Indus Property

Great Portland Sees Dismal Outlook for Property Market Rebound

According to the Chief Executive of Great Portland Estates, Toby Courtauld,  the property market in the United Kingdom could be headed to a repeat of what took place in 1994 when the rebound from a fairly brutal recession in property values ended up not bringing those values to a more acceptable level as many experts had hoped. Great Portland Estates is a property specialist firm in central London and they have recently reported a rise of just under 5% in asset values for the 2nd quarter of 2010. Courtauld wanted to come forward and be very clear that a less than urgent buying atmosphere in the market meant that values and demand for business space would most likely begin to taper off, at least in the very near future.

Continue reading 30.07.2010. 07:24

Lord Sugar Set to Sell Mayfair Properties

In a move that some experts in the United Kingdom say could be ill advised or at least premature, Lord Sugar, the once Enterprise Tsar is set to sell some very high end properties from his portfolio at prices that are much more comparable to what he could have expected before the global credit crash took place years ago. To some, it is seen as a gesture that the boom years could be back, because the Lord is offering 3 of his Mayfair properties that are definitely the envy of a great number of people in the UK property market. The total cost of the properties Lord Sugar seeks to sell? Try the £120 million mark - a number that would be a lot more understandable if the year were still 2006.

Continue reading 18.07.2010. 16:26

Nearly 2,000 Properties in Northern Ireland Repossessed

News has recently come out from Northern Ireland that in the year 2009 more than 1,800 properties were repossessed. A growing number of people were ordered to turn in their keys due to the fact that they defaulted on their mortgage payments. To give a sense of the scope of this problem, records have shown that more than 80,000 Northern Irish households failed to make their mortgage payments in addition to nearly 20,000 owners of businesses in the region, as well. This means that the total owned in rare for arrears at the end of the fiscal year ending in March 2010 was enormous: piling up to nearly £160 million with almost 60% of this being owned by the business sector itself. In this same time period, nearly 3,700 writs or summons regarding repossession were issued, says the Northern Ireland Court Service. Of those, exactly 1,804 ended up getting repossession orders made against them.

These figures on rate arrears were released by the Land and Property Services and are a very keen view of the massive damage the recession has done to businesses in this region of Ireland, say experts. According to the Chief Executive of the LPS, John Wilkinson, it is how long the recession has lasted that is putting the crunch on local businesses and showing the results in pure debt accrued in that part of the economy. Fortunately, of the total £157 million due at the end of March 2010, a full £30 million has been collected since March. That means domestic customers are a potential problem area because they make up only one third of the debt collected in terms of cash volume.

17.07.2010. 10:32