[We have heard many times: in term of house prices rising, London sets the pace, then the South East follows, then the Midlands, then it goes west and further North... In this article dated 9 February 2012, http://www.knightfrank.co.uk/ are showing figures of a nice growth in January, I would say: definitely too early to get excited but it's some news...

Another reason - I believe that could impact- is that from 24th March, first time buyers who are currently exempt from stamp duty on homes costing between £125,000 and £250,000will have to pay 1% (if you can find anything below £250k in London!).
What do you think?]

The price of Prime Central London residential property rose overall by 0.9% in January, according to the latest figures from Knight Frank.
Meanwhile, prices for prime property in the City and City Fringe areas rose by an average of 0.8% across the month.
This latest rise pushed the three-month rate of growth to 2.7%, the highest rate since July 2011.

Annual growth now stands at 11.9%, with prices rising 42% since their post-Lehman low in March 2009.
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of residential research, said: “The strength of London’s luxury sector, against a backdrop of economic difficulties both domestically and globally, has surprised many over the past year.
“Ironically economic and even political turmoil have provided the impetus for growth – with a sharp growth in investors looking for a safe-haven location for at least part of their wealth portfolio.
“The sector leading price growth at the current time is the £1-£2.5million segment, which provides a perfect investment lot size for investors, prices in this price range have risen 14.4% over the past 12 months.
“Recent price growth reflects healthy growth in demand, new applicant volumes are up by 10% over the past year, compared to stock volumes which have risen by only 6%.
“The imbalance in supply and demand is most pronounced in the £5million+ sector, where applicant registrations are higher by 65% year-on-year.
“Over the past five years the ratio between the number of applicants registering to purchase properties in central London, and the stock of properties to buy has averaged 3.7. In the last three months, despite a weaker economic environment the ratio rose to hit 4.1.
“For the £5million market the ratio shifted from a historic position of 3.4 buyers per property to 6.4 – reflecting the historic undersupply at the upper end of the market.
“Our outlook remains that prices will rise 5% in 2012, driven in large part by international demand and relatively constrained supply.
“Finally, prices for prime property in the City and Fringe, an area we added to our index last year, kept pace with the wider PCL market in January, rising by an average of 0.8% across the month.”
Charlie Hart, head of the Knight Frank City & East team, said: “We expect the earning power of the traditional local demographic to grow with the continuing success of the London tech and creative industries which have traditionally populated this Fringe area. The scarcity of product will drive demand and therefore pricing for the foreseeable future, enabling the City and City Fringe to sustain prime central London pricing levels.”

[Please leave your comments below please, thank you ]

[This is an interesting subject from The Telegraph where Halifax is claiming that it is cheaper to buy than rent. Do you think this is an 100% accurate statement? or simply a hype to create more interest in a very calm market? Let me have your thoughts on this...]

[I guess that s the £1m question on everyone's lips!!!

Below is an article extracted from http://www.thisismoney.co.uk and written by Andrew Oxlade on 04 January 2012
The latest is that the NEXT interest rate rise would be towards the end of 2015!  Somehow a great news for those with a portfolio, Even if the house prices are not going up as yet, (the last budget forecast predicted house prices to increase by 15% up to 2017-2018),  the rental market is strong!
We have a few years to plan carefully our cash flow strategy...
What's your plan???]

We wish we could give an exact forecast on the future of the UK base rate, but we can’t. We CAN, however, arm you with the right information and views from those in the know so you can make your own call (this round-up is updated every few days).

The MPC voted to ‘hold’ again in December and a rise looks a long way off – the range of predictions are 2013 to 2016.

The grim new forecasts for the economy in November’s mini-Budget made rate rises even less likely. And the worsening state of the eurozone crisis – which will damage the UK economy – continues to push out predictions of the first UK bank rate rise.

There was a particularly sharp move in mid-December as markets appeared to all but give up hope of a rate rise before the middle of the decade. The forecast has since remained fairly static, predicting the first rise in late 2015.

The prospect of low rates for years exists despite inflation remaining painfully high – it hit a peak of 5.2% (11 October) but is slowly easing back, down to 4.8% in the latest figures (13 December). Policymakers are adamant it will fall back further next year, and be under the 2% target by 2013.

The committee has dismissed inflation concerns and is more focused on heading off a double-dip recession. At its October meeting, it opted to restart its quantitative easing programme – an electronic form of money printing. The MPC minutes revealed members talked about £100billion of QE before agreeing on £75billion.

The vote was 9-0 in in favour of holding rates in December - the fifth month in a row of unanimity. Members had been locked at a 7-2 vote for two months before that and it was 6-3 earlier this year when a rate rise looked a possibility.

That shift in voting reflects the remarkable and rapid movement in forecasts for rates last summer, with predictions for the first rise, week by week, taking huge strides into the future:

- In March/April, a rise was seen as imminent;
- In June, the forecast was for a hike in July/August 2012;
- By early August, futures markets earmarked early 2013 for the first increase;
- By October, the market priced early 2014 for a rate rise.
- By November, the market priced early 2015 for a rate rise.
- By mid-December, it suggested late 2015.

[Excited? Disagree? Not bothered?
Let me know by leaving your comments below...]

[Interest rates can only go 1 way & that is up, so cashflow is key!
Yields tend to be very low in many places around the country and particularly London, so naturally, more and more landlords are considering switching from the single dwelling to multi. Renting to students is a great niche. Please read the interesting article below published on 7-Dec-11 on the following site: http://www.investortoday.co.uk and let me have your comments about the subject.]

It can be said that 2011 has been the year of increased awareness of student accommodation investments by private landlords and buy-to-let investors. The asset class is no longer limited to property funds. Everyday people have confidently entered the market by purchasing student investment pods in university halls across the United Kingdom. The question is which is the best city to invest in student accommodation?

The Knight Frank 2011 student accommodation report points to the top 20 university cities for investment. The knowledgeable staff and research team have spend considerable time in accessing the student market and have based their final selection on ‘a number of key variables – rents, investment yields and capital values – and is based on the achievable return of both en-suite bedrooms and studio apartments. Data was been collated from over 20,000 purpose-built student bedrooms located across key university towns and cities in the UK.’

The research tracked the key criterion over fives years and found that London is Ranked number 1 for Student Accommodation investment. In terms of future market requirements, there is a structural undersupply of ‘value’ accommodation in London, good-value en-suites aimed at the £150-£200 per week price bracket. In the Knight Frank Global Wealth Survey; ‘which examined the views of 350 wealth professionals, London was ranked the highest amongst all global cities for its educational offer and this factor was deemed a key purchaser motive amongst the world’s super-rich.’

Student Accommodation in London presented the highest investment potential because of demand, supply and local economic fundamentals. The higher rents and investor yields can be achieved in London due to the fact that 25% of the full time students are post-graduates and 35% are International students that will rent the accommodation for the full 51 week period.

‘There have been a number of student pod investments for sale to private investors across the UK’, says investment analyst Graham Flaherty of One Touch Property. Greenwich Student Accommodation Investment is the first of its kind in London. Its proximity of only 100 metres away from a Greenwich university campus and net yields of 9% will make it an attractive proposition for investors’. The first 20 student pods were purchased within one week is a clear demonstration that there is a hunger for London Student property investments.

Last year Knightsbridge Student Housing was established with backing from Oaktree Capital Management Ltd with the aim of acquiring £1 billion worth of assets in the UK student housing market. The large investment funds continue to show significant interest in the UK student market and are confident of the future investment returns demonstrated by the considerable investments being made by them.

[Interesting article posted  on http://www.commercialfinancegroup.co.uk by Tony Wilbon where he talks about the London commercial property market and its strength at the top end.

Do you know about the commercial property market?
Have you already invested in commercial property?
Are you going to invest in commercial property?
Let me know, leave your comments below]

Foreign buyers are investing heavily in London.

The strength of the London commercial property market has been illustrated by the latest industry figures.

Cushman and Wakefield, the global real estate specialists, have revealed the English capital is the second most successful sector in the world – behind only New York.

However, in some areas, the city excelled even further – such as in attracting foreign investment, for which it came out on top.

Despite a marginal fall of 1.9 per cent last year, London did enough to prove itself the most attractive place to non-native occupiers of office space.

Commenting, David Hutchings, head of the European Research Group at Cushman and Wakefield, said, “A whole range of factors above and beyond size and wealth go to make cities a success, ranging from classic business location priorities through to softer factors such as image and liveability.”

Richard Kauntze, chief executive of the British Council for Offices, recently recommended looking towards the outskirts of central London for the perfect commercial property deal.