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Showing posts from August, 2016

More contradicting headlines in the news today. What's really going on in Clapham?

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Not a day goes by that I don't have my finger firmly on the pulse. Be it Clapham, Brixton or beyond I do like to get a feel of what is going on in South London. As do you, I'm sure. Today, however, I was confronted with such contradicting headlines I couldn't help but tell you about it. A selection: House price growth to slump 1% post-Brexit Prime London prices cool in Q2 Limited company applications surge in June 43 million Brits 'would go over budget' for the right home The first claim about house prices "slumping" (if you can call 1% a slump) was made by Fionnuala Earley, Countrywide’s Chief Economist. Forgive me for not immediately agreeing. Countrywide have not exactly been the best bunch of business people or estate agents for that matter, so much so that they are now investing heavily in online property sales. Anyway, rest assured, they do conclude with something sensible such as "Countrywide says they will mean prices ret

Clapham Property Meet - are you ready to network with other Clapham property investors?

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I've been asked a number of times when speaking at Wimbledon PIN why I wasn't working a bit closer to "home." Truth is there is no regular meet on the Northern line near Clapham. Thankfully there is now. I have decided, together with fellow property investor Trevor Cutmore (who specialises in lease options), to host the Clapham Property Meet at the Jam Tree in Clapham Old Town. We will be delivering a content-filled evening on the last Wednesday of September (28th) in a relaxed, social environment. We felt that some of the meetings can feel a bit corporate, so we're trying to steer away from that. Naturally we will be hosting some very knowledgeable speakers and we will be talking about the latest in property investment.  After listening to a number of my clients I've found there is a thirst for knowledge locally; hopefully a nice evening at the Jam Tree will somewhat quench that thirst. We can't cover everything in one night, but we will ove

Overseas buyers active in Central London - does this mean you should be buying in Clapham too?

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I came across this article the other day: Huge spike in Chinese property investors' interest in the UK post-Brexit . I think without clicking on the link you can get the jist of it. In essence the drop in value of the GBP has made property in London 10% cheaper overnight. Before the Brexit results 1 GBP bought you 9.8CNY. Today that same pound is only worth 8.8CNY. A nice discount if your money is in China and you happen to be in the market for a flat in the UK/London. As I predicted in my previous articles, the weaker pound has indeed sparked mass interest from overseas. This is great news! Normally whatever happens in (Prime) Central London will have a ripple effect on the rest of the capital, so you can see more activity in zones 2, 3 and beyond in the next few months. People keep asking me whether Brexit has been detrimental to the market and truth be told it may have been, but combine it with other factors like the summer holidays (it's normally very quiet in th