Thursday, October 28, 2010

Douglas & Gordon's Harrington Road - Street Gallery

When Douglas & Gordon acquired the estate agency Berkeley International in 2007 as well as the Kensington Church Street office, they also took over this Harrington Road site, near to South Kensington underground station. Because this site was close to both Douglas & Gordon’s existing South Kensington and Chelsea offices it was decided that instead of subletting it, we would turn it into a street gallery to allow graduate artists and designers to produce and show their own work in this key location. The most recent installation was by the LCC graduate, Shaz Madani, depicting her interpretation of the famous blue plaques of South Kensington depicted by falling pieces of stencilled white card. This piece achieved a huge amount of interest and became much loved by the local residents during its six month tenure.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New build apartments in Hammersmith

Welcome to the only new build apartments in Hammersmith, providing excellent investment opportunity. Apartments now available off plan Hammersmith Central redefines the meaning of opportunity - 63 one bed and 13 two bed executive apartments, the only new building apartments in a prime conservation area and only 10 minutes from Knightsbridge and 20 minutes from the very heart of the Capital. Each apartment is specified with premier finishes and fittings, from luxuriously appointed bathrooms to fully integrated kitchen appliances, from Sky+ connections to Serozzetta Cinco door furniture. The apartments have been designed to offer an executive lifestyle maximising on natural light, space and well proportioned living areas.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Buyers need to see the opportunities, right now.

As a reasonably typical example of a home owner with a mortgage I’m in the middle of playing the fix vs tracker game. No fun and as likely to keep me awake as worrying why the headmaster had summoned me to his study. Surely an almost unprecedented 5 year fix at 3.69% is too good to resist. But is the fact that rate’s there at all a sign that rates will stay low. Therefore the 2.19% trackers about are surely a better bet, but only for two years and then if rates are going up…….arrrggghh.

Friday, October 01, 2010

Have D&G gone too far this time?

Douglas & Gordon have for the past three years given over their Harrington Road office in South Kensington to up and coming artists because of its prominent location. The two most recent installations have been a beautiful interpretation of the famous blue plaques in the surrounding area by Shaz Madani and most recently, a series of dinosaur themed windows by Jake Blanchard.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Shuffling blindfolded towards the edge

I reckon the Estate Agency world might just be staring over the edge of a precipice. It’s got nothing to do with competition from the internet or private sellers, or anywhere else for that matter, but has everything to do with the long term trend downwards in sales volumes. Without wishing to be selfish it would easy to argue that my firm would suffer less than most as is evidenced whenever volumes fall and our market share goes up, but looking at the larger picture, and using anecdotal evidence from what’s going on around me at the moment there’s no doubt at all that many agents are fighting for their lives.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Friday, August 20, 2010

What makes Kensington and Chelsea special

RBKC, only four letters but given they denote an area that contains some of the most expensive real estate on the planet it’s not surprising that people aspire to live here, and that the property market here polarises opinion. Firstly some facts; if you use May 1995 as a base of 100, as of May 2010 nationally the index had gone to 265, but in RBKC it’s gone to 458. So over the same period property in this sought after location has increased 216% more than the national average. The average property price is c. £870k. (Land Registry)

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

July and August Market Report

Residential Sales At Douglas & Gordon we are not seeing the deluge of new property coming to the residential sales market in Central London that is being reported in northern England, (9 August 2010). Neither are we seeing any evidence of falling prices. July 2010 saw Douglas & Gordon take on almost exactly the same number of new properties as in July 2009. However, the level of stock available is continuing to grow, an increase of 15% more than the figures in June and, rather more worryingly, 68% more than this time last year. The reason for this continuing rise in stock, despite only average levels of new instructions coming on to the sales market is the slow down of actual sales.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Douglas & Gordon's Harrington Road - Street Gallery

When Douglas & Gordon acquired the estate agency Berkeley International in 2007 as well as the Kensington Church Street office, they also took over this Harrington Road site, near to South Kensington underground station. Because this site was close to both Douglas & Gordon’s existing South Kensington and Chelsea offices it was decided that instead of subletting it, we would turn it into a street gallery to allow graduate artists and designers to produce and show their own work in this key location. The most recent installation was by the LCC graduate, Shaz Madani, depicting her interpretation of the famous blue plaques of South Kensington depicted by falling pieces of stencilled white card. This piece achieved a huge amount of interest and became much loved by the local residents during its six month tenure.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New build apartments in Hammersmith

Welcome to the only new build apartments in Hammersmith, providing excellent investment opportunity. Apartments now available off plan Hammersmith Central redefines the meaning of opportunity - 63 one bed and 13 two bed executive apartments, the only new building apartments in a prime conservation area and only 10 minutes from Knightsbridge and 20 minutes from the very heart of the Capital. Each apartment is specified with premier finishes and fittings, from luxuriously appointed bathrooms to fully integrated kitchen appliances, from Sky+ connections to Serozzetta Cinco door furniture. The apartments have been designed to offer an executive lifestyle maximising on natural light, space and well proportioned living areas.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Buyers need to see the opportunities, right now.

As a reasonably typical example of a home owner with a mortgage I’m in the middle of playing the fix vs tracker game. No fun and as likely to keep me awake as worrying why the headmaster had summoned me to his study. Surely an almost unprecedented 5 year fix at 3.69% is too good to resist. But is the fact that rate’s there at all a sign that rates will stay low. Therefore the 2.19% trackers about are surely a better bet, but only for two years and then if rates are going up…….arrrggghh.

Friday, October 01, 2010

Have D&G gone too far this time?

Douglas & Gordon have for the past three years given over their Harrington Road office in South Kensington to up and coming artists because of its prominent location. The two most recent installations have been a beautiful interpretation of the famous blue plaques in the surrounding area by Shaz Madani and most recently, a series of dinosaur themed windows by Jake Blanchard.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Shuffling blindfolded towards the edge

I reckon the Estate Agency world might just be staring over the edge of a precipice. It’s got nothing to do with competition from the internet or private sellers, or anywhere else for that matter, but has everything to do with the long term trend downwards in sales volumes. Without wishing to be selfish it would easy to argue that my firm would suffer less than most as is evidenced whenever volumes fall and our market share goes up, but looking at the larger picture, and using anecdotal evidence from what’s going on around me at the moment there’s no doubt at all that many agents are fighting for their lives.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Friday, August 20, 2010

What makes Kensington and Chelsea special

RBKC, only four letters but given they denote an area that contains some of the most expensive real estate on the planet it’s not surprising that people aspire to live here, and that the property market here polarises opinion. Firstly some facts; if you use May 1995 as a base of 100, as of May 2010 nationally the index had gone to 265, but in RBKC it’s gone to 458. So over the same period property in this sought after location has increased 216% more than the national average. The average property price is c. £870k. (Land Registry)

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

July and August Market Report

Residential Sales At Douglas & Gordon we are not seeing the deluge of new property coming to the residential sales market in Central London that is being reported in northern England, (9 August 2010). Neither are we seeing any evidence of falling prices. July 2010 saw Douglas & Gordon take on almost exactly the same number of new properties as in July 2009. However, the level of stock available is continuing to grow, an increase of 15% more than the figures in June and, rather more worryingly, 68% more than this time last year. The reason for this continuing rise in stock, despite only average levels of new instructions coming on to the sales market is the slow down of actual sales.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Douglas & Gordon's Harrington Road - Street Gallery

When Douglas & Gordon acquired the estate agency Berkeley International in 2007 as well as the Kensington Church Street office, they also took over this Harrington Road site, near to South Kensington underground station. Because this site was close to both Douglas & Gordon’s existing South Kensington and Chelsea offices it was decided that instead of subletting it, we would turn it into a street gallery to allow graduate artists and designers to produce and show their own work in this key location. The most recent installation was by the LCC graduate, Shaz Madani, depicting her interpretation of the famous blue plaques of South Kensington depicted by falling pieces of stencilled white card. This piece achieved a huge amount of interest and became much loved by the local residents during its six month tenure.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New build apartments in Hammersmith

Welcome to the only new build apartments in Hammersmith, providing excellent investment opportunity. Apartments now available off plan Hammersmith Central redefines the meaning of opportunity - 63 one bed and 13 two bed executive apartments, the only new building apartments in a prime conservation area and only 10 minutes from Knightsbridge and 20 minutes from the very heart of the Capital. Each apartment is specified with premier finishes and fittings, from luxuriously appointed bathrooms to fully integrated kitchen appliances, from Sky+ connections to Serozzetta Cinco door furniture. The apartments have been designed to offer an executive lifestyle maximising on natural light, space and well proportioned living areas.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Buyers need to see the opportunities, right now.

As a reasonably typical example of a home owner with a mortgage I’m in the middle of playing the fix vs tracker game. No fun and as likely to keep me awake as worrying why the headmaster had summoned me to his study. Surely an almost unprecedented 5 year fix at 3.69% is too good to resist. But is the fact that rate’s there at all a sign that rates will stay low. Therefore the 2.19% trackers about are surely a better bet, but only for two years and then if rates are going up…….arrrggghh.

Friday, October 01, 2010

Have D&G gone too far this time?

Douglas & Gordon have for the past three years given over their Harrington Road office in South Kensington to up and coming artists because of its prominent location. The two most recent installations have been a beautiful interpretation of the famous blue plaques in the surrounding area by Shaz Madani and most recently, a series of dinosaur themed windows by Jake Blanchard.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Shuffling blindfolded towards the edge

I reckon the Estate Agency world might just be staring over the edge of a precipice. It’s got nothing to do with competition from the internet or private sellers, or anywhere else for that matter, but has everything to do with the long term trend downwards in sales volumes. Without wishing to be selfish it would easy to argue that my firm would suffer less than most as is evidenced whenever volumes fall and our market share goes up, but looking at the larger picture, and using anecdotal evidence from what’s going on around me at the moment there’s no doubt at all that many agents are fighting for their lives.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Friday, August 20, 2010

What makes Kensington and Chelsea special

RBKC, only four letters but given they denote an area that contains some of the most expensive real estate on the planet it’s not surprising that people aspire to live here, and that the property market here polarises opinion. Firstly some facts; if you use May 1995 as a base of 100, as of May 2010 nationally the index had gone to 265, but in RBKC it’s gone to 458. So over the same period property in this sought after location has increased 216% more than the national average. The average property price is c. £870k. (Land Registry)

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

July and August Market Report

Residential Sales At Douglas & Gordon we are not seeing the deluge of new property coming to the residential sales market in Central London that is being reported in northern England, (9 August 2010). Neither are we seeing any evidence of falling prices. July 2010 saw Douglas & Gordon take on almost exactly the same number of new properties as in July 2009. However, the level of stock available is continuing to grow, an increase of 15% more than the figures in June and, rather more worryingly, 68% more than this time last year. The reason for this continuing rise in stock, despite only average levels of new instructions coming on to the sales market is the slow down of actual sales.