West Hampstead Life

Category: Property

Property News: Has West Hampstead just got more acccessible?

This month sees the introduction of various welfare and tax changes and we’ve already had the announcement in March of further government initiatives to get the housing market moving, but what will this all mean for the West Hampstead market?

The background to these initiatives has been covered in previous articles, but in a nutshell banks are reluctant to lend to buyers as they are striving to improve their balance sheets and are reluctant to over expose themselves to the housing market with risky high loan-to-value ratios. This means that first time buyers are having to find at least 20% deposits and some existing owners do not have enough equity in their homes to meet the new lending criteria and therefore can’t move up the ladder, even though they can afford the repayments due to the low interest rates.

This situation has led to a dramatic slowdown in the number of transactions. Recent government figures show that the number of annual house sales has fallen by 50% since 2007 and that, on average, a house sells once every 25 years up from once every 15 years as recently as 2007. The implications of this slowdown on the economy and on all the related industry and services are enormous and clearly something has to be done to get things moving.

Last month we looked at the relaxation of planning laws as a way to stimulate building work. Rather than invest in infrastructure regeneration, this government has focused on other methods both of which should boost the West Hampstead property market.

First, from Jan 2014, the ‘Help to buy’ mortgage guarantee will enable buyers of new and existing property to borrow with only a 5% deposit. As long as the buyer is creditworthy and judged able to make the payment, the lender has the option of purchasing a government guarantee that will compensate them for a portion of its losses in the event of foreclosure. This is available for purchases up to £600,000 with a maximum guarantee of £120,000 (15%).

This is very good news for the NW6 market; a significant part of the property for sale in our area is valued between £350,000 and £600,000, so given the attraction of owning versus renting, this access to mortgages with a 5% deposit should be hugely beneficial. It will also make it easier for owners of first-time buyer properties to take the next step on the rung to owning a 2- to 3- bed property and improve supply all round.

The second part of the scheme is for new build properties only. This provides a loan directly from the government of up to 15% of the property value (capped at £500,000). There will be no charge for this loan in the first five years, then in the sixth year a 1.75% annual charge is levied. This will be adjusted in line with the RPI every year (~+1%). Again, for the lower end of the West Hampstead market this can only be good news. Most new build developments in the area have starting prices of around £400,000.

The criticism levelled at these schemes is that they will create another housing bubble. Artificially creating demand could lead to unsustainable over-priced housing and put us exactly where we were when the bubble burst in 2007. The government has said that these schemes will be available for only three years, so the impact should be limited in the long run but give the market a much needed kick start by providing access to home ownership that has been denied to many Londoners in the short run. Given all the failed attempts to get banks to lend again at least something different is being done to help.

At the upper end of the market, the scrapping of the 50p tax rate for high earners came into effect on April 1st, and this too should hopefully stimulate demand among those with higher levels of disposable income.

As usual, please let me know your thoughts. Has one of these schemes meant that you can now make the move you were hoping for? What else could be done to stimulate transactions?

Darryl Jenkins
Associate Director
Benham & Reeves
West Hampstead
020 7644 9300
Follow @BenhamReeves

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April 3, 2013
A “blank” of estate agents

What IS the collective noun for estate agents?
Having run into a bunch on West End Lane the other morning, I thought Twitter might provide some illumnination…

March 14, 2013
Property News: Planning for disaster?

The first days of spring seem to have come and gone, but we are now looking forward to what are traditionally the three best months for residential sales. However, while prices are on the up locally, the government’s attempts to stimulate the construction industry may not be enough to dampen demand and risk blighting our neighbourhoods.

As previously reported, the property market in West Hampstead has started buoyantly this year. With buyer numbers up and slightly more property coming to the market, we have shown a 50% year-on-year increase in the number of sales agreed for January and February. I know other local agents are reporting similar stories.

The latest data from property analyst Hometrack indicates that national house prices rose by 0.1% in February. This is the first time since May 2012 that rises have been reported for nine consecutive months. The report also indicates that the north/south divide is growing further: Fewer than 1 in 7 postcodes across all of England and Wales reported an increase, but when you look just at London, that jumps to almost 1 in 2 (meaning they account for three-quarters of those national rises). This indicates that although there are some signs of recovery for the national market, London is still powering ahead.

The reasons for this demand have been well documented by the press and in this column. The government is hoping to capitalise on this demand and get the economy growing by stimulating the private construction industry (worth 6% of GDP and almost £100 billion), which is forecast to decline by 2% in 2013 following a 6.3% drop in 2012. This fall is largely due to a 14% reduction in government spending on infrastructure and construction projects.

The biggest concern is that only 118,000 new homes are expected to be built in 2013. I realise it may seem as if the majority of these are coming to sites around West End Lane; the reality is that this total is predicted to be only half the actual demand. The government has identified planning red tape as the issue and is temporarily relaxing planning laws in an attempt to generate more building. However, the Local Government Association, which represents local councils, says that there are currently 400,000 sites across the UK that have planning permission to build and that roughly half of all applications are eventually granted.

Of course, what it really comes down to is money – profit and availability. Developers are only interested in sites that return a profit, while more often than not local councils’ insistence on provision of affordable housing (or payments under section 106 agreements) in new developments often make these sites unprofitable. Meanwhile, former industrial or landfill sites require expensive cleaning operations and are normally in lower cost and less desirable areas. Developers want prime sites on which to build prime properties. It’s no wonder that house builders are sitting on large land banks in greenbelt areas just waiting for the value to shoot up when permission is granted. In addition, the financial crisis has led to less available funding for building, more financial penalties for missed repayments, and banks requiring more collateral.

At a micro level, the government is trying to kick-start the construction industry by enticing us to build more extensions and conservatories through this three-year period of relaxed local planning laws. Now, you no longer need planning permission to build loft conversions or single rear extensions that are less than 6m or 8m from the back of your house (whether a semi or detached). Again, this assumes that funds are readily available to complete these building projects. Neighbours still have the right to complain and halt construction and any flat still requires planning permission for any building. I fear this policy will lead us towards half-finished, half-baked and ill conceived designs that will be refused retrospective consent when this temporary period finishes.

There is clearly a significant social and economic issue regarding available housing and accommodation in London and the UK, but planning procedures and consultations exist to protect individual homeowners from ‘blot on the landscape’ developments and over ambitious neighbours. Relaxing these laws is unlikely to lead to economic stimulus or benefit local neighbourhoods. Perhaps, in true Keynesian fashion, the government could consider increasing its spending on larger-scale house building projects to give the industry and economy the kick-start it needs?

In the meantime, a lack of available property and new-build investment, together with an insatiable demand continue to drive house prices upwards in South and West Hampstead.

Do let me know what you think? Are you planning to take advantage of the looser regulations on extending properties? Are you happy to watch your house price rise through undersupply in the market more generally?

Darryl Jenkins
Associate Director
Benham & Reeves
West Hampstead
020 7644 9300
Follow @BenhamReeves

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March 6, 2013
Property News: Why sellers tolerate fees

The start to the year has been very encouraging for the sales market in West Hampstead. It seems that the government Funding for Lending scheme, introduced six months ago, is starting to have an impact on the availability of loans while overall rates for borrowing are now at their lowest levels since the start of the recession.

It is hard to quantify exactly how much of an effect the scheme is having but there is no doubt that new applicant and viewing levels are up significantly from January 2012, and there’s an increased level of confidence in the market from agents and sellers alike.

Further good news for buyers is the government’s announcement that later this year it intends to allow empty office buildings to be converted into residential homes without the need for planning permission. This should relieve some of the upward pressure on sales and rental prices and is estimated to create an extra 100,000 homes across the UK.

This month I also wanted to raise the thorny subject of estate agents’ fees. According to the Guardian and Halifax Building Society, between 1959 and 2009 house prices have risen by 273% while real earnings rose 169%. Estate agent fees have not changed much in percentage terms over that time, so it would seem we are therefore earning more in real terms for the same job.

Is this what causes the ill feeling about estate agents? After all, in London we are talking about £40,000 (ex. vat) for selling a £2m property or even £10,000 (ex. vat) for selling a £500,000 flat (the price of an average 2-bed in NW6). On the face of it, not great value. Throw in the fact that ours is a largely unqualified profession governed by a mainly toothless Ombudsman scheme (although there are signs that it’s finding its bite) and even we can see why some of that negative sentiment arises. Fees for your estate agent far outstrip those for your conveyancing lawyer or RICS qualified surveyor. Hardly seems fair?

However, I suggest that there is a love/hate relationship between seller and agent and that although our fees seem high we can justify this and that secretly, sellers don’t really mind paying them.

This thought came to me while reading about Tesco’s failed venture into estate agency. Like many others, it invested into an online-only estate agency. The premise was that sellers, fed up with high fees, could advertise their properties online, take enquiries, conduct viewings and negotiate a sale all for a few hundred pounds. Other companies have tried various different versions of this model; some offering a negotiation and sales progression service and others a lower fixed percentage. None have yet succeeded.

It intrigued me that although sellers complain about estate agent fees when they were given the opportunity to pay less, they didn’t take it. I conducted some very basic market research: I emailed 25 of my friends and family and asked them to rank in preference what makes them decide who to appoint to sell their house: a) fees. b) local reputation c) recommendation d) personality/liked the agent or e) sold in my road.

Only one person replied that fees were the most important factor, and most placed it at the bottom of the list. It would seem that there is value in local knowledge and a track record, and that sellers do put trust in their agent to do the best job for them. I would argue this is because agents invest thousands in up front costs, creating a market place where property can be sold for the best possible price.

High street premises, newspaper advertising, expensive websites, numerous property search sites (whose prices go up exponentially each year), staff, sponsorship, marketing, petrol, cars etc.. are all up front costs designed to attract buyers for your property. This demand creates a market where you will be assured of achieving the market value of your property.

Another aspect of estate agents is that they have played a significant part (rightly or wrongly) in pushing up property prices over the last 50 years. Competition amongst agents and sellers’ desire to get the most money they can for their property means that every new instruction comes to the market at a slightly higher price than the last. This has contributed to huge amounts of personal wealth being made through the property boom of the last 50 years. Is part of the reason we accept the fees because the money we make is almost like Monopoly money that we have not seen and wouldn’t have made otherwise.

Property is usually a family’s single biggest asset and, naturally, when selling you want to be absolutely sure that you will be getting the best possible price. It seems that when it comes down to it, sellers do consider the agents the experts.

I would be interested to hear your views on this. Next month, we’ll look at the importance of development and consider whether homeowners and local authorities have too many rights to prevent it.

Darryl Jenkins
Associate Director
Benham & Reeves
West Hampstead
020 7644 9300
Follow @BenhamReeves

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February 6, 2013
License landlords or resort to Asbos?

This month Newham will become the first council in England to require private landlords to be registered. Meanwhile, Camden has already served the country’s first landlord asbo to a West Hampstead landlady and has sought this week to extend it in court. Over at City Hall, Boris is proposing a “new housing covenant“, which puts forward some changes to tenancy agreements in the favour of tenants under a London Rental Standard.

The idea of licensing is to root out and stiffly penalise rogue landlords – the sort of people who exploit tenants by cramming lots of people into poorly maintained houses and then charge them an extortionate amount of rent. It also means that people who decide to rent their property out for lifestyle reasons rather than for pure profit must also register – there are a lot of these people. Many in the industry think that the licence requirement is overkill and that there are more cost-effective ways of protecting tenants from rogue landlords.

Last year, Camden opted for a different approach. It served a two-year anti-social behaviour order on Catherine Boyle of 14 Iverson Road back in January 2011, and sought to extend it at the end of 2012 after she failed to comply with some of the court’s requirements.

Google Street View catches a pest control
vehicle parked outside 14 Iverson Road

Catherine Boyle lives in and rents out rooms at the property, at the Kilburn end of Iverson Road. It qualifies as an HMO (house of multiple occupancy). She has been banned from causing harassment, alarm or distress to her tenants, entering their rooms without their consent, and cutting off their gas and electricity supply. She was also fined £8,000 for failing to comply with fire regulations despite having been given more than six months to meet the requirements (more than half of this was to pay the council’s court costs). In August 2010, she was cautioned for assault against one of her tenants.

Asbos seem like a pretty drastic solution to tackle problem landlords. They remain practically unheard of – the only other example that comes up is in Plymouth, where the council is appyling for an asbo against a landlord that would prevent him from letting to anyone on housing benefit. Councils do already have considerable powers to fine landlords heavily, especially those letting HMO properties, and jail sentences are not unheard of. The council can also takeover the running of the property.

In Ms Boyle’s case, I understand that there was both bad behaviour, as well as non-compliance with regulation, which may have been why the order was sought.

What is not clear to me is why a licensing policy such as Newham’s need to be applied to all landlords. Reserving it for HMO landlords, or even those with multiple properties would save time and money for both the council and plenty of ordinary landlords. This might be combined with a compulsory training program.

The Mayor certainly argues against any additional regulation in his private rented sector (PRS) report:

The Mayor does not support top-down regulation as a way of achieving better management or more choice for tenants, not least because the GLA does not possess formal powers in this area. In any case, regulation is damaging for investment into the PRS and it should always be a last resort. The sector’s capacity for voluntary self-regulation has not yet been exhausted – indeed, with the support of the Mayor, boroughs and landlord organisations, voluntary accreditation can deliver the step change in standards that tenants are rightly seeking. It is also unfair to penalise the majority of law-abiding landlords because of the actions of a small minority.”

It does seem that the system of landlord accreditation could do with some consolidation.

What do you think? Should councils use the powers they already have to deal with rogue landlords or are licensing or asbos the way forward?

January 11, 2013
Property News – What will 2013 bring?

As homeowners and buyers we all have an opinion on what property is worth in our area. Indeed, many people have made a fortune by speculating or even just by staying put while prices have risen.

In previous decades this was a hot topic of dinner conversation, but since the advent of the internet, property prices have become very transparent. You can now find your address on zoopla.com, fill in a few details and be told in an instant what your house or flat is worth.

What is now more difficult to predict is what might happen next. Lets take a look at the factors affecting house prices and demand in West Hampstead for the next 12 months and I’ll give you my best guess on where we could be at the end of this year.

Successive governments have promised the end of ‘boom and bust’, but none have been able to deliver. House prices have ebbed and flowed with the economy, gone pop when the bubble has burst, and then recovered to start the whole pattern again. But, as a nation fixated on home ownership, we have all willed prices ever upwards and this longer-term trend has almost become predictably reassuring. After all, despite the ups and downs, London prices doubled every five years up to 2007.

This time, however, I think things are a bit different. There is now a huge difference between London and the rest of the country. Legal and General predicts that the UK market has now hit bottom but prices will not start to recover until 2017. Prices in London, meanwhile, have already far outstripped their 2007 peak and in some prime areas they are already 50% higher! The difference is that this price increase is being fuelled by the high demand for the relatively few available properties – transaction levels remain half of what they were in 2007.

West Hampstead sellers must face the decision of whether to hold out for another 12 months in a rising market, or whether to sell and pre-empt the possible bursting of the bubble. Buyers of course are hesitant to commit at prices that might tumble, but are more anxious about not eventually paying more for the same property if they wait, especially if they have to move. Lenders are cautious for the same reasons and require more security and certainty. These factors, together with overseas buyers looking for a safe haven for their cash, have all driven the increase in London house prices since 2010.

The big question is how long can London prices keep going up? The answer seems to be for quite a while longer. There is no indication that the factors affecting prices will change in 2013. Supply will remain low and demand high. Recent news regarding increased lending at lower rates will create more room in the market for price rises, and the levels of investment in new-build housing remain at record lows. The only threats to further price rises would seem to be a sudden interest rate rise or the impact from another global economic shock.

In their recent forecasts, Knight Frank, Hamptons and Savills all predict a levelling off of prices in London with small rises of between 1% and 2% in 2013. This seems cautious to me (they said 2–5% last year) so I shall stick my neck out and say we should expect to see rises of between 5% and 10% in West Hampstead in 2013. The basic economics of supply and demand is my reasoning.

Thanks for all your comments and feedback from last month, please keep them coming. Next time, I’ll look at how estate agents work and raise the sometimes controversial issue of fees!

In the meantime, I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2013.

Darryl Jenkins
Associate Director
Benham & Reeves
West Hampstead
020 7644 9300
Follow @BenhamReeves

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January 4, 2013
Property News – Stressed in NW6

Welcome to the Property News section of West Hampstead Life. Local estate agent Benham & Reeves will be writing about the local sales market over the coming months, giving you some sales and prices statistics for the area as well as encouraging debate around estate agent practices, development and other areas of the property sales market in West Hampstead (comments will be moderated).

Even though these articles are being written by an estate agent, I’m making sure it’s honest comment and criticism of the industry! Here’s what Darryl Jenkins, manager of Benham & Reeves’ West Hampstead office, says about the venture:

The concept has been developed in conjunction with West Hampstead Life as a way of encouraging a dialogue between local residents and mistrusted estate agents. Hopefully, it’s refreshingly different with some (though perhaps not all) stereotypes being broken along the way.

So, with that, let me hand over to Darryl for December’s Property Sales News

Stressed in NW6

The start of this venture marks the end of another challenging year of property sales in West Hampstead. Challenging for buyers, sellers and agents alike.

Buyers have faced ever-stricter lending criteria for mortgages and only the very best candidates with at least 20% deposits are being accepted. There are signs that this is starting to ease though. According to recent figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the number of first-time buyers taking out a mortgage to buy a property in London between July and September was the highest for three years, although still far short of 2006/07 levels. Ownership in London remains, at 50%, the lowest in the UK.

In the West Hampstead office we have seen about the same number of new buyers registering in 2012 as in 2011 with an increase over the last few months mirroring the CML data. There are also signs that mortgage deals have become more competitive with private banks entering the market – some of whom are offering 1.99% fixed for 2 years with a 30% deposit.

Fewer offers, and offers below asking price also indicate a lack of confidence in the continued rise in prices and a reluctance to meet sellers’ price expectations, which are being buoyed by the lack of property on the market and the constant message from estate agent marketing that demand is strong.

Naturally, buyers want to buy at the lowest price and sellers want to sell at the highest price but I cannot remember a time when there have been such conflicting messages. Every day, the press highlight the challenging national and international economic situation, yet households are also receiving a constant stream of ‘record price achieved, more property required’ leaflets through their doors.

For example, we recently marketed a garden flat in West Hampstead at the vendor’s asking price of £1.5m, which 12 months ago would have been valued at £1.3m. After 30 or so viewings, we had received several offers all around £1.35m. The owner was reluctant to agree a sale at this level as he really believed the value to be a lot higher even though the market had found the level lower. After months of more viewings we have eventually agreed a sale just below £1.4m. This demonstrates the widening gap between vendor and buyer expectations. Both want to build in more of a financial cushion against the uncertainty of the market.

The next hurdle for buyers has been finding a suitable property to buy. Prices in West Hampstead are up roughly 10% this year so we’re seeing that sellers are more likely to hold onto their property in this rising market rather than sell. This is compounded by the fact that sellers are usually also buyers who have been put off by the new stamp duty increases and the general economic uncertainty of job security.

Apart from the difficulty of finding your next home, owners of property in West Hampstead have enjoyed good capital appreciation in the last 12 months. If a property has come to market at a sensible price we have found a buyer within a couple of weeks at what is normally a record price for the road or block. The difference is that the buyer is more likely to be an overseas investor than a local owner or renter trading up or buying for the first time.

This market also brings new challenges for estate agents. A recent count on Primelocation.com showed 106 separate agents advertising property for sale in NW6! Whilst I don’t expect too much sympathy (years of raking it in etc..etc..) every agent is having to work twice as hard just to stand still. Fewer properties on the market and even more agents trying to sell them has inevitably put downward pressure on fees (to be covered in a future article). This is good news for sellers but also explains why you’re getting more marketing material through your door as we all fight for our share.

This unique market, where lenders are reluctant to lend, sellers are thin on the ground, prices are rising and transactions are down has bought new levels of anxiety and stress for all. Agents have indicated record levels for the percentage of agreed sales that have fallen through this year – normally we’d expect 1 in 3, but this year it’s more likely to be 1 in 2. Lenders are taking twice as long (in some cases up to three months) to approve mortgages and surveyors and lawyers are taking longer and being beyond thorough (there’s always more litigation in economic slumps) All this means that estate agents are becoming more skilled at counselling than valuing! Holding a transaction together is now harder than any of the other sales processes, so when choosing an agent consider their life experience and people skills as well as their expensive marketing.

All in all, whether you have been a buyer, seller or agent in 2012 you are probably feeling more than 12 months older than you did in January. It’s been a stressful year.

What will happen in 2013 and beyond is clearly tricky to predict, but that won’t stop me having a go next month!. Please let me know your thoughts on the year ahead or any other comments about either the macro or micro issues of the property market.

Darryl Jenkins
Associate Director
Benham & Reeves
West Hampstead
020 7644 9300
Follow @BenhamReeves

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December 5, 2012
Need a flatmate? Win a prize!
Here’s a good thing. Win vouchers at West Hampstead businesses simply by advertising for a flatmate.

Lots of you use Twitter as a way to find flatmates. You post a tweet and, as long as I see it, I RT it adding the #whampflat hashtag. You can see the most recent tweets on the website (you may not have known this).

Now we’re stepping this up a level, in conjunction with Apartli. Apartli’s a flatmate finding service run by ex-whamper (so you know it’s going to be great, right?) Simon, who some of you have probably met. He’s a very nice guy and Swiss, so what could go wrong?

What’s different about Apartli? It’s the first flatsharing website that allows users to find flatmates and flatshares through their friends by letting users sign in through Facebook. On registration, users can see if they know potential flatmates through a mutual friend. You don’t need to sign in in order to browse available flatshares though. Arranging viewings is easy. Users can see viewing times for each flat and request a viewing with the click of a button, removing the need to play message tag just to find a suitable time.

So, if you’ve got a room to rent in West Hampstead (and yes, this might be just across the border in NW3 or NW2) then place your ad for free on Apartli and the first 10 ads will receive a £10 voucher from local businesses including The Wet Fish Cafe, Mill Lane Bistro, The Gallery, Cocoa Bijoux, West End Lane Books and Feng Sushi (I’m afraid you can’t choose which voucher you get – it’ll be drawn at random, but c’mon – they’re all pretty decent right?).

To enter, publish a real West Hampstead flatshare ad on Apartli using the promo code WHAMPNW6.
- A “real NW6 flatshare ad” means it is a real flat in West Hampstead, London that is really available and you are really the one looking for a real flatmate. For reals.
- You can only enter once. How many flats do you have anyway?
- The first 10 eligible real ad posters will win a £10 voucher for a local NW6 business. The voucher has no cash value and Apartli won’t exchange or substitute it for anything else.
- Once your ad is published Apartli will review it for its eligibility and send you a email within two working days to notify you if you’ve won. If you’ve won, Apartli will ask for your address so your voucher can be mailed to you.
- You need to have at least three photos.
- Please read the full terms and conditions on Apartli’s website.
Now post those ads!
Disclaimer: I have no financial connection with Apartli, I’m just helping Simon kickstart the operation in this area because it helps solve a genuine issue people have. We are hoping to integrate Apartli into West Hampstead Life at some stage though.
September 30, 2012
Is Mill Apartments £15,000 sweetener enough?

A couple of months ago I went to have a look round the show apartment at the Mill Apartments. Back then they were called the Mill Apartments Hampstead, though they have since been rebranded – extremely sensibly – as the Mill Apartments West Hampstead (although the website address hasn’t changed). I saw a 3-bed flat, which was very nice. And very expensive. £815,000 expensive to be precise for this first floor flat. The service charge would be in excess of £2,500 a year and a parking space was an extra £25,000. More hilarious was that if you wanted storage space in the basement “big enough for a bike and a couple of sets of golf clubs”, then you’d have to part with another £10,000. I think I laughed out loud at this point. Sounds like I might not have been the only one.

You might argue that £815,000 for a modern nice 3-bed flat in West Hampstead isn’t out of the ordinary. By the way, lets not kid ourselves here, while pretending these apartments are in Hampstead was presumably verging on some sort of property misdescription, they can hardly be said to be in the heart of West Hampstead either. Shoot-Up Hill is much nearer than West End Lane. Nevertheless, it is quite a lot of money for any flat around here outside the NW3/NW8 postcode. This is the cheapest 3-bed in the building, they go up in price as you go up the floors, so the 3rd floor 3-bed flat is £830,500.

Floorplan of the 3-bed apartments

Which brings me to the point of this story. To date, 17 of the 27 non-social housing flats in the development have sold (the three 3-beds have not). The prices for the four penthouses, which are just coming on the market now, are not on the website, but early communications said that the top price flat would be £1.5m, so I guess we assume that’s the price of the only 3-bed penthouse, while the cheapest penthouse is £1.35m.

Looking south from one of the penthouse suites

Given that the apartments don’t seem to be flying off the shelves, so the developer, Taylor Wimpey, is holding an open day and resorting to “buy now” discounts in the form of cash/cash-equivalent incentives.

If you sign on the dotted line this Saturday at the open-day then it will throw in either a luxury holiday, £15,000 to spend at Selfridges or a brand new Mini. According to the PR company, “Offering these incentives is a new trend for estate agents and house builders, in order to kick-start a property industry that has slowed in recent years.” Or in other words “we overpriced the apartments a bit”. Now, if you’re willing to drop £1.5m on a 3-bed apartment in what is almost Cricklewood, it’s debatable whether a £15,000 cashback deal (1%) is going to make much difference to your yes/no decision. Even for the cheapest apartment still available (£588,000), you’d only be getting a 2.5% discount.

The press release implies, although certainly doesn’t make clear, that that expensive car parking space might be thrown in as well (or a 2-year parking permit). That’s a far more valuable incentive, both financially and practically, but this is a common negotiating tool as far as I’m aware.

Anyway, if you want to go along on Saturday, then there’ll be drinks, nibbles and live music between 11am and 3pm. If you want to view an apartment (and surely that’s the only reason to go), then best reserve in advance by calling 0845 676 2377. Even if you don’t have half a million quid to spend on the day, us locals are apparently welcome. I quote: “It is also a fab opportunity for local residents to find out more about their newest neighbour!”. Which is very friendly.

What’s sold and what’s not by Sep 26th 2012 (penthouses not included)

September 26, 2012
Live long and prosper – move out of NW6

Maps have always been a powerful way of highlighting London’s social inequalities (Charles Booth‘s and John Snow‘s are the most iconic examples of this) and they continue to show how the richest and poorest Londoners often live side by side.

(SpatialAnalysis.co.uk)

The latest map from UCL’s Spatial Analysis team overlays two sets of data – life expectancy and child poverty. The team wanted to see whether the adage held true that a year in life expectancy is lost for every station eastbound on the Jubilee Line between Westminster and Canning Town.

You can read the full article for the methodology, or click the map for the full view of London, but lets look briefly at the findings locally.

People living within 200 metres of both TfL’s West Hampstead stations have a life expectancy of 81. This is pretty much bang on the national average (which is 78 for men and 82 for women) but lower than our neighbours to the south on the Jubilee Line, to the west on the overground and Bakerloo, and on a par with that in Kilburn.

It’s not especially surprising that wealthy St John’s Wood (83) or Maida Vale (86) have higher life expectancies. In fact the borough of Westminster has the second highest life expectancy in the country, but perhaps marginally surprising that West Hampstead fares as well (or as badly) as Kilburn Park or Kilburn High Road. If we look at the Guardian’s deprivation map from April this year, we can see that the West Hampstead stations are marginally better off than Kilburn’s stations, and the child poverty data above tallies with that. So, why the discrepancy?

Frankly, that’s not the right question to be asking. This sort of mapped analysis is not intended to be a perfect reflection of the reality on the ground. Mapping is all about scale, and this London life expectancy map is best seen as a way to see general changes along tube lines, where the trends are very clear. There is, for example, an astonishing 21-year difference between the shortest (75.3) and longest (96.4) life expectancies. However, when you see that the longest life expectancy is for Oxford Circus and think how many people live within 200 metres of that tube station, you begin to see the challenge of trying to derive meaningful insights from individual data points. This doesn’t detract from the fact that there are large discrepancies, most notably from west to east – this is even more visible when you look at the child poverty data.

You may think this is old news, but as a way to bring to life the concept not just of deprivation but of disparity, maps are surprisingly powerful. Take a look at the routes you regularly use to get around London, and next time you whoosh through the city (or, more pertinently, go to the Olympic Park) on a tube train, have a think about the areas you’re passing through out of sight. Maybe also have a think about whether a child born in east London deserves a lower life expectancy just because of where their parents live.

July 20, 2012