Thursday 22 March 2012

BESLEY HILL CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY AS MARKET BOUNCES BACK




Besley Hill, the west’s largest independent estate agency group, are celebrating their 35th anniversary with rising property sales.

“The housing market is bouncing back,” said managing director Adam Offer (pictured). “Buyers are returning and our performance has improved in all sectors of the business.”

Over the past 12 months, the group’s sales have increased by 44%, new buyer registrations by 85%, viewings by 37% and instructions by 9%, while pipeline business is up 44%.

“These figures mean that we have started the year in a much healthier position,” said Mr Offer. “But, as a consequence of this sales success, our stock of available property is down by 15% on a year ago, so we need more homes to sell.

“The revival in the property market is benefiting all our offices and I am confident that the trend will continue during the year ahead.”

Besley Hill, based in Thornbury, have 15 branches throughout Bristol and Gloucestershire.

They are at Bedminster, Bishopston, Bishopsworth, Chipping Sodbury, Downend, Dursley, Easton, Fishponds, Kingswood, Knowle, Longwell Green, Stroud, Thornbury, Whitchurch Village and Wotton-under-Edge.

In addition, property is sold under the hammer at regular sales conducted by Besley Hill Auctions.

Philip Besley and Robert Hill founded Besley Hill in 1977 with one branch in the Kingswood area of Bristol.

The growth has mainly been organic but the expansion into South Gloucestershire followed the acquisition of several estate agency offices from The Halifax.

A full range of property services is provided including house sales, lettings, mortgages (in conjunction with the award-winning Mortgage Advice Bureau), financial services, auction, survey and conveyancing.

For further information, contact Adam Offer at Besley Hill Estate Agents’ head office, 57 High Street, Thornbury, BS35 2AP, tel 01454 411522, email thornbury@besleyhill.co.uk

EXTENSION OF COUNCIL RIGHT TO BUY SCHEME


The Government has confirmed the extension of the Right to Buy discount scheme to enable Council tenants to purchase their homes at discounted prices which could be worth up to 50% of the market value.
Under the scheme, those who have been a Council tenant for 5 years could receive a 35% discount with an extra 1% for each added year up to a maximum of £75,000. Tenants in flats will get 50% off after 5 years with 2% added yearly.
“This increase in discounts could open the door for millions of tenants in England and offer the opportunity to purchase a property with an affordable mortgage and climb on the property ladder,” said mortgage adviser Nigel Bull.
Nigel is one of a team of Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) representatives available to provide mortgage advice at Besley Hill Estate Agents’ 15 offices throughout Bristol and Gloucestershire.
For further details on how to purchase your Council home and to find out if you are eligible for this increased discount, contact Nigel Bull at Besley Hill’s Longwell Green branch (tel 0117 932 5686, email longwell@besleyhill.co.uk) or a MAB adviser at any Besley Hill office.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

HOUSE PRICES WILL RISE FOR YEARS AHEAD


A Bank of England policymaker has stated that house prices are set to rise for
years to come.
David Miles, one of the Bank’s nine rate-setters, said in an official paper that this was because the desire for space caused by the UK’s rising population would reinforce planning restrictions and make it more difficult for housebuilders to keep up with demand, resulting in a rising trajectory for real house prices over the longer
term.
But Mr Miles warned that, although Britain's growing population will underpin rising house prices for years to come, fewer people will be able to benefit than in the past unless new financial products are created to help first time buyers.
“This is particularly likely in a country like the UK where population density looks set to rise relatively fast,” he said. “The model also suggests that the upwards trajectory in house values may ultimately become steeper than the rise in real incomes.”
“It should not be seen as a sign of a damaged market. It probably never made sense for there to be 100pc mortgages. There may be no price at which it makes commercial sense for such a loan to be available.”
He added: “New homeowners in the future may need to have more equity than was normal in the years leading up to the financial crisis. This will have an impact, probably permanently, on the pattern of home-ownership.
“The first effect is likely to be for prospective buyers to postpone their purchase, while they save more to accumulate a larger deposit. As a result, the average age at which people would buy their first home will rise, and the share of owner-occupied houses will fall.
“The change in the pattern of homeownership this generates can be expected to be very large if the required equity is only provided by the prospective homeowners themselves.”
To bridge the credit shortfall caused by risk-averse lenders, Mr Miles proposed a new “equity loan” product – which would act as the buyer’s deposit.
Under his plan, providers would take equity in the property in return for a larger share of the upside rather than any monthly or annual payments. He used the example of a 20pc equity loan, which would take 36pc of the increase in the value of the property.
“In exchange for taking a higher share of a capital gain on a property a provider of an equity loan might agree to receive no payments until the property is sold,” he said.
“One way in which financial institutions could provide such loans without taking on significant house price risk is to issue savings products with returns linked to house price changes, a saving product which potential home owners are likely to find particularly useful.
Adam Offer, managing director of leading south west estate agents, Besley Hill, said he agreed with the report’s findings.
“My regret is that it is considered that a housing boom would be out of reach for first time buyers because credit will remain in short supply,” said Mr Offer. “It is a fact that before the financial crisis, buyers did not need a deposit to secure a mortgage, whereas since the recession, large deposits have become essential.”

Monday 19 March 2012

BRIGHT FUTURE PREDICTED FOR HOUSING MARKET


Chartered surveyors’ house price predictions were more optimistic in almost every area of the country in February, confirming that the UK property market is making a recovery.

The latest UK Housing Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a reliable barometer of the state of the market, showed that a net balance of 20% more surveyors predict sales to increase over the coming three months.

The survey also revealed that transaction levels continued to edge up, with the average amount of sales per surveyor branch moving up to 16, compared to 15.7 in January.

Adam Offer, managing director of leading south west estate agents, Besley Hill, said: “This is the first time since May 2010 that surveyors have not been predicting further price declines and confirms the experience of our branches that the market is picking up.

“In fact, some of our offices are now relying on new instructions to maintain their housing stock because of the sales they have achieved since the start of the year.

“But the RICS survey indicates that this will not be a problem because it shows 9% more surveyors reported instructions rose rather than fell and that new stock coming to the market has now risen for five successive months.”

"STUNNING" PROPERTY WITH LOTS OF PERIOD FEATURES



If you are looking for a property with plenty of decorative period features in the Fishponds area of Bristol, 3 Knowsley Road should fit the bill nicely.
For this attractive Victorian five-bedroom mid-terrace home comes with original fireplaces, internal panelled doors, cornices and leaded stained glass windows.
The property, which has a natural stone front elevation with upvc double-glazed sash bay windows, has just come on the market with Besley Hill Estate Agents at Fishponds priced at £295,000.
The spacious accommodation on the ground floor comprises three reception rooms with fireplaces and a smart open plan shaker-style kitchen.
On the first floor there are four bedrooms with bathroom, along with a further double bedroom and en-suite shower room to the second floor loft conversion.
At the rear of the house is a lovely enclosed garden with timber decked and lawned area with some established planting.
“This stunning property comes with a wealth of character,” says Joel Bennett, assistant manager of Besley Hill’s Fishponds office.
For further details and an appointment to view, contact Joel at Besley Hill Estate Agents, 764 Fishponds Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3UA, tel 0117 965 3162, email fishponds@besleyhill.co.uk.