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Bid for a piece of world class sporting memorabilia!

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For the second year running, The Wimbledon Club will host a prestigious?Professional Squash Association Tournament. This PSA ranking tournament will attract some of the best players from the world of men’s squash and we are proud sponsors of the event.

A silent auction will be held at the presentation dinner?in aid of?local charity Squash Squared, which we are delighted to be supporting.


Squash Squared is a registered charity that provides extra-curricular educational support to socially and economically disadvantaged children, introduces them to the world of squash and plays a vital role to make sure our sport reaches the masses.

The Silent Auction prizes include:

Tennis Masterclass with Miles Maclagan, Andy Murray?s former coach

Squash lesson with World No. 24 Saurav Ghosal

Ten squash lessons with former WR 39 Stacey Ross

Framed racket owned by Nick Matthew OBE, ?3-time World Champion

Three personal training sessions with?TWC trainer, Dean Hughes

6-hole playing lesson with Golf Pro Dean Jeeves at Wimbledon Park Golf Club

Limited edition?’Prima Ballerina’?print by?Helen Wilson,?signed by Darcey Bussell

Two Business Premier return tickets on the Eurostar to Paris or Brussels including a three course meal with champagne.?

For a full list of the auction prizes and to bid remotely visit?http://squashsite.co.uk/squashsquared/auction.htm

Charity Easter Egg Campaign for Jigsaw4U

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We are delighted to once again support local charity, Jigsaw4U, through our Easter Egg collection. This local charity has worked for over 15 years to support children, young people, and their families, who have experienced bereavement, loss and trauma.

If you would like to donate an Easter Egg,?please drop it into one of our?two Wimbledon offices?(Monday ? Saturday) before Friday 24th March.

 

Shortage of supply in both the lettings and sales segments continue to present a huge challenge for the market, according to the January 2017 RICS UK Residential Market Survey

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Starting with the sales market, at a national level, transaction volumes and enquiries have both seen relatively little change over the month. At Andrew Scott Robertson, we had a very busy start to the year with a greater number of applicant registrations and valuations than last year.

Even in light of stamp duty costs the prevailing demand and lack of supply of houses below ?1.8M is attracting competition between buyers. Above this level but more so over ?2M ?it is a different picture with some agents over-valuing. This has left vendors confused, resulting in very few offers being made for this reason alone.

With regards to the rental market, again a shortage of supply remains a challenge and the lack of listings coming to the lettings market may become an even greater issue ahead, with changes to Stamp Duty, alongside scheduled cuts to mortgage interest tax relief, both seen as important factors diminishing the attractiveness of buy-to-let as an investment. That said, during the three months to January, tenant demand continued to increase at the national level, albeit modestly. This imbalance between supply and demand is expected to squeeze rents higher. Over the next five years, rental projections point to a cumulative increase of just over 25%.

At a local level, we had a very good start to 2017 with activity levels improving on all fronts. Tenants are negotiating hard on rental prices but we have noted resistance by landlords to accept offers and this is slowing the number of lettings transactions possible.

 

Another award-winning year for Andrew Scott Robertson with national recognition in the raterAgent Top 50 estate agencies for customer service

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It’s been another award-winning year for Andrew Scott Robertson with national recognition in the raterAgent Top 50 estate agencies in the UK for customer service

The 2016 awards recognising the UK?s top estate agencies for customer service have just been announced by raterAgent, the trustworthy, transparent sales?and letting agent review site.

Independent Wimbledon estate agent Andrew Scott Robertson are delighted to once again achieve the prestigious accolade of being in the Top 50 National Estate Agencies according to their customers, beating off dozens of local competitors.

Since its launch in April 2015, some 10,851 agents dissatisfied with existing review sites have signed up to the raterAgent scheme, which sets itself apart on the genuine nature of its customer reviews. Commenting on the results, raterAgent chairman Bill McClintock said, ?These are the industry awards that matter as they are based entirely on genuine reviews from customers who have experienced the agent?s service first-hand. All reviews have been verified thoroughly under our Triple Lock Transparency Check so our company and individual winners have every reason to feel proud that the exemplary service they give their customers has been recognised. We congratulate all our 2016 winners.?

Andrew Scott Robertson Managing Director John King said, ?It is testament to the hard work and dedication of the whole team that we have picked up such a prestigious award for the second year running. We hope that knowing that Andrew Scott Robertson has not only engaged with such a transparent and?trustworthy site ? but also that we have been placed in the Top 50 National Estate Agencies based upon our customer?s reviews on it ? tells?you all you need to know about our approach to our service. At the very least this should encourage anyone looking to move in the?area in 2017 to consider Andrew Scott Robertson as their agent in the process.?

Excellent service and result

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“We were very pleased with the service from Andrew Scott Robertson. They were professional and friendly and guided us well at every stage through the selling process. Despite increasingly tight market conditions (higher stamp duty – Brexit) they found us a committed purchaser with whom we were able to agree a good price and complete in time for Christmas. A very good service.”

Sales activity in the UK residential market is increasing, but a slow start to 2017 is expected due to a lack of stock

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The November RICS Residential Market Survey shows sales activity in the UK residential market is increasing, with buyer demand edging upwards for the third consecutive month. As stock continues to dwindle, the headline RICS price balance has risen to 30% in November, which is the highest reading since April, and most of the UK is seeing an increase in prices.

On the supply side of the market, supply shortages remain a constraining feature and indeed, respondents across most parts of the UK highlight the supply shortage as a very dominant feature of the market at present.

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The outlook over the year to come is positive in all areas with 40% of respondents forecasting house price growth, although contributors are less confident in the prospects for London prices relative to other areas over the year to come with larger properties in the capital expected to show the slowest growth. Tax changes over the past couple of years are widely cited by respondents as an impediment to the level of transaction activity at higher price points.

In the Lettings market, tenant demand rose only marginally, as is usual around this time of year, with 15% more contributors reporting a rise rather than a fall. Meanwhile, new landlord instructions fell slightly at the headline level with 6% more contributors seeing a decline rather than a rise. Tenant demand continues to outpace supply across most areas and rents are expected to continue to rise.

The London rental market remains somewhat of an outlier with surveyors continuing to report a decline in tenant demand (a trend that has been visible for most of the last year) and rent expectations in negative territory for the fifth consecutive month.

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At Andrew Scott Robertson, we have noted that sales activity continues to be busy at the lower end of the?market for houses up to ?1.5m. Activity in flats up to this price range has slowed; a factor caused by the buy-to-let market having cooled. This month has seen a slowdown of instructions while vendors review their plans for 2017, whilst there has been a steady flow of new buyers on the block ready to buy.

Stock levels on the rental side are improving but applicant levels have slowed. Following the Autumn statement, agents letting fees remain topical with both landlords and applicants, and we would predict that rental adjustments are on their way.

Signs of a resilient market in November’s House Price Index

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Rightmove’s House Price Index released this week shows that London and the commuter belt are still the fastest selling regions in the UK. Here are some of the key findings from their research:

  • The price of property coming to market in London falls by a seasonal 0.3% (-?1,995) this month, a much smaller fall than the 1.5% average drop seen over the last six years
  • In spite of the re-adjusting market in both the capital and the neighbouring commuter-belt regions of the South East and East of England, their average time to sell is still quicker than in the rest of the country: average time between first marketing and sale agreed in London, South East and East of England is 56 days, compared to an average of 65 days for the rest of the country

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: ?Overall, house prices continue to hold up well. This is the smallest drop in average November asking prices since we saw the same figure of -1.1% in November 2011. Furthermore, the average time to sell of 65 days is one day quicker than at this time last year. However, price resilience is not good news for cash-strapped aspiring first-time buyers, and in spite of the more subdued time of year the smaller properties that they typically target have increased in price this month, the only market sector to show an increase. Compared to 12 months ago the price of newly-marketed properties with two bedrooms or fewer is up by over 8%, twice the rate of the sectors containing properties with three bedrooms or more. In the sprint to get onto the housing ladder, wage inflation to help meet lender affordability ratios and to save for the larger deposits required is being comprehensively outrun by price increases.?

The government has pledged to help this increasingly frustrated group, and many will be hoping for some good news in the Chancellor?s forthcoming Autumn statement on 23rd November.

 

Strong lending for house purchase suggests buyer confidence in market

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Research published by Property Industry Eye reports that mortgage lending for house
buying purposes was up 11% in August on the same month last year ? despite a drop of almost 40% in buy-to-let borrowing for house purchase.

First time buyers borrowed ?5.1bn, up 13% on July and 24% on August last year. This equated to 31,800 loans, up 12% month on month and 19% year on year.

Home movers borrowed ?7.1bn, up 15% on July and 3% compared to a year ago. This represented 34,200 loans, up 14% month on month and 2% on August 2015.

Re-mortgaging by both owner-occupiers and buy-to-let borrowers was strong, said the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

 

House Purchase Remortgage
FTBs Movers Buy-to-let Home owners Buy-to-let
August 2015 26,700 33,700 10,600 25,000 11,500
July 2016 28,300 30,000 6,000 33,500 12,300
August 2016 31,800 34,200 6,500 34,900 12,800
1 month change +12.4% +14.0% +8.3% +4.2% +4.1%
12 month change +19.1% +1.5% -38.7% +39.6% +11.3%

 

 

 

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Wimbledon Village,
London SW19 5DX

Tel: +44 (0)20 8971 6780
Fax: +44 (0)20 8946 3683