Studio asking prices down a lot - WC1 UPDATED 23rd NOV

Austin_Allegro

Just had a look on Rightmove - dozens and dozens of studios up for sale in Russell Court. Somebody must be trying to shift a big 'powwtfowwio'...

I think Trinity Court on the Grays Inn Road represents better value to be honest. Still massively overpriced though.

Out of interest, Neverdespairgirl, what would you say a 'fair' price would be for a Bloomsbury mansions flat one-bed? Based on them being lived in by a junior professional in, say, law or accountancy, I would say about £150k, with the studios no more than £90k and that's pushing it.

bubblesmoney

i knew someone who used to live in a nice studio flat in london fully furnished with double storage bed, a few cupboards, another double sofa bed, bookshelves and some more storage etc with a openplan kitchen in large room, it could easily have been separated into comfortable sized bedroom + living room + small kitchen and there was a nice bathroom as well a couple of mins walk near hangerlane station with some nice park nearby for jogging / lazing around in summer, convenient for many things. think he used to pay 500-550 a month. it was on the 2nd floor, no lifts so i assume the owner would have a lowish maintenence charge. but this was a couple of years ago, dont know how the prices are now

PasturesNew

I didn't think £1800-2000 as a service charge was too bad.
It does include hot water and heating and presumably buildings insurance and that concierge thing.

When I moved into my studio the water was on rateable value and so £40/month, heating can be £30/month (and you're being careful) and as an OO buildings insurance would probably be £20/month. So you can discount these figures from the service charge as bills you'd pay anywhere else.

If renting one is £200/week then from a renter's point of view there's a saving to be had from the water/heating bills, so it's not as pricey as it seems.

Maybe I should flog the car and move to London to be with you lot

At the moment I am paying £350 for a studio, it was always the cheapest in the area, although on the subject of "falling rents", i took a trawl through RM rentals earlier today and I have already spotted a couple of newly refurbished studios elsewhere in the town (closer to town) at £250 (if they had had parking I'd have been looking! I need off-street parking though).

My total floor area is under 15' square.

I looked through RM at the ones in WC1H for sale and looked at the layouts, some would lend themselves to creating a bedroom by moving the kitchen along one wall of the living room.

Love_bargains_2

Don't worry, there's plenty further to fall yet - there's plenty of job losses, and company failures yet to come over the next 6 months or so. It would be very strange for house prices to start going up just as the country starts going into a recession.

Sit tight. I'm also a first time buyer looking to buy - the longer we collectively wait the further the sellers will have to slash their prices to more sane levels.

neverdespairgirl

Austin_Allegro wrote: »

Out of interest, Neverdespairgirl, what would you say a 'fair' price would be for a Bloomsbury mansions flat one-bed? Based on them being lived in by a junior professional in, say, law or accountancy, I would say about £150k, with the studios no more than £90k and that's pushing it.

I'm really bad at telling that kind of thing, to be honest. This is all a completely wild guess.

My bet, though, is that as you say, studios and 1 beds in WC1 are for young (20s) accountants, solicitors, barristers, publishers, etc. On that basis, I'd reckon a fair price might well be something like £80k for a studio, £140k for a 1 bed, £200k for a 2 bed, £350k for a 3 bed. This is the "proper" blocks, not the ex-LA ones, though.

In 1997, prices were roughly £170k for a 3 bed, £125 for a 2 bed.

neverdespairgirl

Stupidly, I forgot to add yesterday that by advertising at £189k they must be expecting to get offers at a max. £175k, because of stamp duty?

neverdespairgirl

When I posted that message, there was one studio which had just come on to the market at £189k. The next cheapest was £200k.

The other EAs and sellers in WC1 obviously have their eyes on Rightmove as well. There has been a rush of significant price drops in studios.

This was the original £189k-er, listed on 12th Nov.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-23877521.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

This one was listed on 8th Nov. for £205k and dropped to £189k today (14th Nov):

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-23840273.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

This was listed on 8th Nov @ £200k, and has dropped £10k today:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-23840267.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

This was listed on 1st August @ £215k, dropped on 24th Oct to £205k, and dropped again today to £195k:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-18814633.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

This was listed at the end of Oct for £225k, dropped today to £210k:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-23712956.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

This was listed in April for £265k (HA!), dropped to £250k in July and £230k in October. Dropped again today to £215k

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-17560426.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

These 3, on the other hand, were all listed some time ago @ £240k to £250k and haven't budged on price. The first has been on since March, the second since March as well, and the third since February:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-17333074.rsp?pa_n=4&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-17254072.rsp?pa_n=4&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

All these flats are in teh same block as each other, and as the original studio.

dopester

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

All these flats are in teh same block as each other, and as the original studio.

Forgive me my ignorance here.. I've never lived in an apartment as such.

I can't get my head around service charges of £2,000 - although I believe there are much costlier service charges than that in Manchester. I'm happy with a house and paying my own gas/hot water costs - and taking my chances will getting any repairs done cheaply on my own terms - with no need for a porter.

What does the extra costs with a service charge add up to over 25 years, compared to no service charge and managing your own costs with a house. Quite a lot.

And all these sellers in one block... I hope they aren't feeling financially strapped to for their contribution towards the service charge. I've looked at most of them on Rightmove and they are all using the same EA? Perhaps they are all owned by a company and let out? (I'm tired so maybe I'm wrong)

I park my car under apartments in town. Even in the basement you can smell them all cooking breakfast in the morning.

I hope you will be able to get a house tbh, although that is tougher in WC1.

FoxtonsRIP

dopester wrote: »

Forgive me my ignorance here.. I've never lived in an apartment as such.

I can't get my head around service charges of £2,000 - although I believe there are much costlier service charges than that in Manchester. I'm happy with a house and paying my own gas/hot water costs - and taking my chances will getting any repairs done cheaply on my own terms - with no need for a porter.

.

A major consideration in London (which is what I'm familiar with) is whether or not part of the service charge is paid into a sinking fund for major works/repairs in the future. It can really hard to squeeze this info out of the estate agent sometimes. If there is a sinking fund then a large service charge (most service charges are large in London apartment blocks :eek:) then at least if the roof,etc. needs replacing you won't be sent a bill for £30K or £40K in years to come

dopester

Interesting stuff FR.

If that is the case, I'd be insisting on learning how much was already in deposit in any sinking fund - and who ran it, or was trustee of it, and all the terms and conditions of it.

Too complicated for me tbh - I won't be getting a flat. Sorry.. back on topic.