Maguire Jackson
Birmingham Property Agents 0121 634 1520
Birmingham Property Agents 0121 634 1520
Tell us your requirments and we will do all the hard work in finding the right accomodation for you! It will only take 30 seconds
Strong start to 2012 in terms of enquiries, is at least partly due to the fact that homeowners are enjoying the cheapest mortgages on record, thanks to historically low interest rates. We feel People are fast realising that this current mortgage opportunity is indeed very good.
For potential buyers, this represents a valuable window of opportunity to secure highly favourable mortgage deals which may look good value in the years ahead. A number of lenders cut their interest rates in 2011 as they battled for share in an increasingly competitive market, but this we feel will not last forever.
The average mortgage payment is currently £494 per month, which compares to £601 at the height of the credit crunch some 4 years ago. In terms of affordability, the current figure represents 15.4% of average take home pay compared to 20.5% in 2008.
The number of first time buyers also increased markedly last year compared to 2010 as banks relaxed some of their lending restrictions; there were 57,301 loans of 85% or more, up from 43,379 in the previous 12 months.
It is expected that interest rates will remain at 0.5% (now 34 consecutive months) for some time to come, as the Government attempts to help support the economy via quantitative easing and other financial instruments.
A significant minimum deposit, and a good personal credit history remain key to securing the best deals. But for those that can pass these hurdles, the offers are extremely attractive by any financial measure.
There is never an ideal time to move & juggling the wait for the perfect property, at the ideal price, with the lowest possible financing costs and when the economic outlook is favourable –is a call difficult to make. There are a number of factors currently in play which make this an easier decision than over the past four years
The average time ,according to the website Home.co.uk, for a property to be on the market in the UK before being sold is currently 241 days..
There is however a way forward this year for those vendors of mainstream properties & that is the route of Auctions & Auction+. We have linked up with the leading West Midland agents including Hunters, Oulsnams & Taylors to offer local monthly auctions from March 20th ,which will include the Auction+ auctions which are proving to be enormously popular elsewhere in the UK
Through the format of monthly auctions we can now offer vendors the opportunity of securing sales within specific time periods. For buyers, particularly through the Auction+ format ,we can give certainty ,alleviating any concern about possible gazumping from other likely buyers or vendors changing their minds after lawyers have been instructed. The Auction+ sales route has sometimes been called the ‘soft’ auction because it allows the buyer to commit in the room to a binding contract with insured title details on a small non refundable deposit of £4k. The buyer then instructs the lawyer & has 28 days to put down the balance of the deposit & then completes a month later. This is quite some way from the typical property auction room which is often intimidating & full of savvy investors vying for awkward secondary located commercial & residential buildings.
Our first residential auction kicks off in the National Motorcycle Museum near Solihull from 6pm March 20th
If you want your property to be included please call the office & we will arrange for Charles Robinson our auctioneer to call you
The continued gloom in the press belies a number of interesting facts which might surprise a lot of people this year. Notwithstanding Euro issues, some increased personal costs & that the Public Sector is undoubtedly going to squeal as it contracts this year. There are some really positive things happening in the coming months, such as the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations starting from 6th February with its extended Bank Holiday in early June, The Olympics Games starting on 27th July lasting to 12th August and no doubt Britain’s Got Talent 2012 starting at some point ( The Birmingham audition was held in mid December!). We also seemed to have ignored that there are many firms in the West Midlands quietly doing very well, slimmed down and ambitious. These range from engineering through to web based firms and I have no doubt will no doubt help inject the confidence to many individuals to move plus businesses to relocate. This might be from individual Lettings upgrading across the City to the switching into buying.
We seemed to have forgotten that the peak of the residential boom was five years ago this coming summer and that I feel is important. Property cycles are a fact of life here in the UK and there is an audience who didn’t buy in the immediate years prior to the peak who are now older, more mature & probably a bit better off. Potential first time buyers, family buyers & older buyers. The prices across the board look stable and if there is one thing which gets potential buyers to make decisions it is when they see month on month improvements in prices in the areas where they are looking to live and whilst that is not part of my vision for the first half of this year we might see some traction later in the autumn.
Inflation is predicted to fall & that will also help boost confidence
A seven to eight year cycle..Maybe !
The autumn activity overall suggests we might be set for a busier 2012 year ahead . The early optimism for 2011 in the market stalled in the spring & many of you who prepared to move decided to stay still. This caused a severe constriction of supply of property for rentals especially during the summer months and pushed up the price of renting in the City Centre ,which in turn has attracted investors back to the market. Those looking to sell in turn got caught by a lack of buyers looking particularly over £200k and many switched successfully across to renting.
This coming year we think will be different. We expect to see a continuing strong rental market however we also expect to see a slow steady but increasing confidence in the sales market. We expect there will be more trading up across the City from owner occupiers who enjoy the City, plus current tenants deciding to buy. Our Property for Pensions brand which sells let Buy to Let stock we expect to see selling more, particularly to investors from outside the area attracted to the rising profile of Birmingham . Prices particularly for well located core City Centre apartments less than £130k we think will harden as investors compete head on with first/second time buyers.
For those looking to buy our advice continues to be that you must ensure your mortgage funding is lined up. For those looking to rent the market isn’t going to become much easier however stay in touch as we increasingly have better apartments than most.
Have a good year end & happy house & office hunting in 2012
Taken off the BBC internet commentary to those who are meant to be working (on a Saturday morning)
Little fact for you: Friday saw more drinks consumed at Lord's than on any other day in history, and twice as much champagne than during the first day of the Ashes Test in 2009’
I see this as very encouraging & it’ll be interesting to see if this sign of confidence repeats itself as the Test comes out of the Capital later in the month
There is no doubt that overall people are feeling better and I sense that once the papers start show small but steady rises in prices we’ll see much bigger overall demand. Transactions in the market are still running across the country at 52% of the ten year average and approximately at one third of the 2007 levels..I sense this is going to change in this coming year.
Does the sight of three new coffee shops , two new delicatessens & a new boutique hotel in the Jewellery Quarter herald the signs of a location in transition. I sense it does . At the same time St Pauls Square has just been nominated as one of the ‘Hippest streets in the UK’ in a Google award ,to be made before the summer ,which again suggests the location is on the move increasingly as an area to live, to work & to play.
The combination of both newer apartments plus interesting conversions and some town houses provides a mix of choice for both tenants & owner occupiers. The lack of ‘Canal views’ which clearly define some of the Convention Quarter apartments is overcome by a more eclectic mix of street life & streetscape ,of great appeal to those looking for a City centre location with increasing charm.
We have one bedroom flats in the area starting from £100,000 , two bedrooms from £130,000, and freehold houses from £299,000 .Rentals start from £550 per month
Speaking last week to a Birmingham University Vice Chancellor I raised the question of the impact of rising fees on the likely student numbers for the coming years. The response was encouraging and consequently good I feel for current & potential landlords across the City Centre. Mature & foreign students in particular are a considerable strong segment in the mix of tenants who look for accommodation in Birmingham . This is alongside those young professionals annually entering the big firms of accountants & lawyers, plus the large mix of others wanting the convenience of the City Living and benefits of a supply of recently built accommodation.
All the Birmingham Universities , the Vice Chancellor felt, might all benefit from the introduction of fees as he felt that those potential students would be looking even more for ‘value added’ experiences and that Cities like Birmingham which have a strong cultural heritage and life outside of campus will continue to be a huge draw on students looking for more than just their degree or other academic award. Birmingham is definitely on the up as an academic City
All this is good news for property owners. City residential rents are already under pressure to rise as the demand for accommodation continues to be high with voids markedly lessening even at this time of year . Many existing tenants are rolling there tenancies on rather than entering the housing market to buy & this is causing the supply to stay tight. At the same time the numbers of new flats entering the City market continues to stay low. There is definitely a gap slowly building between the price to rent & the price to buy ..if you can secure finance. The latter is I suggest is increasingly looking better value .Finance is starting to ease and so have many of the big concerns about future prices.
The latest Rightmove statistics & annual projection makes interesting reading. Sixteen million pages of Rightmove were read daily between December 24th & January 2rd with 25.1million pages on January 3rd alone and a further 28.3million pages on January 10th. Clearly more than just a few potential buyers & tenants were putting their toes in the water!
Our early January statistics record a good number of registering buyers and potential tenants such that we think the National Association of Estate Agents forecast of an overall weakening of demand , suggesting 4.2 registered buyers per property unlike 5.8 last year might apply more outside the City Centre than in, where serious interest from owner occupiers & experienced buy to let investors is translating already into increased sales.
We encourage those vendors who considered selling in 2008-2009 but then withdrew due to lack of interest to look again as there are good buyers out there searching
As we close the curtains on 2010 we can look back on a challenging but quietly encouraging year for City Centre houses & apartments. The rot in prices is now behind us with confidence to invest steadily returning throughout the year from buy to let & owner occupiers alike. We have seen a busier than ever summer lettings market buoyed by increasing numbers of international & mature students choosing to study in & around Birmingham combined with a shortage of stock, as existing tenants stayed put & there being very little new build alternative accommodation coming through the pipeline
We have been encouraged by the level of sales activity above £250k ,with buyers being very discerning regarding location & specification plus researching the market well before committing. That being said the City Centre is maturing with buyers trading up in size within the City or indeed looking for small freehold houses where possible. The success of ‘The Minories’ nine town house development this year in the Jewellery Quarter has clearly highlighted the demand for well designed & finished houses in the City. The same developer will shortly be starting a new fourteen house courtyard project & we encourage interested parties to talk to us early as we do expect to see serious interest off plan. Prices expected from £325k
Can I thank clients old & new for all your support in 2010 & hope we can all prosper & grow in 2011
The announcement of Government cuts call has coincided with a sharp fall in temperature. The Chancellors prediction of 490,000 job cuts has the potential to cause chaos in areas where the property market is fragile. Hopefully within Birmingham City Centre the fall out might be less than we think with less dwellers tied to City Council & Government work plus an overall younger demographic ,being an audience less exposed to cuts & more likely to readily find new employment.
The City centre bore the brunt of a sharper downturn in prices than most other areas of the City since the bullish heights of 2007 and for this reason probably now sits at more affordable price levels than certain suburbs. There is no doubt that many buyers & potential buyers in the City Centre already recognise this. We note that buyers are now trading up within the City or indeed buying houses here rather than being pulled to the Suburbs. A recent study of a Jewellery Quarter prestige house scheme showed 80% of buyers moved less than one mile. With the City Centre residential market starting to show signs of maturing we see this market continuing and developers need to acknowledge that we are now dealing with experienced discerning City centre living folk who are looking for better than average proportions, better finishes, higher ceilings with balconies where possible..alongside the capital L of location.
The strength of the lettings market this summer have proven beyond doubt that City Centre prices will reflect the lettings values overall and that investors will quickly buy where they see good investment income. This has put a bottom level to prices. The continuing growth of the overseas student market plus the mature post graduate into Birmingham’s increasingly sought after universities has squeezed rental voids this summer to days if not hours between tenancies and many landlords are being encouraged to buy again by 75% mortgages at good rates.
We see the coming months being temperate and quietly encouraging. The suburbs will definitely be colder.
Sitting at lunch recently with other city centre and block management agents, we started discussing the characteristics of a good city centre property investment and whether apartments can really offer future growth in prices.
The bulk of the housing stock in central Birmingham is apartments and has been largely built through the property boom years since the millennium. Many apartments were bought off plan and retained by budding buy-to-let investors looking for good rents plus underlying capital growth.
It is the question of prices, however, which made an interesting lunchtime debate. The question was put: "What is the driver of prices in a market where large numbers of investors exist and where there is the likelihood of more apartment supply coming into the market in future years?"
In essence, the discussion went on the following lines.
Buy to Let investors are frequently not local. In many cases they live miles away, having little real interest in their block or the city where their investment is.
They do have a great interest in their own apartment(s), ensuring they bought well, often under the market in recent years. And they concentrate on their on-going 'letability', wanting to minimise the empty weeks between tenancies and maximise on their rent.
They acknowledge that the block service charges which are payable by the landlords are a burden, yet rarely contest these with their managing agents.
The city centre, overall, is becoming more popular and recognised as a good place to live by tenants and owner occupiers alike. Indeed many existing owners are increasingly comfortable about trading up within the city.
The question is then, if you want rent plus capital growth what can drive overall apartment prices to rise? How is it that some city centre blocks increasingly seem to be maturing into successful, sought after buildings while others nearby stay pretty level pricewise? Why is it that some blocks have that "X factor" that others don’t, when the rents achievable and locations are to the layman often largely similar?
A key ingredient is without doubt the re-emergence of the private buyer throughout the city centre. Generalising, these private buyers acquiring for themselves are paying little heed to rental returns but much more to the overall condition of the apartments being considered, the block & the management of the buildings they live in. Resident groups are becoming more popular throughout the city and they are now questioning their block managing agents re their bills and ensuring small management points are constantly being addressed. This makes block management more difficult for the agents involved but certainly more accountable.
Several blocks of apartments in the city centre have near 100% buy-to-let ownership. It is those with fewer buy-to-let units, however, where we are seeing apartment prices harden and competition attracted. It therefore comes as no surprise that some of the oldest and best-managed buildings are also becoming the most sought after. The leading blocks of the Convention Quarter, namely Symphony Court, King Edwards Wharf and Liberty Place are without doubt in the premier league, now leaving many in their wake.
The moral therefore if you are hunting for higher capital returns is to look at the blocks where the owner occupiers live.
The recent headlines regarding the giant new Birmingham Queen Elizabeth hospital with its 1213 beds, 30 operating theatres , 3800 parking spaces and £627m bill, located on the Harborne Edgbaston, Selly Oak border have barely mentioned that it will employ 6900 members of staff once it is fully functional next year .. This 24 hour major suburban employer is starting to account for a large number of sales & lettings that are within very easy commuting reach. The contrasting near neighbourhoods will each of course each benefit as new members of staff locate into the area and existing relocating staff from the closing hospitals decide to move closer.
Maguire Jackson as established city agents with two city centre offices is now stretching out its reach towards these suburbs including Moseley and Kings Heath. Sam Meeten has recently joined to focus his experience & attention solely towards the area. ’There have always been applicants of ours searching in & out of the City Centre, often renting in the Centre if they were new to the City plus vendors & former tenants deciding to move a little further out as they got to know the areas of Birmingham plus those starting families and wanting something a little quieter than the buzz of city centre urban life’.
With a concept modelled on the York based Hunters franchises Philip Jackson of Maguire Jackson reports that ‘the key of having a specialist living & working in the area , a high profile brand and a City Centre pro active style is already starting to win friends locally. The sales market overall continues to be improving across the City albeit with some current concern regarding the correct pricing. There continue to be applicants looking to buy, moving through work and family reasons, wanting to be guided and that is where we step in.’
The Birmingham City Centre lettings market is now winding up en route towards its mid summer peak. Maguire Jackson through high profile marketing, a highly optimised web site ,plus an in house specialist Mandarin speaking negotiator for the graduate Chinese student market ,are attracting potential professional & graduate tenants in increasing numbers. We are actively now looking for more well presented one & two bedroom apartments to offer to let. This year promises to be busy and we are already seeing pressure on rental prices to rise because of the limited number of new apartments coming into this sector alongside Birmingham’s increasing popularity as a City to work & be educated in.
Our push into Harborne & Edgbaston continues and we are now seeing our distinctive red boards highlighting properties 'for sale' & 'to let' around the area. There has always been a stream of potential buyers & tenants who decide at various points to move away from the heart of the City Centre into the established greener suburbs on the collar of the City. We hope to be able to bring this wider market to those vendors and landlords searching for motivated applicants. Sam Meeten as our specialist knows the area well is now in both areas daily. He can be contacted on 0121 634 1520
The post election hiatus has not impacted the City centre housing market as much as the cold weather! I believe many people had already factored in the possibility of a hung parliament or minority Government post May 6th. The reality this time of all three parties sounding remarkably similar prior to the election without giving the fear post election of a possible sharp political veer to the right or left has meant that buyers have in fact largely carried on viewing and potential tenants carried on registering and making offers.
Clearly there could be a benefit if the Home Information Packs were dropped, because more stock probably would be brought to the market and if stamp duty was brought down but these things are not going to happen fast. It is the mortgage market & the first time buyer market in particular which needs to be eased & I suspect which ever face is in Government will want to try to unlock the brakes on the mortgage sector as soon as possible because of the obvious repercussions of driving spending through the economy.
There is concern about overall increased taxation or increased National Insurance but we are not currently seeing any major effects . It may be that we are still , in the City Centre, in a recovery mode from a very sharp recessionary bite and the overall volumes of transactions are still low ,with many purchases continuing to look good value. The possible increased unemployment from the talked about Public sector cuts mentioned from all the leaders will have an impact but we have to see at what level. The bigger fear though across the property market is probably that an increase in inflation will lead to increased Interest Rates. It is the latter which undoubtedly is going to hit those highly geared individuals & investors who are currently under pressure but not necessarily to sell. They might be if there outgoings increased sharply.
Having recommended this week to a local vendor that he place his property for sale by auction jointly with ourselves and a London based auction house instead of going down the conventional sales route I thought I might discuss the merits of this form of sale for other parties.
When a property has an existing income ,particularly commercial, which is solid for a number of years ahead ,rather than months, the market for it becomes that of an investment rather than simply a bricks & mortar purchase. The consequence is that whilst a buyer still could be that of a neighbour, it is quite possibly is also going is to be a property investment company or individual looking to protect his cash. The latter perhaps currently sitting with cash on deposit & receiving very weak bank returns . At the moment there is a big market looking for this type of solid fixed rate return.
At the top end of the investment market margins are being tightly squeezed by the competition by the Pension giants for the very best covenanted tenants. Lower down the scale especially with investment properties below £1m there is a wide market from potential buyers across the UK not only from those trying to obtain income from pension monies but also smaller family monies which perhaps is not wanting to be currently placed into the slightly uncertain stock market.
It is for this reason that mid priced investments in the City fringe of Birmingham can be sold well, away from this city. I am fully aware that the local Birmingham property auction houses are currently buzzing with activity & we will always recommend vacant poor condition residential /commercial properties plus unusual houses go this way, when the prices are difficult to determine & where we know there is steady stream of developer builders looking for their next job. Another reason for London is that stock in the West Midlands continues to look very good value in comparison particularly with the South East. When the average price for a residential property in Chelsea is now £2.207m (Average £4.1m if you want a terraced house !) a small investment from an individual might look from this end as very large!
So if you are hunting for a 9% + yielding mixed industrial building of 35000ft talk to me. We are going to be guiding £800k.
The Jewellery Quarter continues to move steadily towards becoming the 'urban village' it has always promised to become. The area on the coat tails of the City Centre has always had the potential of becoming more than just a secondary office & manufacturing location for jewellers. Undoubtedly helped by the strong local planning & conservation policies it now has the opportunity of becoming one of those rare European inner city neighbourhoods with genuine mixed use, including housing at both ends of the social spectrum and a strong community involvement.
The news just announced at the MIPIN property exhibition that four acres bounded by George Street, Charlotte Street & Holland Street is to become the new UCB campus (former College of Food) is tremendous news locally. The first 80,000ft will be ready to occupy by 2013 with two further phases to follow. Currently the College operates from accommodation slightly closer to the City Core in Summer Row & Newhall Street. Local accommodation for undergraduate & post graduate students must be good for landlords and prices in this area. Interestingly we have now registered this year several serious applicants looking locally for both individual houses & flats close to & over £500k. This level was unheard of a year ago & undoubtedly reflects the increasing confidence of the area The success of the Minories nine house development located in the heart of the Quarter has also highlighted that there is a clear & increasing market for well finished freehold properties. Minories houses started from £365,000.
Other recent announcements include the 'Golden Square', being the area immediately in front of The Big Peg becoming landscaped as a focus area in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter where the bulk of the retailers are located. Currently this area is a sad looking car park. The work is planned for next year along with that of 'Albion Square' another local landscaping exercise on Albion Street which will soften the harder street view and improve local amenity space. The Jewellery Quarter future is looking up.
Some people are forgetting we are now over two and a half years from the height of the property market and the beginning of the property slump, when not only prices slumped but also new apartment building in the City Centre effectively ended with banks foreclosing on a wide range of developers, large and small.
Part of the driver of prices were the 'buy to let' landlords, with the banks help, encouraging individuals to build up portfolios of flats to let as investments. The implications of this, now for many well over three years on, is that some of these apartments are starting to now need some TLC. This was highlighted this week after a new tenant in a nearby block complained of her fridge smelling despite it having a thorough cleaning and the landlord stating that he’d in fact never actually been into the apartment since he bought it, some four years previous !
With average city tenancies lasting only nine to ten months the amount of wear and tear a typical apartment can take is quite large. We all know how it is at home. Tenants still expect immaculate 'new' apartments in the City centre and landlords have to be aware that they have to now take more interest in their portfolio if they are to secure the same rental levels and more importantly the same short voids between tenancies. My management team advise that they should be regularly looking to update linen, appreciate mattress protectors need to be renewed between tenancies, regularly renew cooking pans and thoroughly inspect the crockery for chips and missing pieces .Kitchen extractors are another item alongside oven cleaning than often get overlooked . Finally my team recommend busy bathrooms needing regrouting and shower seals needing replacing as complaints about water leaks plus the ingress of mould are becoming increasingly common.
The rental market continues to be strong in the City and our advice to landlords whether they are managing their tenancies or leaving it in the hands of an agent is not to become too complacent. Tackle these small jobs now before they come expensive big ones!
Having just had a few days in San Francisco to escape from the cold & grey I was interested to learn how their planners there have managed to create such retail diversity throughout the city ,which help give the place such uniqueness and a draw to return. Each Quarter within the City has its own character alongside of course stunning scenery. This retail offering is quite unlike so many UK Cities ,with Birmingham being no exception ,which mirror each other in the retail offering both in the centres and in the neighbouring retail parks.If you didn’t know which City you were in you’d sometimes be hard pushed to tell.
The answer though is remarkably simple. In certain zoned areas they simply just don’t allow retailers with more than ten outlets nationwide to become tenants. This means the landlords have to look for successful independents to be tenants. Whilst I am sure the property/investment companies owners are not always comfortable with the extra management involved with weaker covenanted tenants the areas invariably have increased appeal because of there uniqueness & this in turn pulls in additional tenants looking, keeping pressure on the rents & meaning the voids are minimised when tenants leave.
Why don’t we do the same here & have a culture of looking up to smaller traders & the qualities they can bring to an area rather than down on them ? its an interesting thought !
Did you know there are over 10,000 international students now in the West Midlands? Over 4000 in two Birmingham Universities alone & over 70,000 Chinese students in the UK with clear signs suggesting this sector will increase further. These amazing statistics highlight the huge potential impact on the centres of Birmingham, Wolverhampton & other leading local cities, adding vibrancy, and showing how city Centres are becoming beacons of excitement for students out of hours. With many overseas students , coming here for only one or two years , they are often spurning student digs for City Centre flats close to amenities .Local landlords are therefore having to wise up to the requirements, with rents inclusive of bills being one of them. One of our lettings negotiators is fluent in Mandarin Cantonese & English just for this market .The combination of weak spoken English by tenants, especially in the beginning of the tenancy is often offset by the ability of many to pay six months rent in advance! Interesting times for some landlords.
t: 0121 634 1520 f: 0121 634 1525 e:bham@maguirejackson.com
Maguire Jackson Offices
Convention Quarter - Liberty Place, Sheepcote Street, Birmingham, B16 8JZ
Jewellery Quarter - 33 George Street, Birmingham, B3 1QA
