Lettings

A one bed flat on Pollen Street has apparently just set a new record for the capital's rental market, after closing in just 40 minutes.

A combo of Stamp Duty reform and election wobbles have generated a 30% increase in vendors looking to let rather than sell over the last two years, according to one PCL lettings agency.

"The dominant mood in the prime central London lettings market in February was one of caution," says Knight Frank, despite rental price growth hitting a three-year high in February. Rents rise by 0.

"Buyers need to dig deeper than just looking online" says Douglas & Gordon, as a growing number of vendors are requesting that their properties be offered for sale on the quiet in the run-up to May's election.

The RICS has confirmed what everyone else is seeing, reporting that the national and London markets are cooling right down with prices, enquiries and sales all tailing off in January.

A grand total of 693 properties were sold in prime central London during Q4 2014, according to Strutt & Parker and Lonres. That's 32.5% down on the same period in 2013.

The prime central London lettings market saw a flourish of activity in the first week of January, followed by a steady stream of enquiries, viewings, and subsequent new tenancies, reports Knightsbridge-based…

London's prime rental market has seen the strongest annual rental growth in four years, and there's more to come through 2015 says Lonres in its Winter Residential Review. Overview

Prime central London rental values nudged up by 0.2% in January, says Knight Frank, marking an eleven-month run without a fall and taking annual growth to a three-year high of +3.4%.

Average initial gross yields from private rental blocks in major cities across the UK (London, Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow) stood at 6.

The reason why private landowners keep derelict houses empty is usually because they are waiting for a planning resolution, says Trevor Abrahmsohn...

Prime rents in the Home Counties "turned the corner" last year, says Knight Frank, despite a 0.5% drop in the last quarter.