The removals business is flying as the UK’s property market continues to romp along, says Anthony Ward Thomas. But Brexit has complicated matters for many international relocations. It’s “not all doom and gloom,” he writes, but “we might advise customers to put their move [to Europe] on hold to allow for the dust to settle.”
On April 1st 2020, when the UK had been in lockdown for exactly nine days, Tim Hyatt took over the management of Knight Frank’s UK residential business and joined the group executive board. He succeeded Andrew Hay, who had been with the firm for 37 years. PrimeResi caught up with him shortly after the announcement of a third national lockdown to talk team spirit, market trends, future plans – and the agency’s ‘Cobra Room’ equivalent…
The pace of property price inflation picked up dramatically towards the end of last year, according to the latest official UK HPI. London’s average property price has topped £500,000 for the first time, while the UK average has reached a record high of £250,000.
The first Luxury Property Forum webinar of 2021 will see chair Priya Rawal joined by Savills’ Lucian Cook, Black Brick’s Camilla Dell, CMS Cameron McKenna’s Swita Kothari, and Accouter’s Alec Watt.
London & Monaco developer REDD sells its entire 82 Mount Street scheme to a bulk buyer within days of the off-plan sales launch.
“The volume of activity in prime residential markets [outside London] for [2020] as a whole was the strongest since before the global financial crisis,” says Savills.
Over 50 influential property industry organisations – including Savills, Knight Frank, Countrywide and Foxtons – are calling for the introduction of Unique Property Reference Numbers. “Widespread adoption of UPRNs could revolutionise the property market,” declares one backer.
Last week, the government proposed a major reform of leasehold laws, with new rules possibly arriving within two years. Knight Frank’s team has analysed whether the prospect of the new rules will have an impact on the property market from today…
“This is a golden opportunity for our industry to gain the trust of the public,” says one top industry pundit, as estate agents and buying agents share how they have adapted to doing business by the book in lockdown.
The Government has announced some major reforms to the English leasehold system, in a bid to “fundamentally make home ownership fairer and more secure.”
Last year saw major-league agency CBRE bring together four Savills alumni – including one of PCL’s best-known agents, Charles Lloyd, and acquisition specialist Marcus Bradbury-Ross – to offer ‘bespoke and confidential advice to private clients on residential property across the globe’; speaking to PrimeResi, they discuss the challenges of starting a new venture in the middle of a global pandemic, avoiding conflicts of interest, and the key trends at play in the super-prime market…