opportunities for carbon savings
“The international community in the Golden Triangle has grown
to the point where it accounts for about 50% of all the property
enquiries for prime residential property coming through our local
offices. London is as little as twenty minutes away by train, while
Gatwick and Heathrow are within easy reach. ”
turned out not to be an accurate view of the
market, it did mean that stocks of prime prop-
erty – the combination of existing and new
build – fell by around 40%.”
Mr Harwood saw the downturn as helping to
adjust the structure of the marketplace. “The
rungs in the property ladder had moved so far
apart that purchasers could not easily move
between them when they wanted to do so.”
That ability to trade up between properties
once again will be an important factor in prop-
erty deals, and increase the flow of new de-
velopments . With organisations like the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors forecasting
an end to falls in property prices, and real
growth by the end of 2009, the marketplace is
clearly back ‘in play’.
period of relative price stability when the non-
prime market was falling, followed by a sud-
International demand in Surrey
den but short-lived fall. Over in Surrey, sales are being completed by
As Garbett noted, the pattern of prices expe- Knight Frank and the other estate agencies
rienced during the short downturn was the re- active in the area, at every level from £199,000
sult of home owners who were hoping to sell, ‘entry level’ properties right through to the true
holding back while they monitored the situa- Prime Residential properties at £2 million+.
tion, then looking for a quick sale. “On the do- And from an international perspective? Tim
mestic front, many people in this area are Garbett from Esher again. “There is a constant
employed in the financial services sector, flow of enquiries as incoming executives are
which was a cause for great uncertainty for a at a level where their posts have to be filled
while. whatever happens within their organisation.”
“The market as a whole has been remark- The number of expensive restaurants which
ably resilient, however, as mortgages are of- have remained in business in the area, along
ten less of an issue and property owners were with the ring of Mercedes and BMW garages
prepared to sit the crisis out.” around the Golden Triangle, bear out the view
that the prime residential marketplace has
Position reflected across South East
passed its low point and is moving up again.
“This is already attracting developers to in-
That view of the prime property market across vest in the area as there has been a distinct
the South East was shared by Andrew shortage of high quality new builds coming to
Above: Front view of Warrenbayne, Harwood, Partner at Knight Frank in Tunbridge the market for the past year. Many developers
a new build for £12.5 million on Wells. “At the start of the recession, we were had chosen to put their sites into mothballs at
St George’s Hill, Weybridge. finding that there was no real market – a bit of the height of the recession and are now show-
a stalemate, in practice, when sellers were ing confidence by completing them.”
Previous page: Interior of not interested in selling and buyers had little The Knight Frank executive at Esher referred
Pinebrook, a second new appetite for buying. there to ‘high quality new builds’. These are
development on St George’s Hill , “The buyers’ argument was that if they properties which meet the exacting require-
Weybridge, which appeared on the waited until 2009, the same properties would ments of customers prepared to spend upwards
market at £6.95 million be available a sizeable discounts. While this from £2 million on their home.
50
The Informed Executive
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