The London Property Market Blog

I say it every year, and it’s true. August really is a state of mind. While many of our competitors are taking it easy during the summer holidays, our sales teams at Marsh & Parsons will be making the most of an 'active August'. This time of year represents the peak for the lettings market but, like every year, things have slowed somewhat for the sales market. Activity on just the sales pages of the Marsh & Parsons website however, remains energetic at a steady 90% of it's usual performance. An indicator that there’s still plenty of buyers out there looking to secure London property.

In my last blog I said there would be a 5% rise in central London house prices in 2011, which is in contrast to many of my competitors, who predicted much lower increases (and in some cases reports of declines!). I was wrong and uncharacteristically, I’m going to admit I was over-cautious. House prices have already increased by between 5-7% and will continue to do so this year. My latest blog gives my indications as to the extent of this rise. As always, I hope you enjoy the video and welcome your comments and observations about the London property market.

Click here to view the video blog.

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With the average age of a first-time buyer in London reportedly having reached a record 43 years old, (article) it is little surprise that the demand for rental property is surging. The usual seasonal increase in the number of tenants looking for property in spring/summer has been further fuelled by the 'would-be' buyers who are being forced to rent, either due to being unable to secure financing or because they are struggling with the lack of choice on the sales market. Meanwhile the volume of properties on the market in Central London has steadily decreased over the first four months of this year, resulting in a real shortage of rental property; in most areas, stock levels in April 2011 were down by an average of 20% compared with January.

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At the beginning of the year I predicted a 5% rise in London property prices for 2011 and after the end of the first quarter, I can report on average, a 5% increase has already taken place, particularly in the 'house' market.

A growing economy and a handle on the budget deficit has encouraged home buyers to start looking again. With demand so high, and such a lack of new properties coming onto the market, it's no surprise that prices are rising so quickly – in some areas of London we are seeing as many as 28 buyers registered for every available property. Incidentally, March was one of Marsh & Parsons best months since the glory days of 2007.

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I can honestly describe last night's Secret Shopper with Mary Portas as depressing 'tabloid TV'. Firstly though, I have to wonder why her 'victims' would put themselves through that?

She made an obvious point in saying that it's an easy job to do - very true. However, many jobs are easy to do, but difficult to do WELL. Her simplistic views were typical of the vast majority of people who think they can flounce into a job as an Estate Agent. Read my previous blog - Any fool can sell property.

If she had an agency, her buyers might like her, her sellers on the other hand, would not. The vast majority of sellers consider their property to be the best in the area and for an estate agent to tell potential buyers the faults (as they might see them) would go down like a lead balloon.

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