KF Spring 2013

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said:

“House price optimism has perked up to its highest level in over two and a half years in February, providing encouraging evidence that the property market has seen a strong start to the year. The improvement in sentiment about current and future house prices provides firm evidence that the Funding for Lending Scheme is already having a noticeable beneficial impact on the market, via the improved availability of mortgages and the simple fact that people perceive that the new initiative will drive a recovery of the housing market.

“With rising housing market sentiment adding to the news from the PMI surveys of a return to growth of business activity in January, the picture for the UK economy has brightened considerably since late last year.”

Please see attached research note- Confidence note

Please find attached recent research from Knight Frank.

KF Jan note

From £2.15 million: five luxury apartments at Lincoln’s Inn Fields are for sale.

Few parts of London have such a fascinating history as Holborn, which stretches from the Old Bailey, past the Hatton Garden jewellery quarter and Chancery Lane’s Inns of Court to Covent Garden. It was through these streets that condemned prisoners travelled on their way from Newgate in the City to the gallows at Tyburn, Marble Arch.

Urban since the Middle Ages, the area has always changed with the times and is now undergoing another transformation. In recent years, big law and accountancy firms have moved in, which has triggered demand for local homes — main residences as well as crashpads for higher-earning career professionals.

Lincoln’s Inn Fields is a listed building designed by renowned architect Edwin Lutyens

Five new luxury apartments in a listed building designed by renowned architect Edwin Lutyens are for sale at splendid Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London’s largest public square and one of the oldest, being first laid out in the 1600s.

The apartments have about 1,500 sq ft of space, and are linked to Club Quarters, a small designer hotel offering facilities to residents. Prices from £2.15 million to £3.25 million.
Area change has been given momentum by two new Crossrail stations being built at Tottenham Court Road and Farringdon. Fetter Lane has the world’s newest and biggest “courts complex” (29 courtrooms and other judicial offices), evidence of the area’s resurgent legal sector.

Nearby Inner and Middle Temple, with their barristers’ chambers, are London’s oldest live-work estates. Among the best new homes are those tucked away in narrow lanes and passageways, or next to heritage buildings.

Red Lion Court, close to the Royal Courts of Justice, fits into this category — 14 flats priced from £775,000.

Google’s move to a million-square-foot bespoke office complex at King’s Cross Central will be the biggest UK property deal of the 21st century so far — and will cement London’s position as the technology capital of Europe.

As London emerges from the banking crisis, it is re-inventing itself. New digital hubs are rejuvenating neighbourhoods where old trades and technologies have perished. This is bringing a fresh vibe to the streets, together with designer homes for techies who want to live close to their workplace.

The cluster of tech companies around Old Street’s so-called Silicon Roundabout — a breeding ground for ideas and product development — has helped transform Shoreditch into a top residential address. Royal Docks and the Olympic Park are becoming centres for green technology, while Covent Garden, formerly crammed with advertising agencies, now has more space occupied by “TMT” (technology, media and telecoms) companies than anywhere else in London — 2.2 million sq ft, up 30 per cent since 2009.

Townhouses and apartments are being built at Canal Reach

The cluster effect

Google will relocate to King’s Cross from offices in Victoria and Holborn in 2016. The site will be the internet giant’s European headquarters and is the company’s first design-and-build project anywhere in the world.

“The view of life in California [where Google was born] — on sustainability, recycling and so on — is very different,” according to David Partridge, chief executive of Argent, the building’s developer. “It has involved a lot of transatlantic discussion and a merging of knowledge and understanding. This will be a truly 21st-century workplace.”

Google expects a technology cluster to evolve in the surrounding area as a result of its move. “It’s the key ingredient for King’s Cross and will help anchor more tech companies in London,” says Edward Lister, deputy London mayor for policy and planning.

One communication highway opening up is the Regent’s Canal, which links King’s Cross, Shoreditch and Paddington. Run-down sections of waterfront continue to be brought back to life, with developers finding space for homes, loft offices and eateries, often small-business and live-work enclaves, as at Kingsland Basin and City Road Basin.

Transformation of 67 acres of blighted railway land at King’s Cross has proved a regeneration masterclass. It is an entirely new district in the making, with 20 new streets and “boulevards”, public squares, restored heritage buildings, modern offices and retail space, plus 1,900 new homes, 40 per cent of which are “affordable”, available through One Housing Group.

As many as 30,000 people will eventually work at King’s Cross Central, and 6,000 will live there. Google’s presence will complement the new campus for Central St Martins College of Art and Design, a splendid Victorian granary, or “warehouse of ideas” for 5,000 students and staff.

King’s Cross Central’s 2,000 homes are spread across 13 residential buildings, with about 40 per cent of the apartments designated “affordable”, a mix of rented and shared ownership. Argent is developing the site alone, rather than parcelling up land and selling off plots to housebuilders, meaning there is a coherent plan, with all the public-realm infrastructure in place before construction commences. The aim is to deliver high-quality architecture on a big site with a relatively low number of homes.

ArtHouse will have 114 flats and a terracotta steel façade

Creating living space

ArtHouse is the first scheme of private homes — 114 flats in a building with a façade of terracotta tiles, polished stainless steel and sliding louvre screens. On the market now are penthouses, priced from £1.55 million. Completion is in autumn 2013.

Launching next is Canal Reach — townhouses and apartments in a block crowned with a sky garden. Coming later are eagerly awaited apartments built within the iconic Victorian gasholder frames. These listed cast-iron structures have been dismantled and put in safe storage pending the start of construction.

A former engineering yard next to King’s Cross station has become Regent Quarter, a smart community of homes, design studios and small business premises in cobbled courtyards, while at Battlebridge Basin, canalside warehouses have been turned into trendy lofts and workspaces for creatives. Here, too, is King’s Place, a new 430-seat concert venue with art galleries and waterside restaurants.

Boost to business

Development ripples are spreading out towards Barnsbury, Angel and Bloomsbury. Google will retain its Innovation Hub in east London. The government-backed East London Tech City is a media and technology hub that spreads from Shoreditch to Stratford. Modelled on Silicon Valley in the United States, it has more than 3,000 tech firms, including Cisco, Facebook, Intel, Vodafone and Amazon, and employs 50,000 people in the digital economy. Imperial College and UCL are among the academic partners, with Barclays providing specialist banking finance to start-ups and entrepreneurs.

The view across Kingsland Basin from Canal Wharf, with the historic former stables in the background

City Road, which runs from Silicon Roundabout to Angel, has become a development corridor. Behind the busy thoroughfare a nine-acre canal basin is being opened up and turned into a mixed-use estate of homes, businesses, recreational outlets and boat club.

Developer Mount Anvil and housing association Affinity Sutton are offering 307 new homes, 69 for shared ownership, at The Lexicon — three canalside buildings, including a 36-storey tower. Adjacent to Silicon Roundabout is 27-storey Eagle House, another Mount Anvil scheme, with 276 flats.

Kingsland Basin, just north of the Shoreditch heartland, is being turned into a new waterside community with 207 new homes. The £65 million project includes the restoration of two listed stable buildings (once providing horse-drawn carriages for hire — the origins of “Hackney carriages”), which are being turned into studios and workshops for tech start-ups and small businesses. The canal bank is being opened up for recreational use, with eco-zones on the edges of the basin planted with native species to attract birds and other wildlife.

Hertford Wharf is one of three new apartment blocks, a modern architectural take on traditional wharves and warehouses, where homes have been released for sale. Prices from £385,000.

This Docklands quarter took a dip but the bounce-back has begun. Its size and population will double in a decade, reports David Spittles

Twenty-acre Wood Wharf will be built over 10 years and will have parks, a school and 2,000 new homes in four new waterside neighbourhoods

Canary Wharf, the heart of London’s Docklands, is making a healthy return to the market with a dozen major schemes planned to its northern and eastern reaches. The expansion will create a new skyline of even towers and will double Canary Wharf’s working population by 2025.

On the back of the Crossrail link coming on line in 2017/18, which will join Canary Wharf to the west of London, and to Heathrow, forecasters say the area is set to mature into a major new residential location.
Home buyers might be playing a waiting game after the financial crisis caused up to 30 per cent to be wiped off the value of some developments bought off-plan, but analysts say square-foot values in Canary Wharf could rise by a third to about £800 or even £1,000 — which would still be good value compared with central London.

Canary Wharf’s housing market has been quietly readjusting since the dark days following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. With the arrival of JP Morgan and Shell the local working population passed 100,000 for the first time last year, with the area now accommodating more bankers than the City of London.

And whereas the original Canary Wharf estate was geared towards giant office buildings for banks and financial services companies, the future development pipeline — more than nine million sq ft of space, the largest construction programme in London — has a far larger residential element.

Families have largely avoided the area due to a lack of good-size houses with gardens, while others think so much new build can be soulless. But the next generation of development will be much more mixed.

Twenty-acre Wood Wharf is the most notable of these big new projects. To be built over 10 years, it will have 2,000 homes in four new waterfront neighbourhoods, two parks, the area’s first school and a new high street linking Canary Wharf to Isle of Dogs.

“Canary Wharf is more than a global financial centre, it is an exciting cultural and lifestyle district which is helping shift the capital’s centre of gravity eastwards,” says architect Terry Farrell, Wood Wharf masterplanner.

From 300,000: 46-storey Crossharbour Tower, specialising in slick scyscrapers, will offer 330 flats.

Two decades after arriving on the map as a business district, the area is finally maturing into an attractive residential address, with good local amenities and transport.

The Jubilee line provides quick connections to the West End and South Bank. And although Crossrail will give quick access to Heathrow, bankers and lawyers can now fly direct to New York on British Airways business-class flights from London City Airport, just around the river bend from Canary Wharf.

Despite shrinking bonuses, this pocket of E14 is London’s highest- paying postcode, with an average male salary in excess of £100,000, giving developers the confidence to build designer apartments and crashpads.

As elsewhere in London, Isle of Dogs has a number of micro markets, of which Canary Wharf is one. The latter is a 97-acre enclave, with its own “ring of steel” (private security cordon) enclosing office and retail space, including four shopping malls and numerous bars and restaurants.

There are relatively few homes within this distinct commercial quarter but hundreds within the “halo” — a 10-minute walk of the dealing rooms. This extended zone is the most sought-after, boasting walk-to-work convenience and the best of the older and new apartment schemes.

Coming soon is Dollar Bay, a 31-storey residential tower at West India Dock. This will have 121 waterside apartments with glazed winter gardens for year-round use and unrestricted views west and east. At the top of the building is a 6,000 sq ft triplex penthouse with sky garden.

From £300,000: Lincoln Plaza is one of the new towers rising at Millharbour. It will have 300 apartments

Storeys with a twist

Plans have been submitted for the UK’s second tallest tower on the site of the City Pride pub at Westferry Circus. Chalegrove Properties wants to build a 75-storey block with 864 flats, while developer Galliard has snapped up Baltimore Wharf, on a prime plot where the doomed London Arena once stood. Next to Crossharbour DLR station, it is another architectural treat for Docklands, a design by Skidmore Owens Merrill, a Chicago-based firm whose speciality is slick skyscrapers.

The first phase of 473 apartments is complete. The next is 46-storey Crossharbour Tower, a “twisting” structure with 330 flats and spectacular penthouses. Prices from £300,000. Call 020 7620 1500. Much is being made of the scheme’s “lifestyle” credentials — waterfront restaurants and bars, a creche, convenience stores, 24-hour concierge, private security and valet parking. And instead of a mere gym and spa, there is an “urban country club” — The Baltimore Club — offering virtual-reality golf and clay pigeon shooting.

Millharbour, across the dock, used to be occupied by low-rise business estates built in the early Eighties, another example of how the development scene has changed. Lincoln Plaza, one of the new residential towers soon to rise on this land, has 380 flats available now off-plan. Prices from £300,000.

In this economy, houses aren’t selling like they used to. However, there are some ways to improve the chances of selling your house. If you have a house on the market, or are considering it, read on for seven tips that will make it easier to sell your house and make a smooth transition from one owner to the next.

1. Maintain Neutrality
   This policy has worked for Switzerland, and it can also work in real estate. Customizing your home is great if you plan to stay there, but extreme colors and themed rooms can scare off potential homebuyers. If you have customized every room with extremely bright or dark colored paint, wallpaper or wall fixtures, you may want to consider toning it down a bit. Using neutral colors on the walls can help prospective buyers create their own vision for the house, and will also leave them with less work to undo if they buy the house.
2. Less Is More
   Even though you have not moved out yet, removing some of your furniture can help the house move off the market. If you take pictures for your listing, having less furniture can help the home appear more spacious. When potential homebuyers arrive, having less furniture can also provide clear walkways.
3. That New House Smell
   Honestly, the new house smell isn’t always the most pleasant, but at least it is new. In preparing to show your home, you should avoid strong smells. To avoid odors, make sure to take out the trash and clean the refrigerator regularly. It is also good to be mindful of what you cook in the days leading up to a showing since certain foods have strong scents. If you have pets, keep an eye on the litter box. Any smell that is too strong could send potential homebuyers running out the door.
4. Pay Attention to the Details
   It is not a good idea to make major renovations when you are ready to sell your home because you may not recoup your investment. If you never got around to starting or completing that total kitchen or bathroom makeover, then you can make some small, inexpensive changes to spruce things up. Replacing the hardware on cabinets is a quick way to improve the appearance of older looking fixtures. Upgrading small items such as light switch and outlet covers can also add a nice touch.
5. Maximize Your “Curb Appeal”
   The front of your home is the first thing prospective home-buyers will see, so keeping it presentable is a must. If there is a yard, keep the grass to a reasonable height and if there are trees, be sure to keep the branches under control. The path to your front door should be a clear and welcoming one, not an obstacle course!
6. Don’t Get Too Personal
   Upon entering your house, everyone will know it is lived in, but they do not need to see all the evidence. Get rid of excess clutter such as newspapers, magazines, and mail. Be sure to put away your laundry and shoes. It may also be a good idea to put away some other personal belongings like pictures on the refrigerator or mantle. For you, the pictures may make a house a home or display your personal touch. For the new homeowner, it may appear too personal.
7. Take Care of Repairs
   Waiting to make repairs until after you find a buyer can be tricky. Depending on the nature of the repairs, you may not be able to find a buyer. Depending on how fast the buyer wants to close on the house, you may not have enough time to make the repairs. Save yourself some time and potential trouble, by making repairs before you list your home. The repairs will have to be made anyway, so it is better to get them out of the way sooner rather than later.

First impressions can make the difference between a sale or no sale. Keeping things simple can give you a leg up on similar houses on the market.