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REVEALED (again by @Zoopla ): The location of the 2013 Apprentice House

The 2013 Apprentice House, revealed by Zoopla.co.uk, with an estimated property value of £9,658,713

Another year and another set of Apprentice hopefuls come up against a bit of ear bashing from Lord Sugar and his advisers…yes the BBC’s Apprentice is back on our screens!

We love it. We love the show, but we also love it for another reason. It gives us the chance to do what we do best…a little property research. We love a challenge and using the tools on Zoopla.co.uk to help us sniff out where the Apprentices lived for 8 weeks. The properties are always exceptional and this year is no exception.

After a little studying of the first episode of this series, a few screen shots later and a little local knowledge from a colleague, we were able to pin down the street via Zoopla and once again this year’s property lives up to expectations – a stunning multi million pound property.

The 2013 Apprentice pad is situated on Lincoln’s Inn Field (number 6) in Holborn, London and we estimate its property value to be £9,658,713 – the most expensive house used in the last three series. Lincoln’s Inn Field, is which is said to be London’s largest public square has few residential premises these days but what were once private homes are now homes to businesses such as the Queen’s solicitors, Farrer & Co and the John Soames Museum.

Lincoln’s Inn Field

The property, which appears to have been on the market back in 2011 when it was listed for sale at £7,950,000 (according to the Zoopla Property Archive)  and may have failed to sell, is a newly refurbished Grade II listed with 5/6 bedrooms, with a bespoke kitchen, double height floor to ceiling windows with an internal courtyard and superb views over Lincoln’s Inn fields.

In terms of local property values the average residential property value on Lincoln’s inn Field is £508,009, however the turnover of stock is low with just one residential property (of ten available) being sold on the square in the last five tears. In the wider WC2A postcode the average residential property value is £850,280.

So, how does this year’s house compare with the previous two houses, which we also revealed? For s start is is the most expensive.

The 2011 Apprentice’s took residence at a well-known Welsh singer’s home in East Sheen, in South West London (pic below) which we estimate has an average property value of £5,217,619. It was reported that she was paid £50,000 ‘rent’ during the 8 weeks the show was filmed. More on that house here.

The 2011 Apprentice House – estimated value of £5,217,619 by Zoopla.co.uk

Last year the 2012 Apprentice’s were treated to a Central London location on Porchester Terrace (pic below) in the Bayswater area of London and lived in a property that we estimate to have a current property value of £8,047,540. More on that property here.

The 2012 Apprentice House – estimated value of £8,047,540 by Zoopla.co.uk

As always, please feel free to share and use this info, all we ask is that you credit the source as Zoopla.co.uk and link to Zoopla.co.uk. Thank you.

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May 15, 2013 at 9:30 AM Lawrence Hall Leave a comment

Soho, Kate Moss and The Look of Love

Flat where Kate Moss was photographed in the living room for a cover photograph in Vogue.

Jessie Hewitson takes a look at the property market in the once-seedy area, now home to Michelin-starred restaurants

The streets of Soho are currently being featured in The Look of Love, a biopic about Paul Raymond, the Liverpool-born “King of Soho”. Raymond started his career as a mind-reading novelty act and opened the UK’s first strip club in 1958. By the time he died, in 2008, he amassed a gigantic property portfolio, around 60 acres of land between Shaftesbury Avenue and Oxford Street.

Zoopla.co.uk SmartMap of Soho

The property market of the area has changed unrecognisably since Raymond’s heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. “Since we began selling and letting property around Soho in the mid to late Eighties, the edgy ‘Sohemian’ atmosphere and rougher sides to the area have changed considerably,” says Laurence Glynne, partner at LDG agency .

While the seedy underbelly is still very much in existence in places, particularly in Brewer Street, much of Soho has moved out of the red thanks to a clear-up spearheaded by Westminster City Council. Now, in the place of the strip clubs and brothels, Michelin-starred restaurants have popped up – Quo Vadis, Arbutus, as well as the Soho Hotel – populated by media and creative-types who love nothing better than to base themselves in a formerly run-down area.

Soho has three distinct quarters says Glynne: the stylish office and residential area around Broadwick, Lexington and Carnaby streets; the “livelier” atmosphere (read: be prepared to be woken up at night) around Old Compton Street, Brewer Street and Shaftesbury Avenue, and the fashionable food quarter of Greek Street, Frith Street, and Dean Street. The jazz scene and pop music influence is more apparent in Frith and Dean Street, most notably at Ronnie Scott’s.

Soho’s (relative) affordability as a zone 1 location is driving popularity, according to buying agent Roarie Scarisbrick, partner at Property Vision. “You can buy a half-decent flat in Soho for £1,000 per square foot, whereas the base price in Mayfair would be at least £2,000 as a starting price.” See here for Zoopla’s Soho property stats page.

This doesn’t mean Soho is a cheap place to live: a typical one-bed rents for £374 per week, according to Phin Twiselton, an agent with Hurford Salvi Carr, and a two-bed for £600 per week. For sales, a one-bed in a period block costs around £550,000 and a two-bed starts at £775,000. LDG is currently selling a 602 sq ft one-bed flat in Brewer Street for £675,000. The property is formerly owned by photographer Corinne Day, who snapped Kate Moss in the living room for a cover photograph in Vogue.

Formerly owned by photographer Corinne Day, who snapped Kate Moss in the living room for a cover photograph in Vogue.

Buyers are often young, arty and at home in an Soho’s urban environment. Properties close to Golden and Soho Square are among the most covetable – small pockets of green in which to retreat from the hustle and bustle.

Property for sale in Soho in our new Grid view on Zoopla.co.uk.

April 26, 2013 at 4:15 PM Lawrence Hall Leave a comment

Liz Hurley’s (@ElizabethHurley) old Fulham home up for sale

Elizabeth Hurley lived in this maisonette in Fulham in the 80′s

Back in the late 1980s, in the days BH (Before Hugh), Elizabeth Hurley lived in a modest maisonette in Fulham. This property is currently on the market, now elevated in status because of the celebrity connection, as well as having been renovated recently. Jessie Hewitson takes a peak.

These days it’s a sleek, modern grey-and-white painted property on the two upper floors of a period conversion. Located on Sherbrooke Road, Fulham, London, SW6 (average property value according to Zoopla £768,057) in chi-chi Munster Village, it is on the market for £600,000 through the estate agency John D Wood.

Hurley, now 47, lived in the bijou flat while filming Remando Al Vientro (translation: Rowing in the Wind). It was on the set of this film that she met floppy-haired Grant, now 52, who then, according to neighbours, became a regular visitor.

Much like Hurley herself,  the 810 sq ft two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat has gentrified considerably over time. In 2009 it was also on the market – though back then it was a one-bed; it has since been refurbished and extended, with a bedroom and bathroom being added in the attic space.

Hurley now has far bigger property fish to fry: she and her new fiance, cricketer Shane Warne, have combined their millions to buy a £6m country estate in Herefordshire, and Hurley also owns a 400-acre farm in the Cotswolds.

Hugh Grant, meanwhile, stayed local and now owns a substantial home in Chelsea. Last year he also bought a £1.175m terraced house in Fulham for the mother of his two children, 32 year-old actress Tinglan Hong.

April 11, 2013 at 3:49 PM Lawrence Hall Leave a comment

Sneak preview: Lee Westwood’s £2.5m country estate

As Lee Westwood reflects on his performance in the Shell Houston Open in the US, it’s likely he’s going to start to turn his thoughts to his property. Jessie Hewitson takes a look around.

He earned £137,000 in the Shell Houston competition, but he’s likely to bag a bigger win when he sells his Nottinghamshire home – something in the region of £1.3m, assuming he gets his asking price.

Westwood, 39, the country’s most successful golfer, has already packed up his golf clubs and has moved them, with his family, to Miami, relocating from the UK for good.

The only thing that remains to do is to sell his Nottinghamshire country pile: the Grade-II listed Harness Grove, about to go on the market with Chesterton Humberts for £2.5million and we’ve been given a sneak preview (we’ll add the link to Zoopla when it goes live). Befitting of a man who is used to winning, the estate has been a lucrative investment for the golfer, who bought it for £1.2m in 2000.

The main property, which dates back to the 17th century and measures just under 8,000 sq ft, has seven bedrooms, five living rooms, mullioned windows, shutters, a wood-panelled living room and large open fireplaces. There is also a gym and pool within a cottage found in the 50 acres of grounds – where there is a lake, paddocks and woodland – as well as a two further four bed houses (both measuring over 2,000 sq ft), stables, garages that can fit up to six cars, house keeper’s cottage and walled gardens.

It is a traditional, grand home with a cosy kitchen containing huge red Aga and an empty magnum of Champagne standing on the counter, possibly drunk to toast Westwood’s considerable success on the fairways.

“It’s a sizeable yet homely country estate – and not that many of this size come to the market each year,” says says selling agent Dan Bennett, director of the Nottingham office of Chesterton Humberts of the sale. He also points it’s just one hour and 40 minutes to Kings Cross from the local train station, Retford.

Champagne makes another feature in the swimming pool room, where there is a bottle chilling in an ice bucket somewhere on a beach within the hand-painted mural on the wall. Lloyd Grossman, in his Through the Keyhole days, would no doubt have a lot to say about that….

April 4, 2013 at 9:30 AM Lawrence Hall Leave a comment