Live London, Dec 7, 2022-Jan 11, 2023

469

Place as buyers continue to invest

by Jon Massey

While average house prices in the UK fell 1.4% from October to November according to Nationwide’s latest data, the softening of property values nationally has seemingly done nothing to dampen demand for high-end homes.

Southbank Place, located behind the London Eye facing the Thames, has seen a recent run of sales, meaning only penthouses and sub-penthouses remain on offer.

Developed by Braeburn Estates – a joint venture between Canary Wharf Group and Qatari Diar –the scheme has seen just under £30million worth of properties at One and Thirty Casson Square purchased, taking the total number of homes sold to 469.

The properties still available include three penthouses and a three-bedroom sub-penthouse across One Casson Square and Thirty Casson Square, the last of the 213 and 166 units, respectively.

Designed by Squire and Partners, these towers offer views across central London towards the Houses Of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral and the City.

sales are staying

There are also two penthouses available at nearby Belvedere Gardens including a four-bed room property designed and dressed by interiors firm Goddard Littlefair.

This home occupies the entire 10th floor of the tower and extends to some 3,862sq ft of space including a pair of bedroom suites with walk-in dressing rooms, two guest bedrooms, two kitchens, an open-plan living area, two guest bathrooms, a private terrace and a balcony.

Facilities at Belvedere Gardens

include a residents’ lounge and outdoor terrace looking out over Jubilee Gardens to the river and a dedicated health and fitness facility, with steam and sauna rooms, gym, treatment rooms, a wet room and a relaxation room.

Southbank Place residents also get access to a 17,000sq ft private health club, a 25m swimming pool and various fitness and beauty amenities. Prices start at £7.85million.

Southbank Place managing director of residential sales Brian De’ath said: “This development has remained one of London’s most successful schemes and, even through a pandemic and unpredictable markets, sales have remained strong.

“This is largely attributed to the quality of homes on offer, the fully immersed lifestyle and the excellent location.

“The final penthouse units boast unparalleled views of London’s skyline, in addition to the stateof-the-art facilities and amenities exclusively for residents, so this development is still a huge draw for buyers.

“To be maintaining the sales levels that we are is a huge testament to the scheme and is a good yardstick for the final phase set to launch next year.”

Southbank Place is located within easy walking distance of Waterloo station offering access to Canary Wharf in five stops via the Jubilee line.

Affordable housing for the scheme has been delivered partially on-site with further properties at Lollard Street. Go to southbank-place.com or call 020 70013600 for more information

Scan this for more about homes at Southbank Place

how only homes at the very top of the towers remain at Southbank

Properties sold so far at Southbank Place with only six remaining

One of the penthouses has been designed and dressed by Goddard Littlefair

featured property

This

Extending to approximately 1,002sq ft, the home includes full height glazing, a private terrace, a living room, the bedrooms and a ground floor bathroom. Above is a cloakroom and toilet, hallway and a kitchen diner, complete with a juliet balcony and a second entrance to the property.

Located close to Island Gardens station for access to Canary Wharf and the City, the property is also within easy walking distance of Greenwich via the foot tunnel under the Thames. Go to lmlondon.com

Scan this code to find out more about this property

contact Landmark Estates on 020 7515 0800 or email info@lmlondon.com for more about this property or similar homes on the agency’s books

Bressay House, E14 3AN Guide: £575,000 Leasehold

two-bedroom split level maisonette is located within the Emerald Gardens estate on the Isle Of Dogs’ Westferry Road.

The property also boasts a private terrace to the rear

The maisonette features a ground floor living room

Southbank Place boasts views over central London and the Thames

The headlines and news radio phone-ins have been dominated by those pesky revolting Tory MPs who, according to the press, are standing in the way of housebuilding.

What are they doing? Well, it seems they do not want to impose central government housebuilding targets on local authorities – putting the onus on councils to encourage private development to somehow build 300,000 new homes per year.

Baffling. There was me thinking the reason we fall short and have fallen short in the house building sector is due to a list of factors, namely:

l Unrealistic land values.

l Impossible, archaic local planning systems.

l Volatile build costs.

l Banks reluctant to lend.

l Labour shortages.

l A tax system weighted against the buy-to-let investors.

l Stringent environmental concerns.

My point is that it doesn’t really matter what targets are set by ministers and local authorities –who indulge in as much nimbyism as the revolting Tories.

The only political targets that have been met in my lifetime are the 12 stars regularly achieved by Matt “Handsy” Hancock in the jungle.

Targets and central government edicts are completely pointless without heavy incentives for local authorities to abide by them.

The problem lies, however, in the fact that unfortunately very few senior councillors appear interested in new housing in their areas if it is going to cost them votes at the next election.

The only genuine solution is to remove politics from housing altogether. Housing and property develop ment need to be cross party at both central and local levels.

David Galman, Galliard Homes

The main political parties, private developers, local authorities, housing associations and home less charities need to put their differences aside and combine to produce a cohesive strategy – a 20-year plan that cannot be overridden by succes sive governments and local authorities.

The clear benefit of this would be the kind of certainty that politicians, companies and the public can only dream of right now. It would, in theory, unlock a great deal of potential devel opment and deliver on what we all want – more housing.

I guess that’s a little bit of wishful thinking, but I am always optimistic and ever hopeful. As we approach the end of 2022, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May it bring us all greater vigour to build more, rent more and sell more.

art

Scan this code to find out more about Galliard Homes and its developments in east London and across the capital

by Jon Massey

Barking is unquestionably on the rise as the great wave of east London regeneration washes ever further along the Thames. With change, however, comes danger and Barking And Dagenham Council in partnership with Create London and the Barking Enterprise Centre have gone some way to recognising the possibility that development needs balance.

To that end, a building was unveiled in Linton Road last year unlike any other in the borough. Designed by architects Apparata, A House For Artists provides 12 studio properties with exterior balconies, all contained within a fiercely geometric concrete construction.

With shared workspace and one floor where the properties are designed so they can open up into one giant space, it is a project intended to promote communal living and collaboration both physically and mentally.

The idea is that alongside schemes such as Barking Riverside and Weston Homes’ Abbey Quay on the River Roding, there will be some provision made to help creative people stay in the borough who

might otherwise be priced out of the market. In return, A House For Artists’ residents will be expected to deliver free creative activities for the public, thus enriching the neighbourhood.

To draw attention to the scheme, its creators have appealed to its supporter and advocate, artist Grayson Perry, who has created a lamp that now stands outside the building following its installation in November.

Inspiration Lives Here is a two-me tre-wide work inspired by homes on the Becontree Estate in neighbouring Dagenham.

Grayson said: “This lamp is a small monument to social housing. I spent half of my childhood living in such a house and most of my extended family lived out their lives in council houses.

“In a time of unaffordable housing here in the UK a council house seems like an unattainable dream.

“I want the lamp to have an air of nostalgia for a time when people tinkered in sheds and kids ran wild,

Scan this code to find out more about A House For Artists

when the Becontree Estate was the home of wartime heroes and Ford workers. The pale green Ford Anglia featured was my father’s first car.”

Financed by Art Fund, the work also features a Ford Transit van alongside the Arts And Crafts-in spired houses, all made in steel designed to weather over time.

Create London director Marie Bak Mortensen said: “Inspiration Lives Here will stand tall as an illuminating symbol of creativity, marking Grayson’s invaluable support and enthusiasm for A House for Artists.

“Create London are thrilled to have commissioned this permanent artwork for the community around Barking town centre, which continues our mission to dissolve traditional hierarchies between the art world and the everyday, bringing firstclass art to areas where it is least expected.”

The council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for community leadership and engagement, Saima Ashraf, added: “We’re so pleased to welcome this wonderful sculpture as a permanent fixture in Barking town centre. It represents so much about our community as a shining beacon of light and is a truly fantastic addition to the borough’s growing creative spaces.”

Go createlondon.org

One of the main legacies of the pandemic is that developers have to be more mindful of residents’ requirements

building the future by David Galman

David Galman is sales director at Galliard Homes which is delivering developments including Orchard Wharf, Harbour Central and The Stage

Go to galliardhomes.com or follow @GalliardHomes and @DavidGalman on Twitter

Studio properties for creatives at A House For Artists in Barking

how Grayson Perry’s two-metre lamp in solid steel points the way to A House For Artists as Barking shores up creativity

a home for

A House For Artists has been designed by architects Apparata

Grayson’s piece includes a pale green Ford Anglia modelled on his father’s first car

Grayson Perry’s Inspiration Lives Here has been unveiled in Barking

Canary Wharf

December 2022

I started my property career working for an independent estate agent in the Wapping area. Since 1994 I have been based in and around East London. I started my own company in 1995 and it has grown from humble beginnings to become a well respected sales, lettings and property management agency operating in the Docklands and East London areas. Then in 2007, I opened my first branch in the Medway area. I am proud that we now have three branches in Kent. My operation is set to expand in 2020 and beyond.

I am a long term member of both the NAEA and ARLA and a former Regional Representative for the latter. As the owner of a growing residential and commercial property portfolio, I understand well the trials and tribulations that property owners go through. I have well over 20 years experience of regenerative Dock’s areas and specialise in new development reporting.

I am happy to advise you on all aspects of property. So, if you are looking at your first buy-to-let (even if it is with another agency), or have trouble with a tenant, feel free to contact me. I offer honest and impartial advice.

Fortag

get asked what is going to happen to Docklands house prices.

Many things affect house prices, and it comes down to simple supply and demand.

On the supply side of the equation, in the short-term, the number of people wanting to sell their property at any one time has a massive effect on house prices.

In 2007, the number of properties that came onto the market in Docklands jumped drastically. In January 2007, 1,413 properties were available for sale in Docklands and by October in the same year, that had risen to 2,130 properties.

This flooded the Docklands market with houses to buy whilst, at the same time, the banks almost stopped lending money because of the Credit Crunch, thus causing the house price crash of 2008.

Also, on the supply side of the equation is the total number of houses in the whole country (irrespective of whether they are on the market or not). This is an essential factor in house prices, although that has a longer-term effect. Governments can control the number of properties being built with changes in planning regulations, incentives for builders and the buyer schemes such as the Help to Buy plan.

On the demand side of the equation, property values typically rise if homeowners believe they will be wealthier in the future.

Typically, that occurs when the whole country’s economy is performing well as more Brits are in work and salaries are higher. The opposite is also the case when the economy goes into recession; people tighten their spending, lose their jobs, and thus, house prices drop. Inflation will affect British household budgets (because if more of the household budget is going on increased bills, there is less available for

mortgage payments).

Another factor on the demand side for housing is when the population increases (through people living longer or increasing net migration) or when the divorce rate increases (making one family household into two single-person households). As always, rising demand typically means higher house prices.

One aspect of the demand side of housing that the Government can control is the taxation of moving home. In the late spring of 2020, the Government vastly reduced the tax (Stamp Duty) paid to buy a house, saving many home buyers thousands of pounds.

Also, on the demand side, property values usually increase if more homebuyers can borrow more money with a mortgage to buy their home.

The more banks and building societies can offer mortgages, the more homebuyers can buy their future home, thus raising house prices.

However, the constraint is the amount a home buyer can borrow on a mortgage. What someone can borrow depends on what they earn and if they can afford the monthly mortgage payments. The level of mortgage payments is dependent on three things.

1. How much you borrow

2. The interest rate charged

3. The length of the mortgage

The lower the interest rates are, the lower the cost of borrowing to pay for your house is and thus more people can afford to borrow money with a mortgage to buy a home, meaning house prices tend to go up.

Docklands house prices have risen by 77.57% between 2010 and today, mainly fuelled by low interest rates.

So, looking at everything above, apart from Stamp Duty and the incentives for buyers (which historically

Ioften

Spencer

have made a minimal difference), the Government in the shortterm, irrespective of who the Prime Minister is, makes little difference directly to house prices.

The most significant short-term factor which directly affects house prices is interest rates.

However, the Bank of England (not the Government) sets the interest rate for the UK economy. That means the Government (and Rishi as PM) cannot directly make any differences in house prices (apart from the points raised above).

Yet, indirectly, as seen with the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng Mini-Budget catastrophe only a few weeks ago, what the Prime Minister (and their Government) does can make a massive difference to interest rates and, thus, the property market and house prices.

Since December 2021, the Bank of England has been slowly raising interest rates to combat inflation. Unfortunately, the downside is that it increases the mortgage rates homebuyers must pay if they are on a variable-rate mortgage or coming off a fixed-rate deal secured a few years ago.

As 17 out of 20 homebuyers have a fixed-rate mortgage, when a bank or building society calculates a 5 or 10-year fixed-rate deal, they consider what the Bank of England interest rate is today, but they also consider something equally important, something called the ‘swap rate’.

As Docklands homeowners and landlords, it is vital you should be aware of the swap rates as they are based on what the global money markets think future UK interest rates will be.

If the swap rate rises, then mortgage lenders will increase their rates on the mortgages they offer, and by doing so, (as discussed previously in this article), increased mortgage rates will affect affordability and, thus, house prices.

So, what affects UK swap rates? Mainly one thing, the price of government debt in the form of gilt yields

Given the vast increase of planned government debt originally announced in that mini-budget by Truss/Kwarteng, the money markets who would be lending the Government the billions of pounds to fund those tax cuts got worried the Government wouldn’t be able to pay back such a rise in borrowing, so wanted a higher rate of return on the money they were lending the Government.

That return is measured in the ‘gilt yield rate’, and the gilt yield rate directly drives the ‘swap rate.’

That rise in the gilt yield rate/swap rate was the main reason mortgage rates rocketed after the minibudget and helped in the collapse of Liz Truss’s Prime Ministership.

So, what can Docklands homeowners expect in the coming weeks and months with gilt/swap rates?

Rishi Sunak’s first job was to re-establish confidence in the money markets for UK plc. During the summer, the 5-year gilt rate rose steadily from 1.6% to 3.5%, in line with the general rise in Bank of England base rates. Yet when the mini-budget was delivered on the 23rd of September 2022, that rose almost straight away to 4.6%.

That meant every mortgage rate jumped in price by 1 to 1.5% almost overnight.

At the time of writing, the 5-year British gilt yield has dropped to 3.5%, and the others have either dropped below their premini-budget rate or were moving in that direction, depending on the gilt type.

The gilt rate (which directly affects the swap rate, which in turn, directly affects mortgage interest rates) could drop further, subject to what Rishi Sunak and his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have planned in the Budget (and supplementary report from the Office for Budget Responsibility) on the 17th of November 2022.

A drop in the gilt/swap rate is vital for any Docklands homebuyer buying a house or Docklands homeowner remortgaging to a new mortgage deal. Why? Because ... with the average Docklands home worth £550,384 (a rise of 6.77% over the past year), each 1% extra in the mortgage rate would cost every Docklands homeowner an additional £458.65 per month. So, what does this all mean for Docklands house prices, then? Greater certainty will keep the volume of housing transactions ticking over, yet not inescapably Docklands house prices.

In my blog articles on the Docklands property market, I believe Docklands house prices will be lower in 12 months, and I expect Docklands prices to return to where they were in the late spring/early summer of 2021.

And why is that? Unlike the 2008 Credit Crunch house price crash, today, the country has very low levels of unemployment and very well-capitalised banks (because the Bank of England subsequently forced them to keep lots of cash in their banks to cover downturns). Therefore, I don’t anticipate the kind of double-digit house price decreases seen 14 years ago.

If you would like to pick my brain about the Docklands property market, be you a potential Docklands first-time buyer, a Docklands homeowner looking at your options on remortgaging or selling, or, in fact, anyone with questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a line. I will gladly share my thoughts and opinions without cost or obligation.

One place for more information is my Docklands Property Market blog. If you are a landlord or thinking of becoming one for the first time, and you want to read more articles like this about the Docklands property market together with regular postings on what I consider the best buy to let deals in the Docklands area, then it is well worth reading. You can also email via spencer@lmlondon.com

Call our team on 020 7205 4021 or email cmiller@kiddrapinet.co.uk, ypatel@kiddrapinet.co.uk or mzvarykina@kiddrapinet.co.uk

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Call our team on 020 7205 4021 or email cmiller@kiddrapinet.co.uk, ypatel@kiddrapinet.co.uk or mzvarykina@kiddrapinet.co.uk

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