PROPERTY NEWS
BISHOPS AVE SITE SOLD FOR £30M
One of London’s best development opportunities in Hampstead’s Bishops Avenue has sold for more than £30m. The 2.47 acre site has two planning consents in place – either for a house of 33,000 sq ft or for a block of 16 luxury apartments. This indicates the competition and rising values of small- to medium-sized consented residential land in London. Research from Savills, which was one of the agents for the site, shows that this type of land in London has seen values rise by 21 per cent over the past six months.
BOARDS ARE COST EFFECTIVE
The battle of the estate agents’ boards continues. Richard Barber from central London estate agency W.A. Ellis has this week staunchly defended the boards. He argues that they are the most cost effective means of advertising your property. Until recently, they were banned from much of Kensington & Chelsea but that has now lapsed. Barber warns that self-regulation is not an option: “Unless there is regulation which is effectively and vigorously policed, the unscrupulous will bend the rules to everyone’s detriment.”
LONDON RENTS AT 2008 LEVELS
London rents have surged back to November 2008 levels and there is no sign of a slowdown, LSL Property Services will say today. Average rents soared by 1.9 per cent in June to £942. This is compared to a 1 per cent rise for the UK as a whole and an average monthly rent for England and Wales of £673. The yield was 4.8 per cent last month. LSL’s David Brown said: “The increasing reliance on rental accommodation in the capital, combined with the constraints in its supply is pushing up rents.”
COTSWOLDS LAND AT RECORD HIGH
Land prices in Gloucestershire have climbed to record levels as demand for farmland outstrips supply, research from Knight Frank showed yesterday. Land is selling at £10,000 an acre and the average price of farmland sold in the county by Knight Frank in the past year was almost £9,000 an acre. This compares to the average of £5,145 an acre recorded by the RICS. Clive Hopkins at Knight Frank, said that farmland’s exemption from inheritance tax has boosted sales in the region.