apartment in London

Photo source: https://bit.ly/2Pb6I4h

If you’re living in London, chances are you have a small kitchen! And if you’ve been living in London for some time now, chances are you are sick and tired of lacking space and not having enough furniture in your kitchen.

But, because Elle Decor really thinks that ‘Even tiny kitchens can have serious style.’ they made an image gallery with small sources of inspiration for you! Ideas to round-up your tiny kitchen with style!

 

 

50+ INSPIRING SMALL KITCHENS YOU’LL ABSOLUTELY FALL IN LOVE WITH

Photo source: https://bit.ly/2ohaYDH

Photo source: https://bit.ly/2MW9yg6

Photo source: https://bit.ly/2PF5ak2

We actually love the old-style ones! But the modern alternatives are great for apartments, too!

 

Read more

Photo source: Wikimedia https://bit.ly/2JmFN7c

Buyers on the property market have incomes ranging from small to… pretty big. No matter the amout of money the earn each month, they shouldn’t be deprived of their desire to have a home.

However, low earners must look for the most affordable options when it comes to city home. Or, the most affordable city…?

Latest research names Glasgow as the best option for low earners. It is the most affordable city in the UK, according to reallymoving.com, and it is followed by Manchester.

More details about who enters the low earns category and the UK cities’ ranking in this article on Property Reporter:

Where is the most affordable city in the UK for low earners to buy a home?

London and Birmingham are together named the most un-affordable in the UK.

The research is based on a comparison between average house prices and the typical earnings.

But don’t be put of by this ranking. There are still great sales or lettings on the property market in London. Just keep your eyes open!

Read more

Photo source: Wikimedia http://bit.ly/2Ekbk6c

In recent years we have seen an increase in the construction of high-rise, with more high-rise buildings being constructed than at any other time.

 

Across the UK there are currently over 270 existing high-rise buildings and structures, of which around 70% are in London. There are just 17 high-rise buildings over 150m (492ft.) in height and just one building – The Shard in London – over 300m, and London itself is considered ‘low-rise’ for a global city and financial capital of the world.

 

However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of high-rise buildings proposed and approved for construction in the UK. The UK development pipeline currently stands at around 500 buildings, of which over 85% are planned in London, while the rest are clustered in key cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Salford.

 

In terms of end-use sector, around 70% of high-rise buildings currently under construction or under consideration across the UK are primarily residential, but with an element of mixed-use, e.g. retail, community or leisure.

 

AMA Research has revealed that in London, the high-rise market is being driven by the private housing sector, especially at the top-end of the market, and recovery in demand for commercial property.

 

It suggests that the concept of high-rise living has changed and the majority of high-rise residential tower blocks in UK cities are now being developed as luxury accommodation, with a mixed-use element incorporating leisure facilities, concierge services, restaurants and retail.

 

Such a trend may not necessarily be good for the housing industry, as Hayley Thornley, research manager at AMA Research, explained: “Going forward, the high-rise construction market is set to continue to grow, with the ever-increasing demand for housing.

“However, there are concerns about too many projects aimed at the luxury end of the market, which is not matched with housing demand. In addition, the uncertainties surrounding Brexit may influence some high-rise schemes, with many projects in the pipeline forecast to exceed stated completion dates.”

 

The proportion of mixed-use schemes in the high-rise buildings pipeline is set to grow, with around 18% of developments either under construction or proposed with a mixed-use function. In the office market, rising take-up, low availability of grade-A space and increasing rents in cities such as Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh, is helping to boost output in the commercial office sector and has led to more speculative building.

 

Sustained growth in the private rented sector (PRS) is also driving the development of high-rise housing, with increasing financial backing from both domestic and foreign institutional investors. Student accommodation also forms a small, but significant proportion of high-rise building development with a number of schemes currently in planning.

 

Key factors affecting the development of high-rise buildings include cost, space efficiency, wind & seismic considerations, structural safety, risk challenges both on site and in completed buildings, speed of elevators, new building materials to potentially replace steel and concrete and damping systems. In addition, significant technical and logistical factors include pumping and placing concrete at extreme heights, and craning and lifting items to extreme heights.

The definition of high-rise buildings varies, but in this report AMA Research looks at UK regional and London developments of 15-20 storeys and above.

Read more

1920s

At the end of the first world war, Britain was a nation in which almost 80% of people rented their homes, almost all from private landlords. Concern about the poor standards of the housing stock led the prime minister, David Lloyd George, to promise a “land fit for heroes” for the homecoming Tommies. The 1919 Housing Act provided subsidies for local authorities to build council houses.

1930s

House building peaked at 350,000 a year in the mid-1930s as a prolonged period of cheap money prompted a private-sector building boom. With land and labour plentiful, and official interest rates pegged at 2%, this was the era of the three-bedroom semi and the expansion of cities out into the suburbs. New industries – car plants, aerospace companies, engineering firms – accompanied the ribbon development along the major arterial roads.

1940s

The second world war caused a double whammy: German bombing inflicted widespread damage to urban areas while house building came to a halt. The Beveridge report identified “squalor” as one of the five “giants” blocking the road to progress, but with money tight and construction materials in short supply, the pick-up in activity was slow. Aneurin Bevan, jointly health and housing minister, insisted council homes be built to high standards.

1950s

Council-house building peaked under the Conservative government of the 1950s, when the end of rationing and a growing economy meant that 250,000 new local authority homes a year were being put up. Much of the expansion was in the new towns designated by the Attlee government in land beyond the newly created green belt surrounding London – towns such as Hemel Hempstead, Harlow and Crawley.

1960s

House price boom-busts were still a thing of the future in the 1960s, the decade that saw combined private and council house building hit a postwar peak of just over 400,000 a year. This was the era of the tower block, with quantity coming at the expense of quality. One block, Ronan Point in east London, collapsed in 1968 following a gas explosion. By the end of the 1960s, Britain had as many owner-occupiers as renters.

1970s

Britain had its first experience of a housing bubble during the so-called Barber boom of 1973. An easing of credit conditions by the Bank of England coupled with the go-for-growth strategy of the Conservative chancellor, Tony Barber, resulted in house-price inflation peaking at 36%. The average price of a home, which had risen from £2,000 to £5,000 between 1950 and 1970, doubled in the next three years. The boom ended when the Yom Kippur war and the Opec oil embargo ushered in the stagflation of the mid-1970s.

1980s

Offering council tenants the right to buy their own homes was suggested to Jim Callaghan at the end of the 1970s. He rejected the idea but it was pounced upon by Margaret Thatcher, who made it the centrepiece of her political pitch to the aspirational working classes. Those who took advantage of the offer quickly saw the value of their assets surge in Britain’s second big housing bubble – the Lawson boom. House prices rose by 16% in 1987 and a further 25% in 1988.

1990s

The bust that followed the Lawson boom was long and painful. Interest rates were raised to 15% and left there for a year to control inflation. Unemployment doubled to hit 3 million for the second time in a decade and many of those who had taken out big mortgages could no longer afford the repayments. Record numbers of people had their homes repossessed as house prices fell for four successive years. It was not until the end of the 1990s that the market started to recover.

2000s

A rising population. More than a decade and a half of steady economic growth. Ample supplies of cheap credit. A sharp fall in the number of homes being built. These were the ingredients that contributed to Britain’s third big housing bubble of the post-war period. The average house price more than doubled from £100,000 in 2000 to just under £225,000 in 2007, before the financial crash brought the boom to an end. House building fell during the recession to its lowest peacetime level since the early 1930s.

Read more

Photo source: Flickr http://bit.ly/2w1IB2K

There comes one point in every home owner’s life when a though crosses his/ her mind: I need a bigger place. Climbing up the property ladder is a natural thing to do when you have a family and the financial situation is in your favor.

The solution is either moving into a bigger apartment (considering you already own one) or switching for a house. And the decision might not be as easy to take as you might think. A spacious and well placed apartment can be almost as expensive as a house, so the financial reasons might not be enough to have a clear choice.

If this is the case, bear in mind a couple of decisive facts when choosing a new place to live:

  • Try to estimate as realistic as possible the necessities for the family space. How many bedrooms? How big should the living be? How many bathrooms?
  • The neighbors. You might be that type of a people person that doesn’t mind hearing neighbors through the walls or you might want some peace and quiet and more personal space. A house doesn’t guarantee sonic isolation, and you’ll still have neighbors looking over the fence, but it is clearly more isolated than an apartment.
  • Gardening. Decide fast how much do you like it and to which extent. If you find overwhelming watering the cactus, you will definitely hate mowing the lawn once every… let’s say ‘week’ to make you feel comfortable.
  • Future development. Do you think you’ll need a garage or some extra storage space in the years to come? Think about how flexible the surrounding space should be to meet all your needs.
Read more

Photo source: Pixabay http://bit.ly/2vnwOr7

Trying to find a style that fits all types of people can be very hard to do when it comes to furnishing the property about to be let. Landlords have to know very well their target tenant and make him/ her comfortable inside the house a long time before letting.

A real trap is to make the house or the apartment personal. It is not about you, it is about the future tenant. Make sure you know the type of tenant moves in the area you are letting and things will be quite easy.

Property Division made a list with top tips for landlords in the Buy-to-Let industry. It is very useful to have a guideline like this when preparing a space for somebody else to live in.

Go through it carefully and try to apply it to the property you are letting.

Read more

How close are you to the point of reaching that much dreamed moment of buying your own place? If you’re already at the point of searching for a property, it’s time to wake up!

Source: Wikipedia, labeled for reuse

Deciding that you need a home of your own and getting to the point of eventually searching for the right place for you can be quite a long road to walk. You know exactly how your house looks in your dreams, but finding it on the market is a real challenge.

Not necessarily wanting to shatter your dreams, here are some advice you might want to follow when searching for a property.

Stay on the budget. Assuming you already know your limits – how much a financial institution or the bank of ‘Mum and Dad’ can offer you, it is very important to not cross these limits in any way. The temptation is huge when you see those pictures of the perfect house just a little above your price range, but the extra cost will just lead to new extra costs. Remember that it can be just as frustrating to live in an empty house because you might not be able to buy any furniture for it.

Keep it real. Make a plan of exactly what your needs are. You might want to ask yourself from time to time:

Do I really need that enormous kitchen?

Is an extra bedroom going to be of any other use that to deposit things in it?

Will I really use the two bathrooms in this apartment?

Location, location, location. You might search for places around your working place or near your friends. Keep in mind that jobs change and people move so pick a place that has good connections and nice surroundings. Because that is exactly what you are going to be using/ seeing every day.

Read more

I am 22 years of age and would love to buy my own property. 

copyright: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Captain_Bligh_House_London.jpgBeing a first-time buyer usually means forking out rent, saving for a deposit and playing catch-up with ever-rising house prices all at the same time! 

London is the ideal place to buy a house or an apartment for me. It is a great place to live in, but it can be expensive if you are a first time buyer.

Not only are properties expensive to buy (average price in the borough of Redbridge is £446,581) but I will also need at least 20% deposit + stamp duty costs + legal fees on top of that.

Based on my salary, it would be impossible to apply for a mortgage based on the average property prices in London. My own research shows that there are two solutions for purchasing a property.

– Buy a property out of London as it is a lot cheaper, therefore, affordable for me.

– ‘Help to Buy Scheme’ 

The scheme requires a minimum 5% deposit of the property value with the Government offering an interest-free loan of a further 20%. The remaining 75% is covered by a standard mortgage.

As an example, if you want to buy a £200,000 property under the Equity Loan scheme, you would need a minimum deposit of £10,000 and to qualify for a £150,000 mortgage. The Government then provides an equity loan of £40,000.

Another option would be to buy jointly, either with friends or family.  I think this is my preferred option, so far. 🙂

Read more