The number of £5m-plus deals recorded in Prime London was down by a very noticeable 25% last quarter, as ongoing uncertainty over Brexit and renewed stamp duty chatter spooked high-end buyers into retreat.
Firms at the upper end are having to work extra-hard to achieve sales, but a boutique PCL agency has managed to chalk up a trio of successes in recent weeks across Chelsea, Belgravia and Knightsbridge – in one instance stoking up enough enthusiasm for a three-way bidding war…
Tedworth’s Christian Warman & Simon Tollit opened up the properties to two different markets
Having been launched by two agents back in November 2017, the unusual proposition on Elm Park Road and Henniker Mews failed to find a taker – despite some pretty decent exposure – until a fresh pair of eyes in the shape of Chelsea-based Tedworth came on board, and advised a new marketing strategy to create some renewed interest.
Director Simon Tollit talks us through the approach: “With the two properties being held on different titles, we recommended to the client that the properties should be marketed separately to ensure the capital values were lower and thus potentially appealing to a wider audience.
“On the back of our advice, we were instructed to offer the mews only to those who viewed the house, or separately after the house had sold. Our objective was to open up the properties to two different markets – £5.25m for the house itself or £7.45m for the house and mews – doubling the chances of a sale.”
Alongside a full-scale marketing campaign, the “flexible and creative” strategy worked, and the vendor found themselves in a competitive bidding situation between three prospective purchasers. The successful party exchanged contracts on both properties within ten working days of agreeing terms – and both buyer and seller are said to be “absolutely delighted”.
