The History of Property Values since 1995 in Fitzrovia

I thought this might be of interest to the homeowners and landlords of Fitzrovia .. an interactive graph that shows the average value of a Fitzrovia property since April 1995.

Gresse Street Fitzrovia - Decent Buy to Let Apartment

LDG have brought to the market this lovely one bed apartment for a very reasonable £655,000 making this a potential Buy To let little sweet heart! 


This is what they have said - This spacious apartment is situated on the 7th floor of a popular block in the heart of the West End. Panoramic skyline views draw the eye from the well-proportioned reception room which also features a private balcony. Accommodation also includes a double bedroom, a separate kitchen and a modern bathroom. The property also benefits amble storage space, including a large walk-in closet. 

This bright and airy flat is just moments from the feast of restaurants and cafés on Charlotte Street and moments from the buzz of Soho. Nearby Tottenham Court Road station offers easy access to the City and will be a future Crossrail station. 

I reckon at this price alongside the lack of one bedroom properties currently on the market it will not be around for long!

Pictures below but for full details, contact LDG in Fitzrovia or click on this Rightmove pic (more pics on the link as well)

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44491588.html

Great Portland Street - Nice apartment with ResiLondon

Well it might not be bargain of the year, but I like this 2 bed apartment on Great Portland Street.


The asking price is £1.65m and is on the market with our friends from Resi London


Here are some internals

Zoopla Link to property here (plus more photos)  http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36264334

Pensions could change Fitzrovia Property Market?

The Pension rules are changing this April something which could change the landscape of the Fitzrovia Property market in the coming years. Therefore, in this article, i want to look a little deeper into the subject of your pension and how it could change the Fitzrovia property market. George Osbourne, in last years’ Budget, announced pension reforms that come into effect this April, which will give people with pensions unprecedented access to their pension pot and the freedom to look for alternatives. In a nutshell, after the 6^th of April 2015, anyone aged over 55 will be allowed to withdraw all or part of their pension pot and spend it as they wish. Until now, you were allowed to take out a quarter of it and were forced to buy an annuity policy with the rest.

However, my readers always know that I like to tell it ‘as it is’. There are always two sides to a story, good and bad. Let me tell you the bad news first. There are some hefty tax implications by taking money from your pension pot. As before, as per the old rules, the first 25% can still be withdrawn from the pension pot tax free but, here is the sting in the tail, if you take more than a quarter of your pot (25%), anything above that initial 25% level will be taxed as income. So if you took the whole lot out, the first 25% will be tax free but the remaining 75% will be taxed at your income tax rate of 20%, 40% (or even 45% if you earn over £150,000 a year) .

.. and now the good news!

Under the old scheme, if you bought an annuity, when you died your annuity normally died as well. You would have no asset to pass on to your family. Also, the returns from pensions are awful at the moment. The best rates according to Hargreaves and Lansdown (big wigs in the City) state if you were 55 years old, the best rate you would get on your annuity pension would be 4.4% fixed for life (so it would never go up) or 2.2% but the payment would go up with inflation.  The sort of rates (also known as yields in the property investing game) being achieved in Fitzrovia are in the order of 2% to 3%.

The other aspect of property investment is how the fact property values have risen consistently over the last 50 years.  According to the Office of National Statistics, the life expectancy of a 65 year old male in Fitzrovia is 20 years and 9 months (its only 18 years 5 months in nearby Hammersmith and Fulham). If we roll the clock back 20 years 9 months to July 1994, property values in Fitzrovia have risen by 562.1% to today .. you wouldn’t have had that with your pension!   But this is the biggest win, even by taking a hit in income tax now,  by buying a property, you buy an asset that you can pass on to your family when you die.... (or the cats home if they aren’t nice to you!).

So where next? It totally depends which strategy you are going to look at, one strategy is to look to achieve relatively small rental returns (ie low yields) in an up market area which has decent capital growth or, alternatively, another strategy is to buy properties in not so good areas known to produce a high returns (ie high yields) but low capital growth (ie how much the value of the property goes up). Now, I am not financial advisor, so cannot offer financial advice on what the best thing for you with your pension is. However, I can share my knowledge and experience of the Fitzrovia property market, what to buy, what not to buy and where to buy etc etc.  My thoughts on the Fitzrovia Property market can always be found on the Fitzrovia Property Blog