- EXCLUSIVE: Dave Gilmour and Polly Sampson bought Medine House in 2015
- The couple rebuilt the former Victorian Turkish bathhouse in Hove
Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour has been forced to drop the asking price on his home by an astonishing £5m.
The rock star and and his wife, writer Polly Samson, put their luxury seafront home on sale more than a year ago for an eye-watering £15m.
But with house prices tumbling the couple were this week forced to drastically lower the asking price to £10m.
Neighbours living close to the seafront home in Hove, East Sussex said the couple had struggled to attract attention for the property and had been forced to take action.
Nicknamed ‘Polly’s Folly’, the couple only bought the property in 2015 and launched a lavish rebuild of the former Victorian Turkish bathhouse.
The reconstruction of Medina House sparked fury among residents and historical conservationists when they announced plans to bulldoze the baths.
Gilmour, 77, who is worth an estimated £140million, and Samson, 61, were slammed and their plans branded ‘appalling and disrespectful.’
One group, ‘Save Hove from Property Tycoons’ pinned a message to the building wall reading: ‘We don’t need no demolition, we don’t need no thoughtless plans, no tall dark shadows across our windows. Leave Medina House Alone.
‘Hey Gilmour, leave our hood alone. All in all it’s just another betrayal of us all, to you it’s just another brick in the wall.’
The only surviving building from the famous King’s Esplanade in Hove, the bathhouse first opened in 1894 offering women slipper baths and steam rooms.
The slipper baths were opened for people with no baths at home and were designed to improve hygiene and sanitation.
During the Second World War it saw service as a makeshift hospital, before being turned housing a diamond cutting business.
Interrupted by the Covid pandemic, the building work took years to completeby which time the couple decided it no longer met their needs.
The home boasts five bedrooms, three bathrooms, an open plan sitting room, kitchen and dining room, a library, music room, gym and sauna as well
Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1967, performing on albums such as ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The Wall’.
He also performs as a solo artist, and is a champion of several environmental causes.
Ms Samson has collaborated with Pink Floyd on a number of songs, and her most recent novel, ‘A Theatre for Dreamers’ (2020) was a bestseller.
The property was reportedly given to the couple in 2015 by the developer Sirus Taghan, who had been denied planning permits on a number of occasions.
The original bathhouse was demolished in 2018, and Keb Garavito Bruhn, a founding partner of the architecture firm Pilbrow & Partners, was brought in to design the residence.
The firm took inspiration from the bathhouse, mimicking its crow-stepped gable, as well as the half-moon shaped window at the top.
In addition, glazed ceramic tiles that were originally part of one of the pools were retained.
The open floor plan has doors to the courtyard, creating an indoor-outdoor space for the family in the summer.
According to Perry Press, the founder of Pereds, the London-based property consultancy, the couple said: ‘The main bedroom, with sea views in all directions, is a beautiful place from which to watch the sunrise and sunset across the sea.’
‘When you wake up in the morning, the view is always a surprise: the sea and sky are never the same. At night, it’s intoxicating to watch from bed the moon reflected in the water.’
Other amenities include hardwood flooring and underfloor heating throughout, polished plaster ceilings and walls, log-burning and gas-operated open fires and a host of sustainability and smart-home features, including a remote-controlled door entry system with biometric fingerprint access, the listing said.
(HOUSTON) – Hines, the global real estate investment, development, and property manager, today released its new global investment outlook titled, “Opportunistic Patience Prevails.” Informed by Hines Research, the report delivers a holistic view of current and emerging considerations for real estate investors.
Hines global chief investment officer David Steinbach introduces his view of the “Four Ds” systemically reshaping the economic, social, and real estate landscape: deleveraging, deglobalization, decarbonization and demography.
The report also explores what Hines believes are two signals of a potential recovery. The increase in transaction volume in some markets across the globe point to nascent improvement, though the U.S. recovery appears to be lagging Europe given the persistent spread between appraised capitalization (cap) rates and transaction cap rates. Additionally, by back testing the data on bank sentiment, Hines found a relationship between changes in bank lending standards and real estate investment performance. Once again, the European market in Hines observations appears to be further along in its transition with notable decreases in tightening compared to the U.S. where Q2 was the third quarter in a row with more than 60% of surveyed banks tightening underwriting standards on CRE loans.
“Our research points toward two key signals to watch in the current environment — an increase in global transactions and a link between shifts in bank lending norms and real estate performance,” said David Steinbach, global chief investment officer at Hines. “This, combined with emerging macrotrends, and economic and geopolitical forces, are the factors redefining investment strategies and priorities today. While change always carries some level of risk, it is also a catalyst for meaningful long-term transformation that often leads to new sources of demand, revenue, and opportunity.”
Hines’ regional insights reveal further distinctions between the markets:
- Americas – While deal volume in the U.S. and Canada is at half the level before the Fed began tightening, a number of regions (e.g., East, Midwest, and Canada), may soon see widespread “buy” signals given ongoing repricing. From a sector perspective, the fundamental health of U.S. warehouse and retail markets is moderating while apartment and office fundamentals are falling sharply.
- Europe – Positive signals in Europe are somewhat tempered by persistent cost-of-living concerns, the potential impact of demographic changes to the workforce on long-term growth, and a mixed economic outlook. In terms of real estate, despite lower transaction volumes and dips in leasing activity (aside from logistics and apartments), public market data suggests that the worst of the pricing declines may be over.
- Asia – Despite slowing in China, Asia’s growth is still expected to outpace the globe.1 Central banks in Asia remain vigilant, but with inflation trending in the right direction, consensus expects policy rates to ease in 2024 and 2025 though the yield curve for sovereign bonds suggests that long rates in the region could stay elevated or even rise over the next five years. Markets with rising cap rates are seeing relatively healthy rent growth and sectors like retail and office are showing signs of improving fundamentals and stabilization, respectively.
“To date, real estate performance is on pace with what we predicted entering 2023,” said Josh Scoville, head of global research at Hines. “With starts increasingly decelerating, lack of new supply will be an important contributor to the ultimate recovery, potentially leading to strong rent growth once demand inevitably improves. As we head towards the confluence of better fundamentals and heightened liquidity, we expect investor patience to be rewarded with a range of lucrative new global opportunities.”
The content herein and in the report is provided for informational purposes only. Nothing above or in the report constitutes investment, legal, or tax advice or recommendations. Such content should not be relied upon as a basis for making an investment decision and is not an offer of advisory services or an offer to invest in any product or asset class. It should not be assumed that any investment in an asset class described herein will be profitable. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice. Opinions or beliefs expressed in these materials may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Certain information above and in the report has been obtained from third-party sources. Hines has not independently verified such information. Back-tested results are not a guarantee of future performance.
About Hines
Hines is a global real estate investment, development, and property manager. The firm was founded by Gerald D. Hines in 1957 and now operates in 30 countries. We manage nearly $94.6B1 in high-performing assets across residential, logistics, retail, office, and mixed-use strategies. Our local teams serve 790 properties totaling nearly 269 million square feet globally. We are committed to a net zero carbon target by 2040 without buying offsets. To learn more about Hines, visit www.hines.com and follow @Hines on social media.
¹Includes both the global Hines organization and RIA AUM as of June 30, 2023.
The property market is showing signs of an upward turn. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Auckland’s housing market is turning in time for the traditionally busy spring season, with prices climbing in 76 suburbs in the past three months.
Property pundits had been tipping in recent months that city prices – which spent more than a year tumbling from record-high values in late 2021 – were beginning to rebound.
The new figures will be welcome news for homeowners. But for those wanting to enter the market, rising prices may add an additional hurdle as buyers already grapple with soaring interest rates.
New Zealand’s median house price took a more than $150,000 dive during a 15-month slowdown after the market peak in November 2021.
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Real Estate Institute data shows prices hit a record high of $925,000, before falling 18 per cent to $762,000 in February this year and now sit at $767,000.
Auckland’s median price hit $1.3m in November 2021, before falling 27 per cent to $943,000 in January this year. It now sits at $1.01m.
But the latest data by analysts CoreLogic gives the best indication that a rebound is now under way, chief economist Kelvin Davidson said.
Birkdale on the North Shore, Stonefields and Howick in the east, and Ōtara in the south are among 13 Auckland suburbs where prices jumped by at least 2 per cent since June 1.
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Luxury suburbs Herne Bay, Parnell and Ponsonby also experienced price jumps of at least 1.7 per cent over the past quarter.
The data showed prices rose in a diverse mix of “cheaper” and “pricier” suburbs, Davidson said.
“The housing market downturn seems to have affected both high-end and low-end suburbs, and the early signs of upturn are showing something similar,” he said.
The market rebound is also extending beyond Auckland.
CoreLogic found prices have risen in the past three months in 269 out of 924 suburbs across New Zealand.
“Back in June, 71 suburbs had recorded a rise of at least 0.5 per cent in the previous three months. But spring forward to September, and that count has risen to 188,” Davidson said.
Across the country, 29 suburbs experienced price rises of at least 2 per cent – 13 in Auckland, four in Wellington and 12 elsewhere.
Kiwbank chief economist Jarrod Kerr said the housing market was likely to pick up again now interest rates appeared unlikely to climb higher and migration had surged.
“Putting a stake in the ground, saying this is the bottom [of the market], I think we can do that now,” he said.
About 100,000 more people arrived in New Zealand over the past year than left.
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And while New Zealand had been in a building boom in recent years, construction had cooled in the past 12 months because of high building costs and falling house prices, Kerr said.
“Every migrant that comes here either takes a rental or looks to buy,” he said.
“So we’re going back into a situation where demand and population growth is outstripping supply.
“That’s not good for affordability, it’s not what we need, but that puts upward pressure on prices.”
If the Reserve Bank begins lowering interest rates next year, that could further boost prices, he said.
While homeowners might be happy to see prices rebounding, “affordability is still a massive issue” for many, Kerr said.
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Tom Rawson, director of Ray White AT Realty, said his agents in South Auckland noticed sales and prices picking up about two months back.
“We think we’ve come off the bottom of the market now,” he said.
“July was when we started to see some good prices and good sales activity starting back up.”
Sellers had been gaining increasing confidence as the speed of house price falls and the speed of interest rate hikes slowed, he said.
“We’ve seen steadiness with interest rates, steadiness with listing inquiries, steadiness with listings coming to the market for the last few months,” he said.
The increase in listings – or the number of new homes being put up for sale – had been particularly positive for sellers, Rawson said.
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“That gives people confidence that if they sell, there is something out there they can buy.”
His team had such confidence in the market they were holding another mega-auction on October 10 – just four days before the 2023 Election.
The mega-auction will include 60 properties being auctioned in a marathon event that could take up to nine hours.
Rawson conceded the timing of the event so close to an election could be risky, given buyers and sellers had in past years been more cautious ahead of elections because of the uncertainty a change in government could bring.
However, his team were “over-subscribed” for the auction, having already locked in 60 sellers and having to turn away others wanting to sell their properties on the day.
At the last mega-auction on July 26, one buyer snapped up four homes, Rawson said.
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Overall, 38 homes sold under the hammer for a total of $32 million.
Rawson said Ōtara had been one of the busiest suburbs his team had been working in over the past few months, backing up data from CoreLogic.
The CoreLogic stats showed Ōtara’s average value now sat at $746,300 or about $20,000 and 2.7 per cent higher than on June 1.
However, while prices have risen over the last three months, Ōtara’s average value is still 7.7 per cent lower than its $808,850 value this time last year.
Elsewhere in Auckland, tiny Herald Island in the northwest (up 3 per cent in the last quarter to $1.49m) and Maraetai (up 3 per cent to $1.47m) and Mellons Bay (up 3 per cent to $1.96m) in the east were the best-performing suburbs.
Birkdale was the next best, rising 2.7 per cent to $955,900, followed by Ōtara.
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Ben Leahy is an Auckland-based journalist covering property. He has worked as a journalist for more than a decade in India, Australia and New Zealand.
It is perhaps unlike any other census conducted. The 2021 edition of the population survey was conducted on 10 August 2021, a time when both Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s largest and most populated cities, were deeply entrenched in strict lockdown measures targeting a rising tide of COVID-19 cases.
As censuses tend to do, the 2021 instalment charted several key metrics related to the ever-growing Australian population, including age, job and household size. But perhaps the most jarring finding of the nation’s most recent census relates to the pristine Sydney harbourside suburb, Millers Point.
Tucked neatly on the western side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Millers Point, one of the oldest suburbs in Australia, was at the time home to 1,323 private dwellings and a population of 1,735. According to the 2021 census, over one-third of those dwellings sat unoccupied on 10 August 2021.
This marked Millers Point as the Australian suburb with the highest portion of empty nests at a time when extremely strict lockdown measures limited the amount of movement Sydneysiders were able to make. Given this, it is highly unlikely to imagine those hollow homes housed home owners who’d simply missed the census due an overseas holiday.
So, what purpose do these vacant homes serve?
A quick search on popular STRA booking site, Airbnb, reveals several properties listed in the neighbourhood, many of which leverage the history and heritage listing of their building and maximise their views of the iconic harbour to garner the attention of holiday seekers.
According to CoreLogic’s most recent Quarterly Rental Review, rents in Sydney rose 13 per cent in the 12 months to July 2023, while data from Knight Frank found luxury rents in the NSW capital grew faster than anywhere else in the world.
But even with rents skyrocketing in recent years, in places such as Millers Point, the economic prospects of landlords leasing their properties on the short-term market appears to far outstrip their returns from longer traditional leases.
A recently published research from Per Capita’s Centre for Equitable Housing revealed STRAs are recouping the equivalent of a year’s rent on the long-term market in just 100 nights. The Light as Air: Regulating Short Term Rentals in Australia report also found STRA properties amount for just 2.3 per cent of Australia’s housing supply and 7.6 per cent of its rental stock.
The report’s conclusions around the financial disparity between short- and long-term rentals rings true in Millers Point. A random weekend trip to an Airbnb in the harbourside suburb in the throes of winter can cost as little as $560 for two nights.
Move that getaway to November, when the weather warms and Australian tourist activity tends to pick up, and those two nights can set holiday-makers back $1,000 – just $100 shy of the suburb’s median weekly rent.
Across the wider Sydney of City Council region, which Millers Point is a part of, there are just over 2,000 STRA properties, according to data provided to Real Estate Business (REB) and Smart Property Investment (SPI) by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
And while current laws permitting non-hosted short-term rental accommodation in a dwelling for up to 180 days per year without planning approval exist, the Sydney City Council feels these limitations are inadequate, particularly in the current climate.
“Given the acute housing affordability crisis in the inner city, the City of Sydney has consistently advocated for this to be lowered to a maximum of 90 days,” the council stated.
“In 2005, the NSW government updated regulations forcing local governments to categorise serviced apartments as residential rather than business for the purpose of rates,” they added.
“We have also continually advocated for this to be reconsidered,” the council insisted.
On 1 November 2021, barely four months on from that year’s census, the then NSW government enacted a bill requiring STRA owners to register their property and pay a registration fee. The bill was initially meant to launch in July that year but was delayed following pressures from STRA platforms and local councils who felt it would erode their planning powers.
Sydney, and Millers Point, is a prime example of Airbnbs suffocating the market of much-needed rental supply, but it is not an outlier.
Speaking on an episode of the Smart Property Investment show back in June, Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) president Hayden Groves painted a picture of a similar situation unfolding in one of Australia’s most popular tourist markets, the Gold Coast.
He explained landlords in the region “can earn the same level of income from that particular [STRA] asset based on average rents than you would get in the long-term market”.
Remarkably, he revealed STRA owners on the Gold Coast, where there are 5,400 holiday rentals as opposed to 1,700 on the long-term market, can equal the returns of their long-term rental counterparts in as little as 131 days – a finding similar to those of Per Capita’s Centre for Equitable Housing.
“When you’ve got 180,000 of them [STRA] in Australia, that’s an awful lot of property that would otherwise, a decade ago, have not been in the short-stay market,” he said.
In his eyes, short-term holiday rentals aren’t the only element hindering national supply levels, but they’re “one of them”.
Mr Groves shared a conversation between him and the mayor of the Gold Coast, Tom Tate, where Mr Tate openly expressed his council’s plans to hunt ways to release short-term rentals, which spend a large majority of the year unutilised, into the traditional rental market.
Mr Tate is not alone in his struggle to reduce STRA stock and increase the long-term rental prospects of Australia’s fifth-largest city, the Gold Coast. Barely an hour south in Byron Bay, arguably the most iconic holiday destination on Australian shores, a similar battle is underway between council and STRA operators.
As previously reported on SPI’s sister site, REB, an investigation by the NSW Independent Planning Commission into short-term rental accommodation in the Shire and its effects on the wider property market led to 12 recommendations, including reducing the number of nights an STRA property can be rented out.
However, for a region such as Byron Bay, which boasts a $1 billion tourism industry, enacting such changes would incite a $100 million hit to the region’s economy. As Colin Hussey, chief executive at A Perfect Stay, explained, many STRA owners in the region aren’t specifically financially motivated – many harbour intentions to move permanently into their dwelling at some stage throughout their life.
Having spoken with Airbnb owners in the region, Mr Hussey revealed almost all have no intentions of placing their property on the long-term market.
“We asked them why and they all pretty much said verbatim, ‘We bought the home because we want to use it. We want to have a holiday in the Byron area. We’ve been coming there for years. We love it. We want to contribute to the local economy [and] eventually, we think we’d like to move up to the area’.”
However, this motivation isn’t universal. Kosmos Samaras, director at RedBridge Group Australia, believes a key driver of landlords sending their property onto the short-term market is to minimise their dealings with tenants.
“Yeah, I think it’s the money,” he said when asked why he feels the STRA market is so attractive to Australian home owners.
“[But] it’s only to basically not have to deal with tenants from their perspective.”
Trevor Rawnsley, chief executive officer of the Australian Resident Accommodation Managers Association, believes this problem was created in parliament houses and council chambers across the country.
“Part of the increase in appeal of STRA has come from state and local governments imposing an increasing list of deterrents for long term rentals such as additional rates and taxes, and a long list of reforms and residential tenancy laws which swings the balance far too much in favour of the tenant and against the landlord,” he explains.
“Some landlords feel helpless when trying to manage a residential tenancy on their own,” he adds.
Like Mr Samaras’ estimation, Mr Rawnsley believes bad tenants are in some part culpable for the rise in Australian STRA uptake.
“A difficult tenant can be very costly and stressful for a private rental investor. By comparison, managing guests’ behaviour, damage, and payments is much simpler through STRA.”
Where to from here?
Tighter regulation of the STRA space has long been heralded as a silver bullet which would ideally bring the sector into line and subsequently free stock up for both the long-term rental market and potential sales. And with both rents and median house prices skyrocketing nationwide in the face of Australia’s desperate struggle for supply, many, including Per Capita’s Centre for Equitable Housing, believe greater regulation is essential.
But, is there a straightforward to solution to the STRA conundrum?
According to the findings of the Light as Air: Regulating Short Term Rentals in Australia report, current regulations in place limiting the number of nights STRAs can be made available to rent in both Sydney and Byron Bay are failing.
The report found 22 per cent of STRA listings in Sydney and 21 per cent in Byron Bay were booked in excess of 180 nights per year, despite legislation attempting to eradicate such lengthy temporary tenures.
In order to combat the rise of STRA and limit its potential impacts on the wider housing market, the Light as Air report provided several recommendations targeting at stemming the sector’s growth. These include:
- Short-term rental registries in each state and territory
- Data sharing requirements for STRA platforms
- State/territory STRA regulatory frameworks
- Statutory planning tools
- Council rate increases
- Enforcement mechanisms
- Emergency use requirements
However, despite urges for regulation of the STRA sector, recent findings from a Queensland government inquiry into the impacts of STRA on the long-term rental markets suggest other solutions are necessary.
Conducted independently from the state government by the University of Queensland (UoQ), the report concluded short-term rental properties have a “limited impact on rental affordability”.
UoQ also insisted any large-scale restrictions on the sector, including those recently proposed by the Melbourne City Council to implement night caps and registration fees, would “fail to account for the diverse nature of short-rental dynamics across Queensland”.
Speaking on the results of the report, Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the findings “emphasised the vital role of housing availability and supply in rental prices, highlighting the importance of having enough housing options”.
This is especially true with Australian borders reopening to temporary and permanent arrivals in a post-COVID-19 world.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Smart Property Investment Show, Matthew Tiller, head of research at LJ Hooker Group, stated: “What’s really required [for the property market] is the increase in supply to match that population growth.” This is especially true given forward estimates from the recent federal budget indicating 1 million new net arrivals onto Australian shores over the next four years.
This is a belief shared by Mr Samaras, who said there is no silver bullet to cure the property market’s pain, with new stock and mandates over who can purchase it his primary cures for the market’s woes.
“You’ve got a shortage of supply, which bumps prices up, interest rate rises, which bump prices up, [and] some offloading of stock, which creates a shortage of supply for rental stock,” he commented.
It appears the sentiment of increasing housing supply is one felt even at the peak of Australian politics. At last month’s national cabinet meeting, the nation’s leading political figures agreed to increase the National Housing Accord’s target of “well-located homes” in the next five years from 1 million, as previously outlined, to 1.2 million.
On top of this, the federal government committed $3 billion to a New Home Bonus aimed at incentivising the construction of these homes. The fund will be apportioned to states and territories that achieve more than their share of the target.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted “supply is key” in addressing the issues facing the national housing market.
However, he did not rule out the merits of treating STRA operators as if they were “running a business” much in the same way the Brisbane City Council did when they enacted a crackdown on holiday homes by enforcing 50 per cent higher council rates on property owners operating holiday homes.
Mr Samaras said operators who “don’t like” this way of wrangling the sector can “just rent the property out long term”.
With the financial allure of short-term rental leasing proving increasingly enticing for Australian property owners, especially at a time when interest rates have risen astronomically, it appears the path towards transforming many of these places onto the long-term rental market is not linear, assuming it exists at all.
But, if any path towards a healthier, stockier Australian property market does exist, it is undoubtedly forged by increasing supply across all property types, rather than hyper fixating on the impact of holiday rentals and other niche market sections.
Whether you’re selling your home or commercial property, the broker you work with during the process can make a significant difference. This is especially true in today’s market, which faces several factors including a shortage of homes and rising interest rates. It may be necessary to find the right buyer for your place, and that can take considerable time and effort.
In this series of articles, we’ll be looking at the various aspects to look for in a broker. This can be helpful to maximize both the exposure of a property and the sale’s outcome. To start, we’ll focus on how to select a broker who will really put themselves into your shoes. Check for these characteristics as you search for a professional who can help you sell one of your current assets—and potentially many more in the future.
Look Our for Your Best Real Estate Interests
When you speak to a broker, listen for signs that they are viewing the sale from your perspective. Ask yourself, “Is this broker simply seeking a quick sale to make a fast commission?” Or “Is the broker placing themselves in my situation to make the best decision?”
In a recent interview with Rod Santomassimo, a CRE broker growth coach and founder of The Santomassimo Group, on my podcast “The Insider’s Edge to Real Estate Investing,” Rod emphasized the value in qualifying brokers. One of the questions he likes to ask is, “When was the last time you advised an owner not to sell?” The answer helps reveal if the broker generally advises clients to jump into the market and make the sale, or if they tend to take a longer-term view. A sales professional who acts in the best interest of their clients might advise on the best time to sell or suggest making changes to the property before bringing it to market.
Trustworthy and Transparent
References play an important role when choosing a broker, as do personal recommendations. If someone you know and trust puts you in contact with a broker they respect, that could carry weight. You can also ask to see a list of references. Proceed with a bit of caution as you look through them, as they could be family and friends.
In addition to checking references, you might look through the broker’s track record of recent sales. Choose an address that’s similar to your property, and then pick up the phone and call the owner. Throughout my personal career, I’ve shared my entire sales list when asked for references. I tell others they can pick out any sale I’ve carried out and I’d be happy to make an introduction to the owner.
A Partner in the Process
Sometimes the negotiations for a sale can stretch out—it’s not uncommon for this step to last for six months in the commercial real estate market. The conversations during this timeframe can get tense, so you’ll want to make sure you have someone on your side who you can be with in the foxhole. Ask yourself, “Is the broker an active listener? Do they have their own agenda, or are they really just trying to understand my needs?”
Also observe the broker’s style. If they operate in a high-pressure way with you, urging you to sign on, they may work the same way with potential buyers, who might not be interested in that type of approach. Make sure the broker you choose has a communication style that is consistent with the way you like to operate.
An Experienced Player
You’ll want to draw on the expertise of a broker who truly understands the market and knows the right approach to take. There can be value in choosing a sales professional who has ample experience in the space and has been through ups and downs. Brokers with many years in the business will typically have a method they use to withstand market fluctuations. Look for someone who can read conditions and make wise decisions about going forward.
Selecting a broker to help you sell your home or commercial asset could be an involved process, and well worth your time in the end. By choosing a sales professional who is client-centric, you’ll have the assurance that they’ll help you find terms that suit your priorities and help you negotiate the right price. In the upcoming articles, we’ll take a closer look at what brokers do—and present ways to spot the sales professionals who can best present a property, expose it in the market, and ultimately, be ready and able to work with clients for the long-term.
- A previous owner squeezed the bath tub into the hallway, the estate agents said
An estate agents admit that even they were ‘shocked’ to be tasked with advertising a ‘cramped’ London flat for almost £500,000 – with a bathtub in the hallway.
Prospective buyers were shocked to find the tub exposed and only yards from the front door in the near half-a-million-pound flat, located in Kentish Town in North West London.
Some even claimed they felt sorry for people trying to get on the London property ladder and joked about how having a bath in your hallway summed up the size of flats currently on the market in the capital.
From the estate agent’s photos, the interior of the house seems like a normal flat with a bedroom, shower room, kitchen, dining room and outside decking area.
It is only after entering the property through the front door that house-hunters discovered the sneaky tub squeezed into a white tiled area in the hallway.
The flat was listed on Rightmove by Burghleys Estate Agents for £475,000 and is being advertised as a ‘unique’ one-bedroom garden flat with shower room and ‘extra’ bath.
Ashley Gendler, the director of the company, said they were shocked to find the tub in the hallway of the property but says it hasn’t put prospective buyers off viewing the one-bedroom flat.
Ashley said: ‘There have been remarks about it as it’s not something you would usually see.
‘It was an architecturally designed conversion not by the current owner but by the previous owner who we know nothing about, so we don’t know the reasons why he did this.
‘It may well be that he lived there on his own and no one was coming into the flat so he put a bath there because he couldn’t fit one into the shower room so that was the next available place to put it.
‘There have been a few raised eyebrows, people commenting saying it’s odd and a few double takes.
‘It’s quite simple to take the bath out and replace it with storage cupboards in that area if you wanted to.
‘We have the eyes and ears of the general public when they are out viewing properties and we were quite taken back as well.
‘But when we first viewed it, this area was filled with junk.
‘We didn’t even know there was a bath there. It had to be pointed out to us so it was even more of a shock to us.
‘There are plenty of flats being sold just with shower rooms and not with baths. Whoever converted the flat several years ago didn’t have to put a bath in there.
‘The property is getting a great deal of interest at the moment. I think people who have the common sense to either leave it or take the bath out and replace it with storage cupboards.
‘People are not being resistant to viewing it because there is a bath in the hallway.’
On social media, users were quick to comment on the odd placing of the family ‘bathroom’.
One user said: ‘Have a nice hallway bath and then get into your crawl space.. Bliss.’
Another said: ‘Why even bother with the bath just have a shower not as if having a bath adds to the property.’
A third added: ‘I feel so bad for the normal people of London.
‘How are you ever supposed to get any kind of housing security with rents rising at instance amounts and you can’t even get a mortgage for a flat where you need to have a bath in the hallway.’
A fourth commented: ‘I’d invite you in but the missus is having a bath.’
Another said: ‘So pretty much half a million pounds for a cramped space in a converted house with a ‘garden’ that is smaller than my parking area and then you have to pay ground rent on top because it is a leasehold.’
Are you looking for a bridge? Iowa has one for you. It’s a 128-foot bowstring-shaped Warren pony truss from 1912. If that’s not your style, you can get a 183-foot trapezoid Pratt through-truss from 1892. Over in Oklahoma, you can find a camelback truss outside Tulsa.
Are you looking for a bridge? Iowa has one for you. It’s a 128-foot bowstring-shaped Warren pony truss from 1912. If that’s not your style, you can get a 183-foot trapezoid Pratt through-truss from 1892. Over in Oklahoma, you can find a camelback truss outside Tulsa.
Chances are, your state department of transportation has a few historic bridges it would be happy to turn over to you, provided you take good care of them. In many cases, the bridges are free. You may have to pay for the move but there might be grant money available.
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Chances are, your state department of transportation has a few historic bridges it would be happy to turn over to you, provided you take good care of them. In many cases, the bridges are free. You may have to pay for the move but there might be grant money available.
When replacing a bridge, transportation agencies often tear down the old one. But if the bridge is listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, federal law requires they first make an effort to preserve it.
To comply, agencies post their soon-to-be-replaced historic bridges online, hoping to entice somebody to adopt them.
In some cases, these bridges retire to trail networks or golf courses where they spend their golden years hosting pedestrians, cyclists and golf carts. But sometimes, they become the prized possession of a small but devoted band of bridge collectors, who give them pride of place on their property.
The $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill President Biden signed in 2021 has money to replace lots of historic bridges. That should create a buyer’s market.
What kind of person buys a bridge? Somebody like Bruce Saucier.
After buying an old sugar mill in Oaklawn, La., Saucier volunteered to adopt the adjacent bridge over Bayou Teche that had been built around 1942 to serve the mill. One unusual feature of the bridge, a Warren polygonal truss, is the pivot in the middle, which allowed the bridge to swing around like a Lazy-susan, making it possible for boats to pass.
In 2018, crews lifted the 314-foot-long bridge, placed it on rollers and moved it to Saucier’s property, where it now straddles a pond that alligators occasionally waddle into. People driving by sometimes stop to take pictures of the bridge.
“It’s more of a bucket list or passion project to not see it get chopped up and thrown to scrap,” said Saucier, who runs an offshore consulting firm.
Most of the relocated bridges are truss bridges, which have a network of horizontal, vertical and diagonal metal beams on either side. The beams distribute the bridge’s weight and support traffic. Many truss bridges were built in pieces, in a workshop, and assembled on-site, making them easier to take apart and move.
Wooden truss bridges have been around at least since the Italian Renaissance. But metal truss bridges didn’t become widespread until Squire Whipple, an American civil engineer, began building them over the Erie Canal in the 1840s.
Truss bridges were popular in the late 19th and early 20th century because they allowed engineers to build longer, sturdier bridges using relatively little steel, said Adam Matteo, assistant state bridge engineer at the Virginia Department of Transportation.
“They’re part of our heritage and we should be proud of them,” he said. “People love trusses.”
One of those people is Phillip Hart.
In 2011, Hart bought a truss bridge in Cotton County, Okla., from someone who had bought it from the county. He had it moved 16 miles to his yard. Local utility companies had to raise the power lines so it could go down the road.
By his own account, Hart is a sentimental man, with a fondness for local history, which he attributes to his profession as a funeral director. (“I hear all the history of our area from people sitting in my office.”)
He’s also bought an old, closed-down bowling alley, which he fixed up and sold, hoping it would one day reopen.
“My wife told me you can buy anything you want if you sell this bowling alley,” he said. “I bought me a bridge.”
Moving bridges isn’t a new sport. In 1968, an American businessman bought London Bridge, broke it into granite blocks and shipped them through the Panama Canal to Lake Havasu City, Ariz., where the reconstructed bridge has become a tourist attraction. (London built itself another one.)
Steve Havemann is attempting something only slightly less ambitious.
After a career as an ironworker in New York, Havemann retired to Silver City, Nev., where he is building a house. But he needed to find a way to cross a ravine separating his homesite from the road.
He went online and found Missouri had a couple of 60-foot pony truss bridges from 1922 available free that would suit his purpose. A few months of paperwork later, the bridges were his. One will go to his house, the other will cross a different ravine connecting other houses he plans to build.
He intends to drive his flatbed trailer to Missouri next year to pick the bridges up.
“I’m all about serendipity and the universe,” Havemann said. “Most of life just happens. You have to recognize a good deal when it comes your way.”
If you’d like to adopt a bridge, best tell your spouse first.
“The first I knew was when Cousin Gene was bringing his lowboy and they were going to get the bridge,” recalled Kay Hoflander of the time 25 years or so ago her husband, Harold, brought two bridges home from the Ozarks.
The plan was to place one over a creek to get to a house they wanted to build in Higginsville, Mo., but the city nixed the idea because it couldn’t support a firetruck.
So the bridges stayed in their yard. Foxes used them to sunbathe.
“I tried and tried to get rid of them by running ads,” said Kay Hoflander. “I tried ag magazines, all kinds of things. Nobody wanted the bridge.”
Eventually they sold one and moved the other out of sight. “Kind of a letdown at the time but we got through it,” said Harold.
“It’s been a running joke for some time,” said Kay.
For the true bridge lover, look no further than the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles, La.
In February, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a $150 million grant from the infrastructure law to replace the 72-year-old bridge, which carries Interstate 10 over the Calcasieu River.
But the bridge is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, which means Louisiana has to first look for somebody to adopt it.
If you’re interested, call the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. The bidding period is past, but they might still entertain an offer before scrapping it. Just make sure you have enough room. The bridge measures 68.5 feet by 6,607 feet, long enough to land a Boeing 737.
Write to David Harrison at david.harrison@wsj.com
- EXCLUSIVE: Pimlico flat hits the rental market for £1,450-a-month
- But prospective residents will have to make do with sharing a bathroom
Plush London studio flats in the heart of Pimlico were advertised on the rental market this week for £1450-a-month but there was a catch – they shared bathrooms.
The properties in Vincent Square come in either one-bedroom or studio arrangements and have a host of modern fittings and homely touches.
These include large windows to let in natural light, up-to-date kitchen appliances and ample storage space.
But there’s one luxury that the prospective renters won’t be able to enjoy, and that’s the comfort and privacy of their own bathroom.
Pictures from the flats show a large communal area between flats replete with two washing machines, two dryers and one toilet.
The precise logistics of this arrangement remain a tantalising mystery as soon after the communal operation was advertised on Rightmove, it was taken down by estate agents Grainger Plc.
At just £1450 a month though, the prospective bathroom buddies who end up renting these flats will at least be saving money.
According to Rightmove, average asking rents in London reaching a new quarterly record of £2,567 last month.
Indeed, London rents are now 28 per cent higher – the equivalent of £559 a month – than at this time in 2019.
With an increase as high as that, many London renters understandably expect value for their money – but sadly many rental options leave a lot to be desired.
Earlier this year, a grim looking bedroom for rent in a warehouse was slammed online after it went on the market for £680 a month.
The dusty room, in Clapton, east London, was advertised for rent on Facebook marketplace.
It had a completely bare floor, with no carpets or floorboards and has a rickety-looking stepladder, which leads to a sleeping area on a mezzanine floor.
The tall and skinny room featured a small rug and a plastic lawn chair near a brown wooden door, which appears to be splattered with white paint.
The room was criticised by renters on social media as being a ‘favela’, a word used in Brazil which means a slum or ghetto.
One Facebook user wrote: ‘I didn’t know there were favelas in london for £700.’
The lower level of the room has an unshaded lamp and there is a lighting fixture attached to the wall at the mezzanine levle
The warehouse also features three bathrooms and a roof terrace.
The advert also says that there is a gym and cafe down stairs.
A photograph of one of the bathrooms shows a toilet and a sink in a room with bare brick walls and wooden ceilings.
A picture of a second bathroom shows it with white tiled walls, a mosaic patterned vinyl floor. The room has a bath with a power shower, a single toilet and a sink.
The advert for the ‘private room for rent’ read: ‘Mezzanine room in our shared warehouse in Clapton.
‘Living with 6 other creatives, 3 bathrooms, roof terrace and gym/cafe downstairs… and lots of plants.
‘£680 pm + 4 weeks deposit.’
By Rachel Ward For Australian Associated Press and Stephen Johnson, Economics Reporter For Daily Mail Australia
Updated: 00:30 28 Aug 2023
- Fears Australia’s property market is flooded with dirty money
- A flow of dirty money could be driving up property prices
Australia’s real estate industry is the go-to sector for money laundering and more professionals should be compelled to report dodgy transactions, an anti-corruption group says.
Transparency International Australia says a flow of dirty money into the country could be pushing house prices up even higher but the real estate industry disputes the claim.
The federal government is consulting on a push to include accountants, lawyers and real estate agents in legislation that forces certain professions to report suspicious transactions to authorities.
The anti-corruption group backs the push as existing laws are focused on other areas including casinos and the financial sector.
Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said Australia’s existing anti-money laundering rules were among the weakest in the world.
‘Australia’s real estate sector is now the go-to-destination for criminals to park their illicit money,’ Mr Moore said.
‘Several high-profile cases, media reports and AFP busts have demonstrated how kleptocrats, crooks and corrupt officials from countries including China, Cambodia and PNG use Australia’s property market to launder their dirty money and hide their crimes.’
The comments come ahead of a National Integrity Summit in Melbourne this week that will explore integrity, corruption and governance issues.
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves hit back, saying the main factor behind home and rental prices was a severe shortage of housing supply.
‘The Australian Federal Police and the Australian Government currently can’t demonstrate any evidenced-based link between money laundering and Australian property values, or the scale on which money launderers are operating, despite many requests from our industry to understand this better,’ Mr Groves said.
He said the industry group was committed to playing its role in the fight against capturing money launderers and was working with the government on the appropriate reporting of suspicious individuals.
House prices have risen in Sydney for the sixth straight month despite an interest rate surge because of record-high immigration – making it hard for first homebuyers to enter the real estate market.
In Australia’s most expensive capital city market, the median value rose by another one per cent to an even more unaffordable $1,333,985 in July, CoreLogic data showed.
Sydney house prices have risen in every month since February even though the Reserve Bank has, since May 2022, raised rates 12 times to an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent.
In other major capital cities, the house prices began rising again in March.
Melbourne house prices have been rising for five straight months, increasing in July by another 0.3 per cent to $923,881.
In Brisbane, house prices last month rose by another 1.4 per cent to $819,832.
Perth values rose by one per cent to $625,969.
Adelaide’s recovery began in April but monthly increases since then have been bigger with prices in July rising by another 1.4 per cent to $722,793.
Darwin prices rose for the third straight month in July, increasing by 0.5 per cent to $583,913.
But prices fell in the smaller capital cities that don’t receive a large intake of new migrants, with Hobart prices in July slipping by 0.1 per cent to $696,570 as Canberra prices dropped by 0.3 per cent to $958,950.
House prices are rising as higher interest rates cause a drop in building approvals, making property an even scarcer commodity in the big cities during a time of rapid population growth.
- Hamptons says there are now 17% more rental homes than this time last year
- Chestertons reports 39% increase in rental properties in London
- Suggests would-be sellers are putting their property up for rent instead
More homes are going up for rent, as stubborn owners increasingly shift from selling to letting when they don’t get the price they want.
Two years of near-double digit rent increases have seen renting become increasingly expensive, with demand from tenants far outstripping the supply of homes.
The average rent in the UK as of July this year is £1,243, according to the HomeLet rental index – a 10.3 per cent increase on the same time last year.
However, the number of homes to rent has been creeping up across the UK over the course of the past year, according to a number of letting agents contacted by This is Money – so could the pace of rent rises start to slow down?
According to the estate agency group, Connells, which has more than 1,200 branches represented by 80 brands across the UK, the number of rental homes has increased by 8 per cent since March this year.
Stephen Nation, lettings director at Connells Group, says: ‘The sales market hasn’t been enough to tempt the majority of landlords and the rental market remains an attractive option.
‘This means we are actually seeing a slight increase in the supply of available rental property compared to last year.
‘However, demand from applicants is still outstripping supply, and as we enter the late summer an upward pressure on rents continues in some areas.’
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The estate agent Hamptons says there are now 17 per cent more homes on the rental market than there was at this time last year.
However, its data also shows that the year-on-year comparison masks a big drop in the amount of properties for rent towards the tail end of the pandemic lockdowns.
There are still 43 per cent fewer rental homes on the market than there were in 2019, with every region of the country recording a fall of at least 25 per cent, and Scotland leading the way with a 65 per cent drop.
David Fell, a senior housing market analyst at Hamptons believes that rent rises are unlikely to subside until mortgage rates begin to fall.
He says: ‘While the small increase in stock may take the edge off rental growth, as long as mortgage rates remain elevated, rents will continue to reflect the large jump in landlord’s mortgage costs.
‘It’s hard to see rises in rents begin to stall or even reverse until lower mortgage rates reduce the squeeze on investors and potentially tempt in some new landlords. Until then it will be tough and expensive to find somewhere to rent.’
London could see biggest drop-off in rents
It is in London where we may begin to see rent rises begin to slow down first.
There were 39 per cent more rental properties on the market in July 2023 compared to last year, according to London-based letting agent, Chestertons.
Meanwhile, it says the number of new renters entering the market has fallen by 5 per cent.
Chestertons says that with more properties to choose from and slightly less competition, renters in the capital often now have the upper hand during price negotiations.
This shift in power has seen 88 per cent more landlords than this time last year being willing to reduce their asking rent in order to secure a tenant for their property.
Richard Davies, chief operating officer at Chestertons, says: ‘Earlier in the year, London was suffering from a severe lack of rental properties.
‘However, with the sales market proving challenging, many would-be sellers have decided to put their property up for rent rather than sell.
‘This has temporarily boosted the number of rental properties and prevented rents from continuing the double-digit increases that we have witnessed since 2021.’
Similarly, agent Knight Frank reports that a long-awaited supply increase in the London lettings market is underway.
It says the number of lettings instructions in July in London was 18 per cent higher than the same month last year, and the highest for any single month since October 2020.
Jon Reynolds, head of north and east London lettings at Knight Frank, said: ‘Some of the stock that has gone across from lettings [to sales] has sold, but we are unquestionably seeing more stock come back to lettings.’
Knight Frank says that rental value growth has continued to calm as supply improves, but it’s still strong by historical standards.
In prime outer London, which includes sought-after areas such as Wimbledon, Battersea and Wapping, rents grew 12 per cent in the year to July, which exceeded the growth of 11 per cent seen over the entire decade before the pandemic.
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