2017
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Latest property news
Thousands of online viewers watch agent’s spoof John Lewis Xmas TV ad
A video parodying this year’s John Lewis Xmas TV ad featuring a young boy and a monster living under his bed has now been watched by 10,000 people and attracted over 200 likes on Facebook. Helmores, which is based in the town of Crediton north of Exeter and claims a heritage reaching back to 1699, filmed its own version of the high street retailer’s advertisement almost scene for scene. Instead of a small boy it’s a George, a 40-year-old office worker and rather than a monster, it’s Ian the friendly estate agent. And as in the John Lewis original, George and Ian then go on to spend each night in George’s bedroom playing Scaletrix with his ‘estate agent’ and subsequently falling asleep during the day – at work, playing football and having his hair cut. The situation is resolved when what appears to be the man’s wife gives him a set of keys with a Helmores call card tied to it – and ends with the tagline ‘Moving home doesn’t need to be scary’. The budget version of the £7m John Lewis ad was completed on a “very small budget” in just a week by the Cornish estate agent, which…
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Latest property news
Lettings agents “to be regulated” reveals communities secretary
Communities secretary Sajid Javid has announced a raft of proposed lettings regulations during his speech yesterday at the 2017 Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, while also revealing that the proposed lettings fees ban legislation is about to be published. The most radical of the new proposals is to force letting agents to join a professional organisation and meet “certain minimum standards”, effectively introducing regulation of the industry by the back door. The comment came during a tub-thumping speech that described the housing market as “broken” and that things where so bad he said “Jeremy Corbyn is being taken seriously” about housing – the Labour leader last weekend announced plans to introduced rent controls should labour the voted in at the next election. Sajid also said that although the Conservatives want to see more people own their homes, he admitted the chance of achieving this for many millions of Brits is now much slimmer than previous generations. “People are three times more likely to be renting than before” he said. But as well as saying “all agents must be regulated”, he also revealed several measures aimed at strengthening the “rights of people who rent”. New redress scheme These include requiring all…
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Latest property news
Foxtons revenues down by 25% during Q1
Foxtons revenues across its three core areas of business fell during the first three months of the year compared to the same period of 2016, the company has revealed. Commission from sales sank by 44.5% from £20m to £11.1 million, lettings revenues were down slightly from £15.8m to £15.5m and mortgage broking fees fell by £500,000 to £2.1m. The company says the dramatic drop in sales revenue has been created by last year’s rush by landlords and second homes buyers to buy properties before the Stamp Duty increase deadlines. This has left a sizeable hole in its first quarter 2017 group revenues which dropped by 25% from £38.4m last year to £28.7m. But Foxtons’ board says this was “expected”. Sales commission Similar reductions in revenue particularly from sales commissions reported in its 2016 accounts were said by Foxtons chairman Garry Watts to be caused by a substantial reduction in transactions in London, driven principally by rising house prices, stamp duty changes and the EU referendum. The results have pushed the company’s strategy off-course somewhat – it’s stated aim to investors for some time now has been to target “higher-volume, higher-value residential property markets within London”. Its shares on the London…
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