Estate Agents Fees Survey Reveals London Agent Fees are In Line With UK

Estate agents are often secretive about what they charge sellers, it has been alleged, whilst there is great variation in the levels of fees that they charge.

A new survey found that only one agent in London – Winkworth – disclosed its fees on its website. About 20% of London agents refused to disclose their fees over the phone or via email.

The survey, by new estate agent comparison website ipostcode, looked at 250 agents’ fees across London and found that it is not necessarily in the most expensive postcodes where agents charge the highest fees.

Some of the highest average commissions are charged in the SE1 (Bermondsey), NW11 (Golders Green) and W6 (Hammersmith) postcodes, although agents in some lower priced areas – E8 (Dalston), N8 (Crouch End) and SE28 (Thamesmead) – offer some of the lowest commission rates.

The majority of the London estate agencies surveyed quoted 1.5% commission, but 15% of agents quoted 1%. The highest commission level quoted was 2.5%.

There were several postcode areas including Islington (N1) and Clerkenwell (EC1) where commission levels spanned the range from 1%-2.5%, which means that on a property priced at the London average of £342,749 (according to latest Land Registry figures), the seller could be paying anything from £4,113 to £10,282 including VAT to sell the same home.

Estate agents’ reputation for being guarded about their fees was borne out by the survey, with one in five of agents refusing to say what their fees were, either on the phone or via email. Only one agency, Winkworth, which has 43 London offices, displayed fees online.

One in four agents said that their fees are negotiable based on either a realistic valuation of the property or depending on the price range of the property. Many agents in the survey stressed that an agency should not be chosen simply on their commission rates but on service, track record and marketing.

The survey also found that estate agent fees in London at an average of 1.7% are more or less in line with the national average of 1.8% – contrary to the perception that London estate agent fees are the highest in the country.

Estate Agent Today

London Celebrates Chinese New Year This Weekend

The Chinese Year of the Dragon will roar into Westminster this Sunday (29th) with a parade and festival showcasing the best of Chinese culture.

The festivities will start at 10:00am on Sunday 29 January 2012 with a New Year parade around London's West End, reaching its final destination of Trafalgar Square at noon.

The Lord Mayor of Westminster, Cllr Susie Burbridge, will then join Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Chinese Ambassador to London, Mr Liu Xiaoming, to speak at the opening ceremony of the festival.

After the speeches, celebrations will kick off with traditional dragon dancing, music and performances on the Trafalgar Square stage until 6pm.

A second stage in Shaftesbury Avenue will host performances from a range of local community groups and schools.

The capital's famous Chinatown will also play host to a parade by lion dancers as well as a range of stalls selling traditional produce throughout the day.

First Time Buyers Demand Requires Large Scale Building Programme

House prices will remain high because not enough new properties are being built, it has been claimed.

The National Housing Building Council (NHBC) believes the nation’s growing population and a lack of mortgage availability is causing a housing shortage, which might be good for people who are equity rich, but is crippling the hopes of first-time buyers.

Richard Tamayo, commercial director of the NHBC, said that the problem could helped by more new homes being constructed but revealed that 45 per cent less are being built now than in 2008.

"Even four years ago, we were not building enough homes to meet the needs of the growing UK population,” he stated.

“The dream and inspiration of home ownership amongst the younger population is moving further and further out of their reach.”

The government recently claimed that its £420 million Get Britain Building scheme will see around 16,000 new properties come onto the market and create somewhere in the region of 30,000 new jobs.

First Time Property Buyers News

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Londons Property Bubble

How long can London's property market defy gravity asks the online Wall Street Journal? House prices in the capital rose in December, even as prices elsewhere stayed flat or fell, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Prices in prime central London are around 16% higher than their September 2007 precrisis peak. Some forecasters predict a further 25% jump by 2016, as foreign investors continue to seek havens for their cash. But downward pressures are likely to intensify this year.

Foreign buyers account for more than half of the sales of London's most desirable residences, helping shield the market from a domestic downturn. Many have large chunks of equity to invest, so are less affected by the mortgage-lending squeeze. Recent sterling weakness against many currencies—down 20% against the dollar since the start of the crisis—has added to London's allure, while ultralow interest rates have kept a lid on distressed sales.

So long as the economic uncertainty continues, the torrent of foreign cash flowing into London property—an estimated £6 billion, or roughly $9 billion, in the 18 months through mid-2011—will likely be sustained. But the top end of the market is sensitive to the global picture. If the euro crisis is resolved or the world economic outlook improves, overseas investors might turn to riskier, higher-return assets. A rise in sterling or a fall in commodity prices are other possible factors.

London property isn't cheap by any measure. Yields are low—at 3.9%, compared with 5% in the wider U.K. housing market and up to 7% for prime offices in most European capitals. Soaring prime central London rents, up 25% since mid-2009, have provided some support to valuations, but an estimated 55% of "prime" tenants work in financial services, where heavy job losses are on tap. Yields are likely to remain flat into 2016, estate agent Savills says.

Meanwhile, the average house price in London is equivalent to 7.8 times earnings for a typical first-time buyer, compared with an average of 4.8 times across the country, website Findaproperty.com estimates. Such a disparity looks unsustainable, and provides a strong incentive for capital-dwellers to relocate and investors to seek better value elsewhere.

London Mayor Plans Reforms of the Rental Market

Speaking at the National Housing Federation London Mayor Boris Johnson outlined the details of his revised housing strategy which would deliver 55,000 affordable homes in London by 2015, including 16,000 in the current financial year – the most since the mid-1990′s.

The new housing will be designed to the Mayor’s larger spaces standard which will mean more decent-sized family homes.As well as providing over 100,000 jobs in the next four years, these new affordable homes should also provide a much needed stimulus to housing mobility. By upgrading 40,000 council homes and by creating more affordable homes the plans will allow more Londoners than ever to get on the housing ladder. This should have a knock-on effect across the market with an increase in buyers over the four years and therefore steady growth.

This movement in the market will be spurred on by the government’s mortgage indemnity scheme which would decrease mortgage deposits to just 5% for first-time buyers allowing more of those stuck renting to gain a footing on the housing ladder.

The Mayor also has plans to reform the rental market by accrediting 100,000 landlords in an attempt to improve the quality of service in the sector. While this will help to raise confidence in the rental sector it will also make finding the best tenants a more difficult task. For landlords living outside of the capital that may mean using a property rental management service to ensure they are providing the most attentive service to their tenants.

London Social Housing News; Westminster Council Announce Flagship Scheme

Low wage West End workers not prioritised for social housing will be able to apply for affordable accommodation in the heart of the capital, thanks to a pilot flagship scheme launched on Friday 13 January 2012 by Westminster City Council.

As rent, transport and living costs continue to rise across the capital, workers that form an integral part of the West End’s economy, such as market traders, performing artists, Special Constables and hospitality sector workers, are left with ever fewer affordable housing options.

To reconnect the West End’s exceptional diversity of markets, theatres and hotels with its workforce, Westminster’s Fair Share Housing Scheme which has been welcomed by Housing Minister Grant Shapps MP, will provide high quality sub-market rent accommodation in central London on a shared basis, with rents at a third cheaper than private sector rents.

In addition, with introduction of the Government’s new housing benefit changes from January 2012, single people under 35 will no longer receive Housing Benefits based on one bedroom self-contained accommodation.

This scheme will facilitate the under 35’s to find shared accommodation within central London and extend eligibility for Housing Benefits.

London Olympic Rentals News; Rents Soar in Woodford and Wanstead

Olympic rental prices are rocketing in Wanstead and Woodford, with one house to be let for £26,000.

A South Woodford estate agent told the Guardian that a nearby home will be rented for £26,000 by a Danish television company covering the Games this summer.

And residents offering their property to renters for the Olympics or Paralympics can expect to earn four times as much as at any other time of the year as east London cashes in on the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Elsewhere, a seven-bedroom house in Thyme Avenue, Wanstead, has an asking price of £10,000.

Homes across Wanstead, South Woodford and Woodford Green are being advertised for a combined £53,000, excluding the home to be rented by the Danish television producers.

However, he sounded a warning over a potential pitfall of renting a house out for the Games.

“The tenants probably don't have any background renting in the UK. It means they might not look after the property as much but people will weigh that up against the money they could earn.”

Ex-England footballer Sol Campbell will let his central London pad for £75,000 a week during the Olympics as tourists from more than 200 countries flock to the capital.

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Building & Construction News: More homes planned for London

House builder Taylor Wimpey has announced plans to build more homes in London in 2012 than ever before.

The housing market in the UK capital has bucked the trend of falling prices and the builder hopes to take advantage of this.

Ingrid Skinner, Taylor Wimpey Central London’s managing director, said that the company hopes to extend its reach to some of the more 'up and coming' boroughs which are undergoing redevelopment.

“We have a diverse pipeline of fantastic projects that will enable us to extend the group’s operational aims and to bring more homes to the market than ever before in key areas of Central London in 2012 and beyond," she added.

Projects currently in the planning or construction phases include West Hampstead, Tufnell Park, Islington, Newham and Lewisham, while developments in Greenwich, Kensington and Camden are in the pipeline.

It is thought that the initial phase of development alone will deliver more than 400 new homes.
Recently, housing minister Grant Shapps estimated that the government's £420 million Get Britain Building Fund will lead to the development of around 16,000 new properties.

Building and Construction News