None of us could have foreseen the resilience shown by the prime/super prime London residential markets in 2020. Property elbowed its way to the top of the personal agenda and, for wealthier Londoners, a move to a home more conducive to lockdown life became a priority. It is too early for us to tell whether the market will rally as fervently in 2021. The agreed trade deal with the EU has certainly helped to settle nerves and the successful roll...

As we emerged from lockdown in late May this year, we would have been brave to predict the levels of activity that the prime and super prime London markets have enjoyed over these remarkable summer months. So, encouraged by recent events, and notwithstanding the grim economic outlook, Savills revised their mainstream residential market forecasts upwards this week to reflect a likely rise of 4% in values in 2020 and an overall 20% total growth...

With the government taking an understandably cautious approach to easing the lockdown, few in the property industry expected yesterday’s decision to lift restrictions on buying, selling and renting residential property.  Within the ranks of lawyers, agents, surveyors and other participants in the Prime and Super Prime markets, there is a palpable frisson; a mixture of excitement and trepidation as we ‘return to school’.     Most people we...

RFR Special Coronavirus Market Report, Easter 2020. After five long years of disruption to the prime residential markets precipitated by significant increases to the rate of Stamp Duty and the evolving narrative of Brexit, we wrote to you all at Christmas with the message “All is calm, all is bright”. As we head into the Easter weekend, we are struck by how much has changed since our Yuletide thoughts.       As predicted, and...

As we began researching our latest market musings, we did so in a blissful post-election, pre COVID-19 world. We had decided on a comparison with the Roaring Twenties; a decade of economic boom, female empowerment and technological wonders. Afterall, the ‘Boris Bounce’ seemed to usher in a new period of prosperity - global markets were at record highs, Brexit was in motion and the Corbyn risk to our market had been removed. Words such as...

Boris Johnson's decisive majority in Friday's general election precipitated a surge in confidence across the markets. Sterling rose sharply overnight and the FTSE 250 marked its biggest jump in a decade as investors piled into UK stocks with residential housebuilders leading the charge. The property industry was quick to respond over the weekend with some sales agencies promulgating the immediate effects of the 'Boris Bounce'. There is no...

I write our latest insight on the London residential market on a long-haul flight from São Paulo, returning from my first visit to this extraordinary high-rise city of some 22 million inhabitants. Brazil is going through significant economic change with interest rates at record lows of circa 5%, down from an average of 15% over the last 20 years. The families and private wealth professionals that we met were clear to voice their appetite for...

For those of us who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy, the ‘Rebel Alliance’ was an interstellar coalition of revolutionary factions that raged against the totalitarian Galactic Empire. Whilst the Galactic Empire considered all dissent and rebellion to be an act of extremism and terrorism, the Rebel Alliance was described and portrayed in various Star Wars media as a group of resilient freedom fighters battling for a better future....

As we put pen to paper, our friends across the Pond are celebrating their 243rd Independence Day. One of the opening tenets of their Declaration of Independence is that “all men are created equal”. Equality, or more correctly, inequality, is also a central theme of George Monbiot’s recent report entitled ‘Land for the Many’. Mr Monbiot’s report sets out a series of proposals for the Labour Party to consider for “its policy development process...

Since the New Year, Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel, has been making headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US he acquired the most expensive home ever at $238m (almost double the previous record) with a quadruple apartment 50 floors up on Central Park South. Meanwhile, in London he acquired a former MI6 19th Century Nash-designed house on Carlton Gardens for £95m and, so rumour has it, a penthouse in the new Peninsula Hotel for a...

It’s far too early to make any serious predictions for 2019. Whilst the residential market typically finds its stride towards the end of January/ mid-February, we suspect activity and spirits will remain dampened due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding Brexit, which reached a crescendo last week. We shall now sit tight and see what this afternoon brings. What is certain is that we will see a further fall in transaction volumes whilst we...

Putting a well-known military adage to work, RFR’s Project Managers look at the holy trinity of budgeting, programming and feasibility when mobilising a refurbishment project. It can be very easy for people to get swept away by grandiose architectural schemes, free-flowing layouts and the gratifying act of picking bespoke kitchens, Italian marbles and specialist wallpapers. However, there are few scenarios more disappointing and stressful to a...

We are delighted to announce that RFR won "Property Advisor Of The Year" at the Spear's Wealth Management Awards 2018 at the Dorchester last night. The flagship Spear’s Awards recognise the very best in wealth management, private banking, law, property and other professional services. Each year, winners are selected by a panel of leading industry experts from a shortlist prepared by the Spear’s Research Unit. Established by former City lawyers...

The 2018 Autumn Budget was predicted to be a relatively ‘quiet’ one, allowing the Chancellor enough room to manoeuvre on Brexit whatever form it takes. As far as residential property is concerned, it almost lived up to its billing with changes to the associated tax regime more benign than we feared.  Although not overtly mentioned by the Chancellor in his statement to the House of Commons this afternoon, the headline grabber (litmus-tested by...

Dancing Queen Not long after Ed Balls lauded the idea of a Mansion Tax he exited politics and became a contestant on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing (surviving through to week 10). Last week Theresa May chose to float yet another property tax idea: a stamp duty levy on non-resident buyers. London’s sales agents must be hoping her penchant for dancing means she may just follow in Ed Balls’ footsteps. However, for all the angst she has caused this...

By and large, London is a city of two or three storey homes. We have built outwards, we have dug downwards. Does the future lie in extending upwards? In February, the then Housing Minister, Sajid Javid, announced proposals to relax planning laws to encourage upwards extensions in high density areas. The idea had already appeared in a Government White Paper last year and was discussed in Sadiq Khan’s draft London plan published last November....