Foxtons Share Discussion Threads

[ny boy] 28/7/2015 12:05

Wait until they expose all the dodgy owners of Central London property, not long to wait, properties will be seized and proceeds returned to the Country where they where siphoned off from that will really kill off the top end market, which lets face it has built pumped up on funny money for years.

David Cameron announced today that the UK government will take steps to stop corrupt money from entering the UK’s property market, in a move welcomed by Global Witness. Specifically, the UK government has committed to:

· Consulting on ways to make property ownership by foreign companies much more transparent; and

· Publishing Land Registry data on which foreign companies own which land and property title in England and Wales.

“We welcome David Cameron’s announcement to clamp down on corruption in the UK property market,” said Chido Dunn at Global Witness. “Our recent investigations have revealed that corrupt officials use London houses as a safe haven for their stolen loot.What’s more, they often hide their identities behind layers of offshore companies. What the UK needs now is to shine a light on who really owns property in this country.”

Global Witness’ recent reports have shown that London’s high-end property market is one of the go-to destinations to give questionable funds a veneer of respectability (1). This kind of access to the financial system entrenches the corruption that keeps citizens in poor countries poor and threatens global stability.

It is currently far too easy for the criminal and corrupt to launder money through luxury property, hiding the real owners behind anonymous companies, often registered in secrecy jurisdictions like the BVI and hidden behind “nominee”; directors. According to Transparency International (UK), at least £122bn worth of property in England and Wales is now owned by companies registered offshore, and 75% of properties whose owners are under investigation for corruption made use of this kind of secrecy.

Global Witness is calling for all companies that own UK property to be required to tell the Land Registry who their beneficial owners are, and for the UK to convince the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to create their own public registers of beneficial ownership.

[ny boy] 28/7/2015 11:16

More bad news for FOXT




Demand for London homes under construction slumped by 27 percent in the second quarter as high prices and a sale-tax increase damped demand.

Presales in the U.K. capital fell to about 5,109 from 7,046 in the same period last year, broker Chestertons said, citing data compiled by Molior London Ltd.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne hurt sentiment when he raised the stamp duty sales tax for luxury homes in December, while demand has also been dented by affordability tests and loan-to-income restrictions by lenders. The slump is worrying developers because they use down-payment income from off-plan transactions to help secure construction finance.

“There’s definitely some nervousness” among developers because of the stamp-duty changes, according to Mark Farmer, head of the residential team at consulting firm EC Harris LLP. “There’s also an overall sense perhaps that London is just expensive at the moment.”

Developers are focusing on the most expensive areas including Kensington and Chelsea, which has spurred the average sale price of brand-new properties in London past 1,000 pounds ($1,540) a square foot for the first time, according to data compiled by property magazine Estates Gazette earlier this month.

Demand remains high for homes in Canary Wharf, east London’s financial district, and in other neighborhoods in the boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham, according to Nick Barnes, head of research at Chestertons.

[ny boy] 28/7/2015 11:15

Demand for London homes under construction slumped by 27 percent in the second quarter as high prices and a sale-tax increase damped demand.
Presales in the U.K. capital fell to about 5,109 from 7,046 in the same period last year, broker Chestertons said, citing data compiled by Molior London Ltd.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne hurt sentiment when he raised the stamp duty sales tax for luxury homes in December, while demand has also been dented by affordability tests and loan-to-income restrictions by lenders. The slump is worrying developers because they use down-payment income from off-plan transactions to help secure construction finance.

“There’s definitely some nervousness” among developers because of the stamp-duty changes, according to Mark Farmer, head of the residential team at consulting firm EC Harris LLP. “There’s also an overall sense perhaps that London is just expensive at the moment.”

Developers are focusing on the most expensive areas including Kensington and Chelsea, which has spurred the average sale price of brand-new properties in London past 1,000 pounds ($1,540) a square foot for the first time, according to data compiled by property magazine Estates Gazette earlier this month.

Demand remains high for homes in Canary Wharf, east London’s financial district, and in other neighborhoods in the boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham, according to Nick Barnes, head of research at Chestertons.

[jpsmithson] 28/7/2015 10:18

Update will be interesting. Its true that central London has entered a downturn but zone 3 outwards are on fire. Prices are shooting up in these areas, Walthamstow and Leytonstone being good examples. So its a question of which is having the greater effect and is the fall in central already priced in. All these new branches, 6 a year are mostly located in the outer zones.

[doodlebug4] 27/7/2015 18:42

"The stock market has a memory", but you seem to have lost yours Mikey - remember you said this was the best short of 2015 and that was when the share price was 160p when you started this silly thread.

[ny boy] 27/7/2015 18:39

Chinese buyers are defaulting in London or pulling out of deals as many have been hit hard by the stock market sell off, which was obviously in a bubble, a bit like the prime central London property market.

So the Chinese are out
Russians are out
Nigerians are out
Europeans out as exchange rates are poor

Now we have sellers including Russians trying to liquidate property assets here too but no buyers, liquidity has dried up.

Quite clear the London market became way too over heated and the sell off started Q1/2 - 2014 and is now fast gathering momentum, with a huge glut of up supply hitting the markets. This autumn is when the fun starts.

There needs to be a 35-50% correction in central London to attract buyers again.

[mike740] 27/7/2015 13:46

Hey jeremy you might fool yourself but your not fooling anyone else. bum boy.

[ny boy] 27/7/2015 11:24

Huge supply coming on stream and reducing demand = collapse


There are now 54,000 homes planned or under construction “in the priciest areas of the capital”. Most will cost “close to or above the £1m mark” and most are two-bed flats.

Here’s the mind-blowing bit: in the same areas last year, just 3,900 homes were sold for more than £1m.

That would put potential supply at almost 14 times annual demand.

Welcome to the train crash about to happen that is high-end, new-build property in London…


There’s only so much naive ‘foreign’; money to be had

So who’s buying? Well, as Charlie Ellingworth of Property Vision puts it, many new builds are marketed at “unsophisticated” foreign investors.

We all know how estate agents might describe a house as “spacious̶1; (if you happen to be a mouse), or “conveniently located for the area’s boutique eateries” (above a kebab shop).

So it is with ‘prime central London’ (PCL). What those familiar with the capital see as PCL and what an agent marketing a flat to Asian buyers, who’ve never been to the UK, sells as PCL, are two very different things.

We’re talking about places like Old Oak Common on the Acton-Willesden borders, Vauxhall-Nine Elms and Stratford. These areas may have a lot going for them – but they are not PCL. Vauxhall is a convenient area – for getting to somewhere else. There are some groovy nightclubs under the railway arches, but it is not a place you go to – it is a place you go through.

Yet flats are being marketed (and, in some cases, sold) there for millions and millions of pounds.

[elcapital] 26/7/2015 10:28

I agree. This one had a good run up though, so it was singing to me to short.

[ny boy] 26/7/2015 10:05

I'm a bear not just on Foxtons but most house builders and property stocks.

[ny boy] 26/7/2015 09:57

Keep the playground stuff out of here, either you are a bull or a bear of this stock.

Present your case either way.

[doodlebug4] 25/7/2015 18:54

Brilliant Jeremy, that's put the wind up Mikey - he has probably/hopefully left the country already. Ooooh Mikey, there's a snooper on your trail.:-))

[ny boy] 25/7/2015 17:34

Foreign crime lords are pushing up house prices in Britain by laundering billions of pounds through the purchase of expensive properties, the National Crime Agency has said.

Donald Toon, director of the economic crime command at the agency — set up to be Britain’s FBI — said that he was alarmed by the number of homes registered to complex offshore corporations, some of which will have been bought with laundered money.

[doodlebug4] 25/7/2015 15:38

Are you an investigative journalist Jeremy? It's about time someone started digging around Mikey's shenanigans on various bulletin boards, there's a big can of worms in there just asking to be opened.

[jeremyjezza] 25/7/2015 14:10

mike740
found your CV when you were mechanicle trader

started of at private grammar school went on to college and Uni and achieved a PHD in ecomomics. previous BA and MA in same subject. took up accountancy and gained several pro board qualifications. left education and started in the fund industry in the city. biggest achievement earning £16 million profit in my private account during the year 1999 to 2000. i wasnt greedy and fundies were silly. going forward earned several TA pro TA qualifications in the US.

£16 million.where did it all go wrong.

[mike740] 25/7/2015 12:54

Bum Boy as DLKU calls you.

[jeremyjezza] 25/7/2015 12:38

its like shelling peas.
trendloor joins mike740 elcapital duki mechanicle trader mrbluesky and onjohn.
mr kipper on twitter too.

off out now to get some fresh air.smell of kippers is too strong.

ps i thought i was filtered mick740

[mike740] 25/7/2015 12:28

Doodlebug FO.