The Steeple Times

Tag: SW7

  • Slumping Super-Prime

    Slumping Super-Prime

    Sales of super-prime properties in the UK fall by 86%

     

    Yesterday, the property group London Central Portfolio released data that showed that sales of £10 million-plus properties in the UK had fallen 86% over the past year.

     

    Blaming hefty Stamp Duty increases and Brexit uncertainty, the firm reported that just 5 “super-prime” properties had changed hands between June and August compared to a recorded 35 a year earlier. All of the sales in the period this year were in Central London whilst such properties accounted for just 30% of the figure in the year previous.

     

    Top-end developers, whose sales accounted for 23% of the figure in 2015, were especially affected. They made zero sales in this price bracket in the period and now, according to Naomi Heaton, CEO of LCP, they are reworking their developments to create smaller, cheaper units.

     

    Slumping Super Prime – Sales of super prime properties in the UK slump 86% in 2016 due to Stamp Duty hikes and Brexit uncertainty reports the London Central Portfolio property group – October 2016
    Citygrove Securities PLC and McClaren Properties’ The Clearings development in Chelsea’s Milner Street is being reworked to include fewer super-prime properties

     

    Of this, Ms Heaton commented:

     

    “Many [developers are] looking to divide large, high-priced property into smaller flats to increase their attractiveness”.

     

    Examples given by LCP include Clivedale’s Hanover Square development – where the scheme is being reworked to create four times as many units – and Citygrove Securities PLC and McClaren Properties’ The Clearings development in Chelsea’s Milner Street – where seven townhouses will be replaced with smaller properties.

     

    Speaking more generally, Ms Heaton – who predicts the consequences of this development will be a £45 million fall in Stamp Duty receipts to the government – added:

     

    “This slowdown in the luxury property market—a big contributor for the Exchequer and UK economy—is very concerning. As the government faces the daunting task of negotiating Brexit together with a potential slowdown in the UK economy, it should consider its strategy on residential-property taxation carefully to ensure it meets its objectives of increasing revenues”.

     

    Stamp Duty on a £6 million property was £420,000 under the old system; it is now £633,750. On a £2 million property it was £100,000; it’s now £153,750 whilst in addition buyers of second homes and investment properties now have to pay an additional 3% surcharge also.

     

  • The Pret Sleeper

    The Pret Sleeper

    Spotted early in the mornings in Pret A Manager in South Kensington, the Pret Sleeper wears loafers and an entirely black outfit. He usually purchases nothing and sits and sleeps. Occasionally he takes out a notebook and biro but only once has he been heard to speak; he choose to ring his bank manager about a transfer of the sum of £50,000. A sleeping millionaire?

     

    The Pret Sleeper – Pret A Manger, 15 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 3HZ

  • Room to swing a cat

    Room to swing a cat

    Tiny studio in London’s SW7 offered for sale for more than the average price calculated to buy enough space to swing a cat in that area

     

    It costs £119,965 or £1,527 per square foot to buy enough room to swing a cat – calculated at 78.54 square foot by the homeless charity Shelter – in the London postal code of SW7. For a sum 65.7% higher than that, a 183 square foot leasehold studio in Queen’s Gate can be had for £350,000 or £1,913 per square foot.

     

    For sale through Douglas & Gordon on a lease with 983 years remaining and newly refurbished, the ground floor flat comprises of one room with a kitchen, folding bed and study area and a shower room. It even has two windows and is described as “perfectly located”.

     

    Room to swing a cat – £350,000 studio flat in SW7 – Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London – Douglas & Gordon – For sale
    The kitchen and a study area of the 183 square foot studio
    Room to swing a cat – £350,000 studio flat in SW7 – Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London – Douglas & Gordon – For sale
    There is space for a single bed only
    Room to swing a cat – £350,000 studio flat in SW7 – Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London – Douglas & Gordon – For sale
    The shower room is somewhat compact also
    Room to swing a cat – £350,000 studio flat in SW7 – Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London – Douglas & Gordon – For sale
    The exterior
    Room to swing a cat – £350,000 studio flat in SW7 – Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London – Douglas & Gordon – For sale
    A floor plan of the cupboard like apartment

     

     

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  • Mr Make a Big Issue

    Mr Make a Big Issue


    Big Issue     sellers are normally pleasant but Mr Make a Big Issue is quite the exception. (more…)

  • Parked

    Parked

    Knightsbridge garage offered for the same price as an 18th century house on Orkney (more…)

  • The Pret Spitter

    The Pret Spitter

    The Pret SpitterAlways in a red ski jacket and always with a trolley and umbrella, The Pret Spitter is a most unpleasant vagrant. (more…)

  • Overheard – 12th April

    Overheard – 12th April

    Clangers overheard and snippets spotted by readers of ‘The Steeple Times’ (more…)

  • The Pamborghini

    The Pamborghini

    Pink Lamborghini owned by 32-year old multi-millionaire appears in South Kensington (complete with images of Pamela Anderson) (more…)

  • Lawrence Van Hagen

    Lawrence Van Hagen

    Art curator Lawrence Van HagenBig haired art curator and international jetsetter Lawrence Van Hagen is based in London and Paris. (more…)

  • Two guys sitting at a bar

    Two guys sitting at a bar

    An amusing artwork based on a conversation at a bar is to be offered at Christie’s in London in April (more…)