beaney Pearce are up 20% compared with last September, with one bedroom and studio flats posting smaller but still impressive rises of 9% and 11% respectively.

Significantly, the demand is overwhelmingly from traditional sources, i.e. junior managers in the financial and media sectors, often ex-pats. Reinforcing this indication of confidence, amongst our existing tenants there has been a clear trend, despite the rent rises, towards ‘upgrading’ to bigger and better properties, especially to riverside developments offering big views, big…

For all the fine words of the banks, so many developers – including major national house builders – are struggling to come up with funding for new schemes that those charged with the provision of social housing are having to go it alone.

It is clear that the supply of affordable units which RSLs (registered social landlords) have enjoyed for many years, courtesy of standard planning conditions for larger London developments, is diminishing. And, with fewer such schemes in the pipeline, London’s housing associations are increasingly having to look to their own resources and bid for…

Owners and investors in Palheiro Village, Madeira who have participated in the management company’s holiday rental scheme have been delighted by the occupancy rates achieved – and the role of the website, Tripadvisor.co.uk, in helping them to do so well.

Tripadvisor.co.uk is a US-based website on which travellers post comments about their experiences. As a rule, hotels and holiday companies don’t like it and, in fairness, people are much quicker to complain than to praise, so few establishments escape unscathed. But for Palheiro Village, it has proved an enormous boon, all visitor…