I saw the same thing on BBC Parliament channel just now. Radio 4 has highlighted the issue while back in "You and Yours" and "Money Box", see here BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Leasehold Flats, British Flowers, Smart Thermostats Not sure if Taylor Wimpey's original offer to only negotiate with the original buyers still applies, maybe that was covered in the full select committee hearing. Taylor Wimpey lease terms already incorporate steeply escalating grounds rents. That is built in. Seems bizarre that they can just sell on their freeholds without reference to the lessees. A bit of "dicing and splicing" by the look of it. The same problem of dodgy leaseholds applies to "retirement homes" - though we don't have any of those in Brixton (yet). As regards "The Edge" I imagine their lease terms will have escalating ground rents - but the buyers will have no remedy - unless they club together as a group and buy the freehold of their block (which seems unlikely).
See the gates are already up and locked on the promised new public thoroughfare at the back of The Edge development.
Isn't that because half of it is still a building site and people really shouldn't be walking through a building site? At present it looks as if it's gates locked on a route to nowhere.
You actually think there's going to be a public walkway there any time soon, even after every last element of the site is 100% complete?
I have no idea. But at present it's an inaccessible building site, so of course, at present, it's an inaccessible walk way. The picture you posted wasn't a picture of a gated and already locked promised new public thoroughfare at the back of the Edge development. It's a picture of gates and hoarding which are preventing people accessing a building site. That is all.
It'll be the exact same gates that will stop the public using the promised new thoroughfare. You can see that the private intercom is already installed.
they seem to only have a skeleton amount of builders there since Christmas and work on the two unfinished blocks has slowed done, wonder if they have run into cash-flow problems (would help with reducing the 'affordable' quota if it's still in existence)
One of the three blocks was supposed to be "affordable". Can't imagine the flats are selling like hot cakes with the current property price news. Still I said that about Brixton Square and I was proved completely wrong.
Their sales website shows 2 3 bed flats going for £699,000 - £709,000. This is block A. The middle block B is also shown on the plan, but not block C which makes one wonder is that going to be Peabody or Metropolitan or somebody?
according to their website they have 2 flats in block (Valentia Place end) at just under and just over £700,000 although judging by how many lights are on I don't think that many have moved in
Wildly unlikely, I'd say. £700k for a two bedroom flat wedged up against a railway line in Brixton is obscene. Still, that all-window design means that the residents of the Barrier Block can see straight straight into their pricey flats and watch them sup their champagne while looking out at the poverty around them.
£2,000 p.m rent for a 2 bedroom flat in the edge nice little earner if you have a spare £700k lying around
Actually, I don't find it such an attractive yield. £2,000 per month translates to £24k per annum, which is a 3.4% gross yield on £700,000. But this is the gross figure - there will be many outgoings (agent's fees, maintenance & repairs, etc.) which will easily reduce it to 3%pa or lower, taxable. So the rental income is about the same as borrowing costs - ie no profit. What the landlord is really doing is taking a punt on capital appreciation, hoping to cover ongoing costs with rent, and cashing in later when selling the flat, presumably at a big profit. This ploy has worked very well in the past, but currently property prices are flat or falling in London, and who knows what the effect of Brexit will be ? The risk/return proposition is awful. If I did have a big lump sum lying around, I'd put it into a personal pension, claim the associated tax refund, and invest it all over the world, for higher returns, lower risk and less work & worry.
I think when Brexit settles down into whatever it will be London property prices will go into overdrive. Simply having certainty will be a big catalyst to push up prices. Also, When the EU cohesion policy is no more (and there will be nothing that come close to filling it’s void imo) the regions will really suffer and this will push more people to the cities pushing up property prices. Another reason Brexit is a disaster.
One of the things about London is that it became a playground for the rich after Thatchers "Big Bang" of the City. The resurgance of London as an off shore financial centre for global capitalism. This was not inevitable. The consequences of this have been mixed for the working class in London. Changes in the economy ( loss of jobs in docks for example) have not led to alternative economic strategy of affordable housing and emphasis on light industry. Instead the finance sector has been given everything it wants. Including being bailed out when they fucked up. A plus side of Brexit could be that London reorients itself away from looking after the rich and powerful and looks at how a city can be for all. Not just the well off with the poor being expected to be grateful for crumbs. Coming from Plymouth one of the things that drove Brexit is that there working class have been stuffed since Thatcher. I was against Brexit a I didn't like the anti immigration side of it. It was also being pushed by the right.
Do you not think that the London property market is a Ponzi Scheme? It goes up because it goes up - and a lot of marketing is committed to making this happen. At some point it ought to end up with unfinished empty blocks - like Spain and Ireland when they went on the Euro at zero percent interest in 2003.
It's a legitimate question. I think not for 2 reasons: We are nowhere near the saturation required for a Ponzi, there simply aren't enough houses in areas people want to live in. Secondly you don't end up with something completely useless like a lock up full of diet suppliments nobody is coming on the bottom of the pyramid any more to buy from you. You end up with a flat or house. Will we end up with individual new build block with many empty units in some areas because that area has become too saturated? Probably. A 700K flat looking at the Barrier Block would be a candidate. But in London, taken as a whole? No.
There are already a few people living in Block A at "The Edge". Not sure if they are eager purchasers anxious to live on a building site in case of being left behind - or maybe upper class property guardians?
Thanks to the ridiculous floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies affording commanding views over the adjacent council estate, I can see directly into their living rooms. I'll report back later.
If you move into a new build on (First Phase) you generally get the apartment at a cheaper price as the developers are testing the water to feel the demand. If it’s a high demand then the price will go up on the 2nd phase, that’s usually why you see people have moved in whilst building work is still ongoing.
Problem is that if they were unaffordable they would be empty, doesn’t matter how many £600,000 apartments they build in Brixton they all get sold.
I agree with editor basically. This is what the left call financialisation of the housing market. Even a right-wing Labour journalist I know is fed up of such flats being marketed in the Far East as buy to lets.
