…Alfie? (Give me the Dionne Warwick version any day over Cilla ‘I’m a professional Scouser’ Black). Actually, with this week’s Budget having come to pass, the question should really be being asked of George Osborne; or in the interest of Coalition politics, the ultimate dog-in-a-manger, meddlesome old woman Vince Cable should perhaps be being courted for his Solomitic prophesies. In reference to the property market, the 2014 Budget contained no absolute howitzers unless you belong to that bracket that wants to buy a property in London (primarily) where the average asking price is just over £552,000. (Yes, you did read that correctly). As of midnight on Budget day, the stamp duty for residential properties held in corporate portfolios worth over £500,00 increased to 15%, whereas prior to the hour of Cinderella, pumpkins and glass slippers it had only covered properties worth £2million or over. Will this have any impact? Well I suppose it might possibly deter a buyer from Europe from purchasing a pied a terre in the middle of London via a corporate envelope; whether it puts off the Qatari Royals from mass buying flats in Battersea Power Station (the cheapest retailing at £650,000), is anyone’s guess. Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s director was quoted in many publications, “Some deals may fall out of bed as corporate buyers try and renegotiate, and may give a knock down price opportunity to those Londoners looking in the half-million to £2million bracket…” [sic]. Meanwhile, back in the property world of NP44… I nearly crashed my car whilst driving up Avondale Road. Eight boards in a twenty foot stretch of railing? This raises a myriad of questions: not least what is so awry with the development that so many properties are available? Devil-worshipping? Cannibalistic tendencies? The neighbours from hell -I refer you to my first point? As the boards are equally split between sales and lettings, a potential investor may well be put off by what appears to be a very high turnover of tenants and the competitiveness of the market of actually moving the property on. Of course a more cynical individual may take the view that some agents may have a put a board up without actually having a property to sell, but due to the proliferation of their competitors they feel that they are missing out..
