IS THIS THE LOWEST PRICED HOUSE IN BRISTOL?

Is there a house on the market in Bristol at a lower price than 21 Sylvan Way at Sea Mills?
If so, Mark Symonds, senior branch manager at Besley Hill Estate Agents’ Fishponds office, would like to know about it.
For this three-bedroom semi-detached local authority house is to be offered at Besley Hill’s auction sale on Thursday 1 December with a guide price of only £70,000-£90,000.
“I would be surprised if there is a house on the market in the city for less than this,” said Mark. “It is only being auctioned with such a low guide price because the vendor wants a quick sale for family reasons.”
Built to a Dorlonco steel frame non-traditional design, this home has been improved by the present owner and requires a further programme of modernisation and improvement.
“The property will appeal particularly to cash buyer builders, speculators and specialist contractors,” said Mark Symonds.
Situated close to The Portway, 21 Sylvan Way offers easy access to the city centre and the motorway network, with local shops and services available locally in Shirehampton.
Besley Hill auctioneer Nigel Freston said: "21 Sylvan Way forms part of the southernmost section of the original Garden Suburb within a designated Conservation Area. It was one of the first phase of Dorlonco houses built between 1920 and 1922. Number 21 was first occupied on the 9 August 1920. The Community Forest Path, a 46-mile recreational route around Bristol, passes along the north east side of Three Acre Covert before crossing Sylvan Way."
The spacious, well-proportioned accommodation of the house comprises a hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, rear lean to/conservatory, three bedrooms and a shower room (former bathroom).
The shower room incorporates a luxury suite of white shower enclosure with a built-in Dolphin shower unit above, low-level W.C. and pedestal wash basin.
The kitchen/breakfast room is fitted with a range of wall and floor storage cupboards and has a single drainer stainless steel sink unit and vinyl floor covering.
A further benefit is a generous rear garden with numerous paved patio surfaces, an ornamental pond, two greenhouses and two timber sheds/outbuildings.
The house is one of ten lots included in Besley Hill's 1 December auction sale, which is to be held at The Pavilion Lounge of BAWA, 589 Southmead Road, Filton, Bristol, BS34 7RG.
For further details of 21 Sylvan Way, contact Mark Symonds, Besley Hill Estate Agents, 764 Fishponds Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3UA, tel 0117 9653162, email fishponds@besleyhill.co.uk, or the auctioneer’s office, tel 0117 9701551, website www.besleyhillsurveyit.co.uk

BUY-TO-LET MORTGAGES BOOMING

Buy-to-let mortgages are shooting up with the number of new loans increasing by 16% in the third quarter of 2011, official figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show.
The data also reveals that the value of mortgages in this sector went up by 19%.
“We have access to the whole buy-to-let market for mortgages and this trend is in line with the deals negotiated for investors by the Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) representatives at our 15 offices throughout Bristol and Gloucestershire,” said Adam Offer, managing director of Besley Hill Estate Agents.
“We can confirm that landlords are reacting to high levels of tenant demand by using their own cash and short-term borrowing to purchase and renovate property, and then remortgaging using buy-to-let finance.”
In the three months to September, a total of 34,500 buy-to-let loans were advanced, up from 29,700 in the preceding quarter. The value of lending totalled £3.8bn, up from £3.2bn.
On both measures, buy-to-let lending was at its highest level since the final quarter of 2008.
Of the buy-to-let loans, 18,580 were for buy-to-let purchases – accounting for almost 12% of all house purchase loans.
As at the end of September, there were 1,378,700 buy-to-let loans outstanding, worth £157bn, up from 1,296,700 loans worth £150bn 12 months earlier.

UK HOUSE PRICES UP 1.2%

House prices in the UK increased by 1.2% in October compared with the previous month, reports the Halifax, part of the Lloyds Banking Group.
The lender said that the housing market had remained “highly resilient” despite weakness and a deteriorating outlook for the UK economy.
Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist, said: “The housing market has proved highly resilient in recent months, despite the weak economic recovery and the deterioration in the outlook for both the UK and global economies.
“The prospect of exceptionally low official interest rates over the foreseeable future is likely to continue to support the market in the face of a very difficult economic climate.
“Both prices and activity levels are expected to remain close the current levels over the coming few months.”
The housing market also saw an increase in activity last month as more surveyors reported that newly agreed sales were on the rise, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Completed sales rose to an average of 15 at each branch of surveyors over the past three months - the strongest level since April. New buyer enquiries - a good indicator of demand - edged up as well.
At the same time, the Countrywide group’s quarterly research into the private rental sector shows that tenant demand shot up by 10.8% in the third quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, and by 11.9% from the second quarter of this year.
“More people are entering the buy-to-let market as a result of this increased tenant demand and the comparably high rate of return from this kind of investment,” said Adam Offer, managing director of leading west estate agents, Besley Hill.
“Prices here have stabilised due to lack of supply and increased demand from buyers.”

WEST HOUSING MARKET IS PICKING UP

The housing market in the west of England is showing signs of a revival, according to one of the region’s leading estate agents.
Figures announced by Besley Hill reveal that sales at their 15 offices throughout Bristol and Gloucestershire are up by 20% compared with a year ago.
New buyer registrations have increased by 16% during the same period, with viewings rising by 12% and contract exchanges by 20%. The firm’s “pipeline” is 23% higher than a year ago.
“Our year-on-year performance points to a definite revival in the housing market in the west of England,” said Besley Hill managing director Adam Offer.
“The feedback from the branches is that the market is picking up and all indications are that we can look forward to a better year ahead.”
Mr Offer said that instructions at Besley Hill’s branches were down “just 5%” and viewings up 12%, reflecting the fact that “we need more homes to sell to waiting buyers”.
Other statistics include 20% more legal services referrals than 12 months ago due to clients taking advantage of benefits resulting from the group’s “buying power”.
Besley Hill’s offices are situated at Bedminster, Bishopston, Bishopsworth, Downend, Dursley, Easton, Fishponds, Kingswood, Knowle, Longwell Green, Stroud, Thornbury, Whitchurch Village and Wotton-under-Edge.

ESTATE AGENT HOLDS CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS ART COMPETITION

Thornbury estate agents Besley Hill Town & Country Homes are holding a Christmas art competition for local schoolchildren.

There are three age categories - four to eight, nine to thirteen and fourteen to seventeen – with the winner of each category winning an Amazon kindle.

Entrants are required to submit one picture or painting with a festive theme, the only stipulation being that it has a house or property in it.

The competition closes on Saturday 3 December and the winners will be announced the following week.

“Ultimately we are looking for a design that can be used on our office Christmas card with the best entrants being displayed in the branch window in the run up to Christmas,” said Andrew How, manager of Besley Hill’s Thornbury office.

For further details, contact Mr How at Besley Hill Town & Country Homes, 57 High Street, Thornbury BS35 2AP, tel 01454 411522, email thornbury@besleyhill.co.uk

BESLEY HILL APPOINT NEW BRANCH MANAGER

Rob Chapman, who has worked in the South Gloucestershire property market for 26 years, has been appointed manager of Besley Hill Town & Country Homes at Chipping Sodbury.
Besley Hill managing director Adam Offer said: “We are thrilled that Rob has joined us. It is quite a coup because he has such a wealth of experience in the local housing market.”
Rob Chapman has spent all his career based at the same office in Station Road, Yate, initially for 11 years with Sandoe Luce Paynes, then Nationwide, and latterly with R A Bennett & Partners.
He said: “During this time I have experienced a number of different housing markets, enabling me to gain an insight of how best to work in a particular situation to achieve the best results for my clients.
“I have had the pleasure of representing a number of clients more than once and this is something I hope to continue through providing customer service that meets people’s needs.”
At Chipping Sodbury, Rob will manage a team supplying a full range of property services, including house sales, lettings, mortgages, financial services, auction, survey and conveyancing.
In addition to giving free market appraisals, he will be launching a new initiative, a professional property stylist service run by Alison Armitage, which is designed to maximise a home’s sales potential.
For further details, contact Rob Chapman at Besley Hill Town & Country Homes, 14 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, BS37 6AH, tel 01454 313575, email sodbury@besleyhill.co.uk
Besley Hill, the West’s largest independent estate agency group, has other offices throughout Bristol and Gloucestershire at Bedminster, Bishopston, Bishopsworth, Downend, Dursley, Easton, Fishponds, Kingswood, Knowle, Longwell Green, Stroud, Thornbury, Whitchurch Village and Wotton-under-Edge.

HOUSING MARKET IS MAKING A REVIVAL

New figures just announced indicate that there are positive signs of a recovery in the housing market.
The number of mortgages lent for house purchase rose 7% in August from the month before, to reach 52,000, up 2% on August the year before, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
At the same time, figures from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) show an increase in house-hunters registered per branch from 299 in July to 304 in August, the highest since September 2007, with sales up from an average of seven to eight.
These trends are confirmed by leading South West estate agents Besley Hill, who report a similar upturn at their network of offices throughout Bristol and Gloucestershire.
The CML data reveals that the number of loans to first-time buyers rose 5% both from July and August last year, with 19,000 loans taken out by first-time buyers. Home movers took out 33,000 loans in August. Lending to both first-time buyers and home movers was at its highest for over a year while remortgaging activity rose sharply by 9%, with 34,100 remortgage loans advanced.
“These statistics and the NAEA figures showing the highest number of house hunters for four years and rising sales in the traditionally slow month of August are evidence of a revival,” said Besley Hill managing director Adam Offer.
“This improvement is also borne out by reports that the market is beginning to move again from the directors and Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) representatives at all our offices.”