Zoopla.co.uk is back on TV with a cheeky new advert!
When searching for the one – the perfect home, that is – we firmly believe information is the key to making the right property decisions. Whether it’s one that may gain a few pounds or a slightly older one with lots of character, visit Zoopla.co.uk for all the tips and tools on how to make sure you improve your chances in the property market with Zoopla.co.uk.
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If you want to know who’s who in the advert all is revealed here
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William and Kate Middleton should move to…the West Midlands
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
With only a couple more days to indulge our obsession for all things Royal Wedding, FindaProperty couldn’t resist bringing you the latest from the world of Wills and Kate home-owning advice.
The latest gem comes from housebuilder David Wilson Mercia who has calculated that the best place for Prince William and his new bride to set up home is actually the West Midlands.
As keen royal watchers will already know, the royal couple plan to begin married life in a cottage near William’s RAF base in Anglesey, Wales, which they reportedly rent for £750 a month.
But Rita Tyler from David Wilson Mercia says they’d get better value for money if they took out a mortgage and climbed onto the housing ladder in the West Midlands where, on a mortgage of £145,000, their monthly repayments would be less than their current rent.
“I have no doubt that it would be cheaper for Prince William to buy a house from us than to continue living in rented accommodation,” Tyler says.
“For obvious reasons, the Royal couple don’t have to worry about getting on the housing ladder. But the vast majority of Prince William’s future subjects are not in the same enviable position.”
Tyler’s got a point actually, so long as Wills and Kate can live with the turbo-charged commute. Although perhaps they’d let him take the helicopter home at weekends if he asked nicely?
Wills and Kate’s first official residence valued at £47m – Zoopla.co.uk
So far we’ve resisted the temptation to jump on the Royal Wedding bandwagon…until now.
We’re a little curious here at Zoopla.co.uk and couldn’t resist working out just how big Kate Middleton’s right royal property trade up actually is. It’s pretty spectacular, especially considering they are effectively first time buyers! Despite the young royals being the same age as the average first-time buyer (29 years old), their first marital digs will be worth 343 times the average newlywed starter-home (£137,000) in Britain.
Despite her very comfortable upbringing, Kate is about to make a trade-up in the property stakes unlike any other bride-to-be.
Following their wedding, it is reported that William and Kate will make Clarence House in central London their first official home. Spanning over 40,000 sq feet in SW1, we value the property at over £47m.
Here are Kate Middleton’s Royal Property Trade-Up stats:
- Wills and Kate’s first official residence valued at £47m
- Worth 343x the average starter-home for first time buyers
- From 5-bedrooms in Bucklebury…to a 52-bedroom palace
- But…Buckingham Palace has fallen in value by £95m (8.8%) over the last 3 years
At the weekends Kate and Wills will have the use of Windsor Castle, which we value at £171m, as a weekend country retreat. Another property beyond the wildest imagination of most young couples. With over 1,000 rooms and running to more than 484,000 sq feet, Windsor Castle is the world’s largest occupied castle and comes with its own park and chapel.
Whilst the success of Kate’s parents’ mail order business has afforded them a five bedroom home worth a good deal more than the UK average, Kate will be moving out of the family home in the village of Bucklebury and trading up substantially from a property perspective in the coming weeks. Average house prices on The Avenue, where her parents live, are currently £790,951 and range from cottages worth £470,000 to detached houses worth more than £1.5m, making it one of Bucklebury’s most expensive streets.
When the future King William and Queen Catherine finally take up permanent residence at Buckingham Palace in due course, they will occupy the world’s most valuable residential property, currently valued by us at over £982m. With 600 rooms, including 19 state rooms, 52 bedrooms, a cinema, swimming pool, helipad and its own post office and police station, it is the planet’s ultimate pad and perfect for what many hope will be a growing family.
But, despite the jaw-dropping values of their property portfolio, the royal family has not been immune to the property market downturn and has seen the values of its various property assets fall over the past few years along with the rest of country. Buckingham Palace has fallen in value by £95m (8.8%) over the last 3 years, whilst Windsor Castle and Clarence House have each lost £27m and £4.5m in value respectively over the same period.
Kate is certainly the envy of many, not only landing her Prince but also getting a dream property portfolio at the same time. Luckily for the young royal couple, they will not need to secure a mortgage before moving into their new digs, as even they might find it a challenge in the current lending climate and on William’s RAF salary!
As always, please feel free to share and use this information, all we ask is that you credit the source as Zoopla.co.uk and link to either Zoopla.co.uk or blog.zoopla.co.uk. Thank you.
Calling first-time buyers: you could be on the telly
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
Here at FindaProperty we know a fair few people who’ve been down the muddy, rock strewn path of first-time buyer-dom and they all say the same thing: it’s a hard old slog.
Step forward then, any first timers out there who’d like a helping hand?
A new television show is looking for first-time buyers who they can help find their dream first time buyer home. You can come from any part of the country and be interested in any type of house, the only requirement is that you need to have your finances already in place to proceed.
The as yet unnamed show will be broadcast on the Home channel sometime next year. You need to get your skates on if you want to be part of it though, as filming is due to start in May.
Email apply@rockaboxmedia.com for your chance to be on the small screen.
If you’re viewing this property…watch your ankles!
We wouldn’t normally post so many pictures, but you need to scroll through the lot for the full experience – especially the 7th and 14th!
With over 370,000 properties for sale on Zoopla…whilst browsing, we came across this existing listing. We haven’t played with it. We promise. Original listing link below!
It’s a 5 bedroom house for sale on Carisbrooke Road, Newport, Isle of Wight with a price tag of at least £300,000.
The agent selling the property says:
“On the deeds of this spectacular Grade II listed home a previous owners occupation was listed as “A Gentleman” – that says it all, this truly is a gentleman’s residence. Packed with charm and character, and situated in a tree lined street this property has it all – high ceilings, ornate cornice, big rooms, fire places and exposed floorboards are all features that run through this fabulous home.”
Scroll down for the full effect!
Housing market confidence warms up after after frosty end to 2010 – Zoopla.co.uk
After almost 9 months of falling confidence and falling house prices, it looks like the property market is now starting to turn a corner. Falling home values have created attractive buying opportunities and with continued low inventory of property for sale, homeowners are increasingly expecting prices to rise in their local area.
We still remain somewhat short of the confidence levels seen in early 2010 but there has been a clear improvement over the previous quarter and this is welcome news.
Key findings from our latest Housing Market Sentiment Survey:
- 59% of homeowners now expect house prices to rise after 8 months of price falls
- Only 1 in 4 expect property values to decline further over the next six months
- Growing confidence leads to a rise in owners planning home improvements in 2011
Three out of five (59%) homeowners in the UK expect house prices to rise over the next six months, according to the latest Zoopla.co.uk Housing Market Sentiment Survey. Confidence in the market outlook has strengthened from its record low at the end of last year when only 54% of homeowners expected prices to rise, but remains some way below the levels seen one year ago when four out of five (81%) expected prices to climb.
Homeowners are also more optimistic about the amount by which they expect house prices to rise in the coming months. According to 7,984 homeowners surveyed by Zoopla.co.uk, house prices are expected to rise by an average of 2.8% over the next six months, noticeably up from the 1.9% predicted three months ago. The number of respondents who expect values to drop over the next 6 months has fallen to 1 in 4 (25%, down from 1 in 3 (33%) in December.
And, in typical British fashion, homeowners remain more confident about the prospects of the value of their own home compared to those of their neighbours. On average, homeowners predict the value of their own properties to grow by 3.2% over the next six months while they expect overall prices for property in their area to rise by only 2.8%.
Improved confidence in the future of the property market combined with the arrival of spring has resulted in a rise in the number of homeowners planning to conduct home improvements over the next six months to 40% of all households. And contributing to the increased confidence in the property market is the feeling that lending conditions are improving, with 12% of respondents stating that mortgage availability is better now than 3 months ago.
The greatest improvement in confidence over the last 3 months has been in Northern Ireland where 57% of homeowners now expect house prices to rise over the next six months, up from only 42% three months ago. In England 59% of owners expect house prices to rise up from 55% three months ago and in Wales 54% expect prices to climb, up from 49% three months ago. In Scotland confidence remains unchanged from December when 63% of those surveyed expected house prices to rise over the next six months.
Methodology
- Zoopla.co.uk invited registered users to participate in this survey which was fielded from 21st to 28th March 2011.
- There were 9,231 total respondents. 7,984 of these were homeowners. Statistics based on a sample of this size are accurate to within +/- 1.0% with 95% confidence, if the sample is drawn at random from the population it intends to represent
- These respondents represent the perspective of the Zoopla.co.uk user community and could be considered to represent the population of people interested in the UK residential property market. All statistics are based on the full sample unless otherwise noted
As always, please feel free to share and use this information, all we ask is that you credit the source as Zoopla.co.uk and link to either Zoopla.co.uk or blog.zoopla.co.uk. Thank you.
Have you been a victim of rental gazumping?
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
You might remember that FindaProperty did some research a little while back that revealed rental gazumping was on the rise.
Our survey found 13 per cent of those looking to rent a home had experienced rental gazumping over the past 12 months. No surprise then that the folks over at BBC’s The One Show have decided to investigate this new market trend and would like to speak to anyone who has been on the receiving end of rental gazumping.
Contact us
If you have been a victim of rental gazumping – ie, if you have lost a rental property to a higher bidder – then FindaProperty and The One Show would like to hear from you. Please email editorial@findaproperty.com and let us know your experience.
