David Frost’s house finds new owner

Michelmersh Court, the home of broadcaster Sir David Frost, has been sold for an undisclosed fee.

 The Queen Anne home situated in the village of Michelmersh near Winchester in Hampshire has nine bedrooms, five bathrooms and also came with 21 acres of land. The property was marketed with a guide price of £5.25m by Strutt & Parker.

Renting in London
Almost half of London’s population now rents their property compared to a national average of 30%, according to research from Cluttons, with an 80% increase in the number of private tenancies over the last 10 years. Sue Foxley, head of research at Cluttons said: “This report highlights that younger people are choosing to rent for longer periods, especially if they plan to stay in the capital only for a few years, or wish to live centrally, thus avoiding long commutes from outside London. Given the high cost of getting that first foot on the property ladder, many of them are unsurprisingly unable to commit to buying and are forced into renting.”

Equity loan scheme gets thumbs up
Around 4,000 people have reserved a new home using the Equity Loan part of the Government’s flagship Help to Buy scheme announced two months ago.

Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman at the Home Builders Federation said: “The Equity Loan part of Help to Buy has got off to a flying start. It has been an unqualified success so far. The large deposits required in recent years to secure a mortgage have prevented many from buying and as a result, builders from building. The Equity Loan scheme helps consumers overcome that deposit barrier and as a result the scheme will undoubtedly lead to an increase in house building – already we are seeing companies revise their projected build levels as a direct result of the scheme. This in turn will create jobs and deliver an economic boost.”

Mark Clare, Chief Executive of Barratt said: “Customer interest in the Help to Buy scheme has been very strong as it addresses the issue of lack mortgage finance at higher loan to values.Interest has been particularly encouraging from customers previously locked out of the market by high deposit requirements. Post the Budget announcement, compared with last year, we saw reservations step up 18% and visits to the Barratt website increase by around 30%. Our production will rise to meet higher levels of demand and it’s likely that our completions this year will be up 20% on two years ago.”

Property investment
Over the last decade, the North of England and Scotland have been the winners of what a report by Hearthstone Investments calls the ‘property inflation lottery’. Scotland comes top with an increase in average property prices from £80,876 in 2002 to £179,446 in 2012. Wales, Yorkshire and London also beat the 72% average increase in UK house prices during the period. The Hearthstone report of 1,600 people also reveals that 67% do not consider their home to be an investment, though more than half of those surveyed think their own property will increase in value over the next five years and by a margin of 4 to 1 prefer it to equities.

Christopher Down, CEO of Hearthstone, said: “The British have a long standing love affair with property but the strength of the market can hide problems in the detail. Traditional investment in residential property requires significant commitment in terms of finances and time and in many cases is limited to a particular region. Even investors with a large buy to let portfolio are often heavily invested and exposed to one specific region. Our review of the regional fluctuations over the last five and ten years illustrates that investors are potentially exposed to regional risks if assets are concentrated in only one area.”

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