The lack of supply continues to be the single biggest factor dominating the market and even if every one of the sixteen valuations comes to the market I fear that it will not even begin to dent current demand that we are receiving.  That said, there remains a two-tier market in place and sellers should be aware of this.  Buyers are selective, true prime properties, those on the best floors and in the very best roads will continue to sell at prices equivalent to (or in some cases in excess of) 2007 levels, while those that for whatever reason are not deemed to be as prime will still sell but not at the same levels as they would have at the peak.  Some agents appear to be unaware of this fact and about a third of the valuations that were carried out by us were of properties already on the market with other agents.  In virtually every case it was blindingly obvious that the sole reason a sale had not taken place before the end of 2009 (and the last three months of 2009 were very strong) was that the agent had over estimated the value.

As is inevitable in a market that has pent up demand but a lack of supply, agents have started giving would be sellers over inflated valuations in order to entice vendors to sell and to sell with them.  So be warned, the market is good but not everything in sight is selling at the prices being quoted by agents. But that’s still a massive improvement on this time last year and we remain cautiously optimistic for the coming year.

Further details are availabe from St John’s Hyde Park, Hyde Park Crescent, London W2 2QD.  Telephone: 020 7262 1732

Alternatively you can visit: www.stjohns-hydepark.com/christmas

So how do you make sure your property is valued correctly?  You can start by doing some research and looking at what price similar properties are on the market for by searching the portals such as primelocation.com and rightmove.co.uk.  That said, there can be large discrepancies between a property’s asking price and its eventual selling price.  Mouseprice.co.uk which compiles land registry data is a free to use site which will list the price at which properties actually sell for but there are difficulties in analysing the data as it does not give essential information such as number of bedrooms, square footage, lease length, condition and the floor a property is on and whether or not it has a lift if it is a flat. Unless you know at least some of these before hand the information can be of limited use. In addition there is a time lag and the data is at least three month’s old by the time it becomes available from the land registry and the market can fluctuate significantly in this time.

The next step is to call in three good, reputable and established local agents who have a track record of selling houses in your road or apartments in your building. Don’t be surprised if you get wide discrepancies in the valuations. I have been in to valuations recently where there have been differences of hundred of thousands of pounds!  As tempting as it may be, the highest valuation is not necessarily the correct one and with the current shortage of stock some agents are once again getting carried away and purposely over valuing to win business and the talk the vendors down in price at a later date.  Don’t be afraid to grill your agent and make them justify their valuation. A good agent will be able to talk you through their thinking and give you examples of similar properties that they have sold. If they seem way of the mark and cannot do this convincingly they are probably wrong.

When you do eventually find a buyer make sure they have the means to buy the your flat or house and there are a list of steps you should ask your agent to check prior to getting started. This is even more important if you happen to have more than one buyer interested as you do not want to make what could be a very costly mistake and end up choosing the wrong one!

(1) Do they have a related sale? If yes, have they accepted an offer and how long is the chain? The longer the chain the more chance there is of something going wrong and the whole thing collapsing before exchange.

(2)  Can they actually afford to buy your property? If they are borrowing they should have an in principal mortgage offer. Your agent should be able to tell you who this is with and what percentage they are borrowing. The smaller the amount they are borrowing relative to the sale price the better. Banks are still cautious lenders and there is a chance that your property may be down valued by the bank’s surveyor, particularly if they are paying a full price. If they are only borrowing a small amount then this is less likely to have a major impact should it your property be down valued as the buyer may be able to borrow a bit more to make up any shortfall.

(3)  Beware of so called “cash buyers”. Many buyers are under the misapprehension that just because they do not have anything to sell they are in effect cash buyers and you may accept a cash offer only to find out that they are actually taking out a mortgage.  When selling repossessions on behalf of banks or building societies and in circumstances where we have multiple offers we now always insist on seeing actual proof of cash funds, even if it means buyers showing us bank statements. Some people can be funny about this but in my experience it usually means they do not have the funds.  If they really want the property and are serious they should not have a problem in proving they genuinely have cash funding in place.

(4) When you do exchange contracts make sure you insist on a full 10% deposit. There are still instances where buyers are unable to complete because they have not properly arranged their finances and you want to make sure you have a decent deposit in the unlikely event this happens.

If you agree a delayed completion there is a remote chance that the market may temporarily fall a little between exchange and completion and your buyer may get cold feet. However, with a full 10% deposit it will be far less likely that a buyer will walk away from a sale as they will already have paid an amount greater than any possible fall in value.

17 Great Cumberland Place is a modern building located moments from Marble Arch, Hyde Park and walking distance to Marylebone High Street, Oxford Street.  The building has been carefully interior designed with high
quality fixtures and fittings, timber floors, natural stone tiles with under floor heating in all bathrooms, 13 person lift, underground parking and is offered furnished or unfurnished.

The apartments vary with four different options split with the same layout on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Floors and two Penthouse apartments over the 6th & 7th Floors.

Apartments 1, 5, 9, 14, 18 are of approximately 1,208sq ft and comprise of a master bedroom with quality fitted wardrobes and a fully tiled en-suite bathroom with a power shower, further double bedroom with fitted wardrobes and a third bedroom/study with wooden sliding doors to the reception area, fully tiled shower room, utility cupboard and a 23ft reception room with wood flooring and a semi open plan fully equipped “Varenna Matrix” kitchen.

Apartments 2, 6, 10, 15, 19 are of approximately 1,201sq ft and comprise of a master bedroom with quality fitted wardrobes and a fully tiled en-suite bathroom with a power shower, further double bedroom with fitted wardrobes and a third bedroom/study with wooden sliding doors to the reception area, fully tiled shower room, utility cupboard and a 23ft reception room with wood flooring and a semi open plan fully equipped “Varenna Matrix” kitchen.

Apartments 3, 7, 11, 16, 20 are of approximately 961sq ft and comprise of a master bedroom with quality fitted wardrobes and a fully tiled en-suite bathroom with a power shower, further double bedroom/study with a fitted wardrobe and wooden sliding doors to the reception area, fully tiled shower room, utility cupboard and a 22ft reception room with wood flooring and an open plan fully equipped “Varenna Matrix” kitchen.

Apartments 4, 8, 12, 17, 21 are approximately 947sq ft and comprise of a master bedroom with quality fitted wardrobes and a fully tiled en-suite bathroom with a power shower, further double bedroom/study with a fitted wardrobe and wooden sliding doors to the reception area, fully tiled shower room, utility cupboard and a 21ft reception room with wood flooring and an open plan fully equipped “Varenna Matrix” kitchen.

The two stunning split-level penthouse apartments (apartments 22 & 23) are of approximately 2,127sq ft and comprise of a master bedroom suite with a dressing area and a fully tiled en-suite bathroom with a separate shower, further double bedroom on the mezzanine with a fitted wardrobes, en-suite shower room and a private balcony, further bedroom/study with fitted wardrobes and wooden sliding doors to the reception area, fully tiled shower room, utility cupboard, fully equipped “Varenna Matrix” kitchen and a 27ft reception room with wood flooring, double height ceilings and direct access to a wrap around decked balcony.

Ful details are available from Kay & Co Marylebone Lettings on 020 7486 6338.

At the same time we also experienced a surge of “upsizers” keen to exploit lower prices. This sector of the market decided it was time to sell their apartment £1,000,000 for 10% or 15% less but to save 10% or 15% on a much more expensive £2,500,000 house, leaving them with a net gain.

As we moved through the summer it was apparent that stock levels were gradually being depleted with not much sign of more stock coming on. Would be sellers held off from putting their own properties on the market due to them being unable to find a suitable property to move to. Sellers of second homes or investment properties (a big source of property supply in W1 and W2) have been reticent to sell due to interest rates being at an all time low and a lack of any meaningful alternative to do with the sales proceeds.

This dwindling pool of stock combined with pent up demand resulted in the return of gazumping and sealed bids situations with examples of some properties selling at hundreds of thousands of pounds over and above their asking prices. This phenomenon, however, was restricted to the very best homes in the very best locations.

As we move into 2010 the market is likely to remain buoyant. With interest rate increases still a possibility and with mortgage with lending likely to ease further, it is probable that buyers will have both a greater choice of properties and more purchasing power. This combination, however, is most likely to mean that prices will remain stable for the next 12 to 18 months with modest increases after that.

We have a whole range of enhanced functionality with each individual property being optimised for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) on google and other search engines.  This means that prospective buyers and tenants will be able to find properties listed on this site direct from search engines without even having to search for them on our site.  This new advance in technology will give our clients’ properties far greater and more visible exposure to the market place.

We also have a great new Area Guide which gives helpful information on the fantastic central London locations within which Kay & Co operates including some interesting history, schools, restaurants, shops and other local amenities.  There is also a version which you can download and keep!

And of course, most importantly, our new Kay & Co blog which will enable us to you to keep you updated with the latest movements in the very specific market place that we work in, together with updates as to the latest legislation and details of how it will effect you.

We hope you like the new site and welcome your feedback.

Martin Bikhit
Managing Director