Source: Chestertons Research

London apartment builder Telford Homes  has struck a deal to progress the first phase in the redevelopment of Poplar Business Park in East London.

It lifts Telford Homes’ development pipeline to over £1bn future revenue for the first time in the group’s history.

The three-phase scheme will create a total of 392 new homes in a location only 800m from Canary Wharf and just to the North of the new Crossrail station.

Telford Homes will pay land-owner Workspace £16.3m for the first phase, which will be developed with 120 open market homes, 50 affordable homes, and 8,000sq ft of light industrial space for Workspace.

The development rises to 22 storeys with construction expected to be completed in 2018.

Jon Di-Stefano, Chief Executive of Telford Homes, said: “We are delighted to partner with Workspace on this fantastic opportunity.

“For the group’s development pipeline to be in excess of £1bn is an exceptional milestone and, along with a strong forward sold position, Telford Homes is in an excellent position to deliver substantial growth over the next few years.”

Developer Landmark Estates has made its first foray into the London market. The firm, which has been responsible for a slew of projects along the south coast over the last fifteen years, has just snapped up a site in Battersea with plans for a new £8m resi scheme.

Wrenbridge and Legal & General Property have launched their latest development in Westminster; the transformation of an old post office building into a nineteen-unit scheme.

Source: Prime Resi

There’s no sign of a reversal in fortunes for London’s tumbling super-prime sales market, according to some sterling new research by Carter Jonas. Here’s the findings in a nutshell…

Sales

• Despite a significant cooling in some PCL markets throughout 2013 and the early part of 2014, Q2 2014 witnessed a return to strong capital value appreciation for most PCL areas.
• Relatively strong demand from domestic buyers boosted by a spring market led to this surprise upturn.
• Knightsbridge reinforced this trend, where a flat previous 18 months have been left behind with a 5.7% capital value growth witnessed in H1 2014.
• The one exception to the growth witnessed in H1 2014 is the Super Prime market where quarterly capital values have been falling since spring 2013 with no sign of a trend reversal.
• Our data showed average falls of 11% in this market from June 2013 to June 2014.
• Wandsworth and Fulham have now matched and exceeded the more established PCL markets of Holland Park and prime W2.
• Due to a prolonged period of stagnation, capital value growth levels in Knightsbridge have been matched by the Mayfair and Marylebone markets, with all three markets recording a ten year capital value growth of between 160-180%.
• Due to falling buyer enquiries across most markets, we expect capital value growth rates in PCL to slow significantly during H2 2014.
• We also expect Outer Prime growth rates to cool during this period, albeit not to the same degree as core PCL.

Lettings

• Stock levels of rental product remained high within most Prime and Outer Prime London markets, with demand
  relatively static due to flat levels of recruitment in the City.
• Poorer quality stock has tended to suffer, experiencing longer voids and sharper price reductions.
• Rental values in the 12 months to June 2014 remained relatively flat with overall PCL rents dropping just over 1%.
• In the outer core market, a fractional fall of -0.1% was recorded in Wandsworth and an increase of 2.9% was recorded in Fulham.
• Although volatile, the Knightsbridge and Mayfair markets have produced the strongest rental growth since 2006.
• Marylebone has proved the most stable market with its consistency and continuing out-performance of PCL rents as a whole, outstripping that of PCL as a whole for seven out of the last eight years.

Note: Data from July 2014

Buying a square metre of Kensington and Chelsea property now costs roughly the same as a new entry-level Ford Fiesta.

With one square metre costing £10,854, the area is the most expensive local authority in the country to live in. According to data from Halifax, average house prices in this and six other London boroughs have shot up by more than 50 per cent per square metre since 2009.

But while every borough in London has seen an increase, many other areas are still well below the levels they were at five years ago.

The map shows how prices have changed between 2009 and 2014, with the local authorities shown in blue recording price decreases. Data for the regions in grey was not provided.

Scotland and Wales in particular are struggling to see a recovery in their housing markets, with 26 of 30 local authorities in Scotland and 15 of 22 in Wales below 2009 levels.

London, however, is a different story. Every borough in the capital has seen an increase in its price per square metre over the same period.

It is in some of the richest boroughs in 2009 that have seen the greatest percentage increases. These areas are clustered around the centre, while those authorities which have seen relatively modest increases are towards the periphery.

The figures show that Lambeth was the region to record the highest increase in price in the last five years, with a jump from £3,180 to £5,180 per square metre, a rise of 61 per cent.

The lowest percentage increase was in Barking and Dagenham, which saw a 16.5 per cent rise; still far higher than the median national change of four per cent. In total, seven areas in London, which include Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea, Lewisham, Harringey and Hackney, have seen prices leap by more than 50 per cent per square metre.

Other districts such as Camden, Islington and Southwark aren’t far behind, with increases close to 50 per cent.

Highest and lowest prices

Every one of the 10 local authorities with the highest price per square metre was in London. The cheapest 10 were all outside the capital, in Scotland, Wales and the north of England.

It is in some of the richest boroughs in 2009 that have seen the greatest percentage increases. These areas are clustered around the centre, while those authorities which have seen relatively modest increases are towards the periphery.

The figures show that Lambeth was the region to record the highest increase in price in the last five years, with a jump from £3,180 to £5,180 per square metre, a rise of 61 per cent.

The lowest percentage increase was in Barking and Dagenham, which saw a 16.5 per cent rise; still far higher than the median national change of four per cent. In total, seven areas in London, which include Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea, Lewisham, Harringey and Hackney, have seen prices leap by more than 50 per cent per square metre.

Other districts such as Camden, Islington and Southwark aren’t far behind, with increases close to 50 per cent.

There has been recent speculation that the housing market may be cooling in the capital as Mortgage Market Review (MMR) rules take effect and talk grows of the possibility of interest rate hikes by the Bank of England.

Source: City AM

London property developer British Land said today it’s just sold the most expensive Mayfair home ever – a massive 5,000 sq ft penthouse on Clarges Street in Mayfair, which sold for “materially above” the previous record of £5,000 per sq ft (which, fact fans, was set by a property on Mayfair’s Mount Street).

The company said it had sold another 18 apartments at the 10-storey development at an average of £4,750sq ft. When it’s complete in 2017, the scheme will contain 34 flats of between one and five bedrooms each, alongside 47,800 sq ft of office space.

Lucky residents will have access to a “wellness spa”, a swimming pool and even their own cinema room. According to British Land head of offices Tim Roberts, at least half the building’s new residents – who were specifically targeted – are “British-based”, while half are foreign, predominantly Indian.

The Clarges Estate in its original splendour (Source: Google)

Formerly the headquarters of the Kennel Club, British Land bought the Clarges Estate for £129.6m in 2012 – agreeing to rehome the Kennel Club was one of the conditions of its planning permission.

Even with hundreds of years of history under its belt, Greenwich isn’t content to rest on its laurels. Instead, this Thameside town thrives on the thrill of the new while remaining immensely proud of its heritage.

Greenwich was originally a fishing village, which grew after Henry V’s brother enclosed a large tract of land in 1433 to create the park.

He also built a riverside palace where Henry VIII, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I were born. The palace was later replaced by the twin-domed Old Royal Naval College, designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

Across the road is the Queen’s House, commissioned in 1616 by James I’s wife, Anne of Denmark, and now part of the National Maritime Museum. It was Britain’s first Palladian building and its elegant proportions and classic lines were regarded as revolutionary by those accustomed to timber-beamed Tudor architecture.

The Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park is another Wren building and home to the Prime Meridian of the world. Time in every place on Earth is measured from here, and you can straddle the Meridian line and stand with a foot in each hemisphere. From the Observatory there are sweeping views of the river, City and Docklands.

Greenwich’s historic and architectural importance was officially recognised in 1997, when Maritime Greenwich was awarded World Heritage Site status.

The borough of Greenwich also received another rare accolade early in 2012, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year. In honour of its longstanding links with the monarchy, it became a Royal Borough, one of only four in the country.

There was further cause for celebration that summer when Greenwich Park hosted the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events and parts of the modern pentathlon.

Two years on, the feel-good factor shows no sign of subsiding. Greenwich has a real buzz, bags of charm and plenty to attract homebuyers as well as day trippers.

It’s big on the cute period cottages that young professionals and creative types adore, and offers ready-made entertainment day and night.

‘Greenwich has everything: the park, the river, the Maritime Museum, the Cutty Sark, the Observatory, the market, pubs, coffee shops and restaurants. There’s always loads going on and it’s great for young kids,’ says Graham Lawes of estate agency Jones Lang LaSalle.

‘Many attractions are free – from the entry to some of the museums and to festivals and music recitals. The commute is a dream – you can leave your desk in Canary Wharf and be home in half an hour, or even walk to work.’

Greenwich station has the DLR and trains to London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross. It’s in Zone 2 and an annual Travelcard into Zone 1 costs £1,256. You can also catch the DLR at Cutty Sark station, the Jubilee Line from North Greenwich or take a Thames Clipper along the river to Embankment.

‘The Olympics put Greenwich firmly on the map. This year there’s a resurgence of people looking to buy,’ continues Lawes. ‘Some who’d been trapped in rented accommodation are now getting on to the property ladder, and there’s a migration of buyers from north and west London, as well as the local market.

‘One-bed flats start at about £300,000, and two-bed cottages which sold for £400,000 last year are now £500,000 to £550,000. Three-storey Victorian houses in the Ashburnham Triangle – popular with career-driven couples in their early thirties – are £900,000 to £1.2million, and larger period houses in Hyde Vale and Gloucester Circus sell for £1.5 to £3million.’

The lettings market is busy too, boosted by University of Greenwich students. Rents start at around £750 a month for a studio.

Greenwich Hospital Estate – which owns riverside land and the central commercial area – is upgrading old buildings and transforming space above shops into rental apartments for locals.

It’s providing further rental homes in an eco-friendly new-build scheme of four two-bed townhouses and three two-bed apartments by Trehearne Architects on Old Woolwich Road. Rents are from £1,325 per month, through Jones Lang LaSalle.

New homes in several high-spec developments are currently for sale across Greenwich. Galliard Homes’ New Capital Quay is surrounded by water on three sides and features 636 apartments kitted with Miele appliances, TVs in en-suite bathrooms and 24-hour on-site security. Prices start at £458,000.

At Prime Place, by Willmott Dixon, the final phase of one, two and three-bed apartments has been launched. All come with balconies, some have access to a terrace, and two-beds are priced from £475,000.

Greenwich Square, by Hadley Mace, is being created around a public piazza, with leisure facilities, shops, cafés and amenities, plus a mix of apartments, maisonettes and townhouses. Two-beds are from £499,950 and four-bed townhouses, from £750,000, will be launched next month through Savills.

Homes at The Peltons in east Greenwich range from one-bed flats to four-bed houses, from £305,000. And at United House Developments’ Paynes & Borthwick, 90 per cent of apartments are now sold. Prices for those remaining range from £595,000 to £1million.

The north-west and central London property market has seen phenomenal amounts of activity with huge demand for properties in recent times. In the first quarter of the year, we saw an increase of 82% in our buyer registrations compared to the start of 2013.

During the same period, we saw nine prospective buyers register for every new property instruction and in particular we have been inundated by cash rich buy to let investors, as well as first time buyers making the most of Help to Buy and mortgage availability.

These buyers are particularly active in Crouch End, Islington, West Hampstead, Highgate and Muswell Hill and are mostly looking for properties under £500,000. Indeed, these sales accounted for 16% of all transactions across north-west and central London in the last six months.

Confidence in the economy, low interest rates and improved mortgage availability are all factors contributing towards buyer activity and in addition to international interest, there has been a huge rise in the number of local buyers looking to invest.

This year we’ve seen record numbers of viewings for properties hosting an open day. North London has seen huge levels of interest, with our West Hampstead branch recording almost 100 viewings on just one property.

As a result, the gap between asking price and selling price has closed hugely as we find that increasingly properties are selling above asking price.

According to the Land Registry, boroughs such as Islington and the City of Westminster have performed exceptionally well recording an annual rise in property values of 20.6% and 17.5% respectively. In the last few weeks however, we’ve begun to see the market become more normalised with the number of buyers starting to level out.

As a result, we should begin to see the sharp increases of the past year begin to stabilise although activity will, of course, remain high as confidence continues.

In the rental market meanwhile, we have seen increase in demand from corporate tenants, and with many of these tenancies spanning longer term lets of three to five years, landlords feel more secure with many actively targeting this market.

We have also seen good demand for homes among families, often those who have sold a property and are considering their next move. School catchments in this sector, for example in Muswell Hill, are a key driver of demand for some addresses and also generate a premium, sometimes by as much as 20%.

While many of our areas still have good availability of stock, the family market of West Hampstead is currently experiencing a stock shortage, which might support rental price growth over 2014.