November 2, 2020
“Que Sera, Sera…”
When the property market came out of lockdown in June, the entire property industry held its breath. Covid19 felt like the latest in a long series of crisis over the last ten years: We’ve had referenda on proportional representation, Scottish devo… Read more
June 16, 2020
The Curate’s Egg
The property market has had something of a torrid time of it recently; over the last ten years we have had referenda on proportional representation, Scottish devolution and membership of the European Union, we’ve also had four general elections, t… Read more
February 28, 2020
What a difference a day makes
Simone Signoret, the great French actress once said “Nostalgia is just not what it used to be” and it’s all too easy to get into the mindset that things today are not as good as they once were. When I sit down to write our market comments, I t… Read more
June 20, 2019
Clear as Mud
A year ago, I wrote a piece titled “London Gravity” where we talked about how it felt as if we had rung a bell to signal the bottom of the market for London residential property, and the big question was how long it would take before the excess … Read more
November 2, 2018
Swimming in Treacle
Ever since the Stamp-duty hikes of 2015, the British country house market has been overshadowed by the increase in stamp duty (SDLT) and this has resulted in a fall in the number of transactions and a partial paralysis of the market. We are often as… Read more
March 12, 2018
London Gravity
Perhaps it’s a function of age, but increasingly I look around and am struck by a strong sense of deja-vu; conversations that seem familiar, houses that I’m certain I’ve seen before, and cycles of the property market that come around over and … Read more
October 26, 2017
Beyond the call of duty
The British country house market is a vast and richly varied picture, with many different layers depending on area and price range, so trying to come up with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ comment can be something of a struggle – but some universal… Read more
February 16, 2017
How’s the market?
here is a general truism in life that says if you ask ten people to describe the same event, you’ll get ten very different accounts, all seen from subtly different perspectives; this is partly why insurance companies are frequently confronted by t… Read more
March 22, 2016
Now you see them, now you don’t…
A popular device among novelists is to take the hero of the story down a tortuous road and then dribble misfortune after misfortune on his head, until the reader really begins to wonder “whatever next”? Read more
November 9, 2015
Should I stay or should I go?
As I write this in October, it seems clear that the Indian summer of the last few weeks is finally over and, as the joyful colours of autumn spread across the countryside and six months after the election, it would seem like a good time to reflect o… Read more