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Regional round-up

Each month we visit three agents across the country to discover what is happening in their businesses and local markets. This month we visit Oxfordshire, Essex & Hertfordshire and London.

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oxfordshire_propertiesThe market has been exceptionally buoyant and we are seeing excellent offers coming in on individual properties in good locations, with some competitive bidding in prime areas. We have also auctioned two very pretty Grade II cottages which were ideal for renovating and updating – one of them sold at £400,000 and one at £675,000 which was an excellent result. We have a large influx of buyers from London with young families looking to relocate for the excellent schools in the Oxford area. We also have constant movement of medical staff who are relocating to the Oxford
hospitals and also staff who are going to work at the universities in Oxford.

Oxfordshire

Average Sale price: £625,000
Average fee: 1.25% sales: 12%
managed lettings
Number of viewings: sales: 75,
lettings 52
Sales agreed: 6, lettings: 8

There is also a large buy to let influence into the Oxford market with many parents buying properties for their children to live in whilst at university there, also useful for them as an excellent
investment in this prime area.

There are excellent routes into London with the M40 and also the train service from Thame (Haddenham Parkway) into London which is only 37 minutes. This is proving an incentive for commuters to the area.

sue_moregan_morgan_and_assoThe rentals in the area are always strong and we see many people relocating to jobs in Oxford from overseas – they are often on half-year contracts and, therefore, looking to rent good quality properties between £1,500 and £5,000 pcm.

Sue Morgan is a Director of Morgan & Associates in Oxford.

essex_hertfordshire_propertWith a nine office network spanning across North Essex and East Hertfordshire, Intercounty’s homes typically offer clients quick rail and road transport into London and easy access to the UK’s fourth busiest airport, Stansted. Our offices cover a range of towns, cities, and villages providing sales and lettings services for our buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants.

Essex & Hertfordshire

Average sale price: £279,000
Average fee: Sales: 1.35%,
Managed Property: 11%,
Let/rent: 10.4%, Let only: 9%
% of stock reduced this month and average reduction:
Reduced stock: 18% this month with an average reduction of 5%.
Number of sales viewings: 1794
Number of sales agreed: 110
Number of lettings completed: 71

As a result we offer a diverse selection of sales and lettings properties from £100,000 buy to let investment opportunities in Harlow, traditional £250,000 semi-detached town houses close to local schools in Chelmsford, through to £600,000 listed period thatched properties in Saffron Walden.

Since the start of 2013 we have experienced a significant amount of activity in the lower end of our market, especially with properties priced below £300,000. This has been balanced out by a challenging market for more expensive homes.

The lettings market is fast paced, fuelled by low levels of stock and the properties that become available being snapped up quickly by longer staying tenants (our tenants are staying on average 17 months in their rented accommodation).

At Intercounty, we pride ourselves on providing our sellers, buyers, tenants and landlords with the very best knowledge of our local areas with many members of our team growing up and still living in the areas we greg_young_intercountrytrade in.

We aspire to continue to develop our award winning levels of customer service and better serve our clients and local community.

Greg Young is Managing Director of Intercounty Estate Agents, in Essex and Hertfordshire.

london_property_pricesThe Kensington & Chelsea market has always been seen to be a “Micro” market compared to the rest of the country with an enormous amount of ‘Overseas’ Investment pouring in from all parts of the globe. We have recently seen a huge surge of purchasers (ready and able) registering for similar property at similar prices. We have definitely seen a large number of enquiries below the £2m mark as there is a strong ‘backdraft’ over the increase in stamp duty from five per cent to seven per cent over the £2m mark.

London

Average sale price: £1.9m
Average sales fee: 2%
Average lettings fee: 10%
Number of viewings (June) 142
Number of sales & lettings agreed in June: 17

We are also seeing some prestigious new developments now coming out of the ground such as the Commonwealth Institute and 375 Kensington High Street, which has been mostly pre-sold in Asia,
with prices for one bedroom apartments asking around £1m!

With the high purchase prices currently being achieved this has affected the rental returns in the area as they have not followed suit and we are only seeing around 3.5 to four per cent return. However, we are seeing a shortage of prime quality instructions in The Royal Borough of Kensington kieran_ryan_rickman_propert& Chelsea, with demand outstripping supply.

One of our latest instructions is this splendidly refurbished 1200 sq ft mansion apartment in Chelsea, just off the Fulham Road and extremely convenient to the local restaurants, bars and the excellent shopping facilities. Asking price is £1.45M.

Kieran Ryan is a director of Rickman Properties, in Kensington and Chelsea, London

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August 13, 2013