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London property market: London eye |
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HOME >> NEWS >> London property market: London eye |
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June 11,2008
 No sweat - we're right back in the souk doing deals.
It has been, by turns, a rewarding and frustrating six weeks, with many instances of bumper prices on the one hand and disheartening, last-minute fall-throughs on the other, as prospective purchasers get the jitters and/or can't get their lend.
Yes, it's true, even high rollers aren't immune to the credit crunch. Amusingly, one of my Rich List buyers is apoplectic at the process of getting a mortgage (welcome to the real world), waiting six weeks for approval on his £4.25million loan. This man has a super-short fuse and exasperatedly tells how he borrowed £800m in three days last year when he bought one of his competitors in the City. What a difference a year makes.
So, to the plus side. Our triumphs include selling a house off the King's Road after one viewing for £4.3m; three bidders on a flat in Cadogan Square for £1.5m; ditto a penthouse in Lennox Gardens; over asking price on a flat in a prime Chelsea square from a German princess; sealed bids on a house in Kensington; selling a house in South Kensington in one week; putting Eva Herzigova's uber-cool flat under offer; bringing Jane Churchill's wonderful house to book; selling a flat in Knightsbridge to Mrs Wu from Zhengzhong for £7.7m - and so it goes on.
Furthermore, sales of properties over £10m have increased by 180 per cent since last year. Surely we must ask ourselves why the Super Rich continue to aggressively pour money into our prime bricks and mortar. For all you doubting Thomases out there, how do you explain that? No negativity here: we're back in the souk doing deals, selling oil to the Arabs as they say, racing around, sleeves rolled up, concentrating on the buyers who wish to buy.
The real change is in our relationship with vendors and buyers. We have to like each other; and they have to believe we can do the job. There are vendors who really listen to us and understand the importance of the working friendship between client and agent, and who work with us to make things happen. And then there are vendors who don't listen at all.
Similarly, there are buyers keen to buy, who see an opportunity, have gathered enough market intelligence over the past six months to feel comfortable about current prices and go into bat. And there are buyers who have a medical condition, the main symptom being delusional powers of clairvoyancy which would stagger even Mystic Meg.
Thus, everything is sooooooooo expensive and prices will collapse by 50 per cent in the next two years (I don't think so). These armchair property experts need to be consigned to the Natural History Museum for the next year or two.
# Some of you have sweetly asked about my own flat in Chelsea. Well, I'm radiantly happy there and am particularly proud of my lilac lacquer bedroom with the cream silk curtains (very Hyacinth Bucket, I know).
I'm in negotiations with my neighbour about trading my existing access over his back garden in exchange for a very fine porticoed double door entrance opposite my local pub. He wants to make a Japanese garden with fountains and sculptures and I would prefer not to have to clamber up some rickety stairs, so it seems a good plan all round, though I shall miss my quirky, Italianate-style entrance.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ |
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International Corporate Governance
This issue explores how governance attributes are directly related to the substantial variation - across both countries and companies - in ownership, investment and valuation. |
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