The Times - UK (2022-05-27)

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Bricks

& Mortar

Friday May 27 2022 7

the times

in the same situation, which

means that “ultimately it all

comes down to the number: you

have to put the highest number

[offer] you can”.

At the top end of the market,

£1 million or more, cash buyers are

securing a top-notch advisory

team to help them to stand out

from the chain-free, cash-rich

masses, including retaining a

buying agent who can negotiate

on their behalf to secure the

homes they want. Conduit tells

the story of one estate agent

who invited a handful of buying

agents on a Zoom call to conduct

a mini-auction rather than sell a

property via sealed bids to a group

of cash buyers.

“Having a buying agent means

you are taken more seriously as a

contender. You also need to

commit to a fast exchange and

completion. You need to have

your lawyers ready to go, to

have pencilled a slot in the diary

with your surveyor and have your

cash ready — some transfer the

money, either a reservation deposit

of £50,000 to £100,000 or the

whole 10 per cent deposit, to their

lawyer to show commitment

[before putting in their offer],”

Conduit explains.

“For some sellers, though,

money isn’t everything,” she adds.

Buyers could win a deal with a

personal letter and tugging at the

heartstrings: some buyers like to

sell to families with children,

prefer local buyers or bond over

shared hobbies or a love of pets.

You need cash and emotional

intelligence to buy a home today.

achieving plenty of viewings from the
moment of launch.”
McCutcheon highlights a further
division between relocators and local
buyers: “The pandemic’s relocation
boom has been very real in Yorkshire.
Both 2020 and 2021 saw significant
buyer registrations from those
contemplating a move from London and
the South East. Those that then bought
here have probably had a greater
influence in the higher-priced sectors
and the larger lifestyle homes, with local
movers driving the mid-market sector.”
Lack of supply may be bolstering
prices to an extent, but it’s also causing

stagnation down the chains

and angst for sellers afraid

they won’t be able to

find and secure their

next home.

Tony Wright,

a partner at

Carter Jonas in

Harrogate, says that

with so many properties

now going to “best and

final offers”, vendors feel

intimidated. “So they’re sitting

on the fence a little bit. It’s quite

soul-destroying, suddenly finding

you’ve been pipped to the post.”

There are winners, however — the

owners of Airbnbs and holiday cottages

who are hosting potential buyers while

they search for their ideal home, many

hoping that being chain-free will give

them an edge in bidding wars. “The

rental market [for standard six-month

tenancies] is pretty buoyant and moves

very quickly,” Wright says. “It’s nigh-on

impossible for people to up sticks and

move twice, and there’s the costs

involved too.”

And Yorkshire is still Yorkshire.

Whatever harsh economic winds buffet

the hills and dales, sensibly priced

properties will continue to sell. So says

Ben Pridden, a director at the rural

North Yorkshire estate agency Hewetson

and Johnson: “I suspect anecdotally

there are slightly fewer buyers around,

but because there is so little around, and

even with the dearth of new property

coming on, it won’t make a huge

difference. Every agent has a very long

list of waiting buyers which will negate

any immediate effect.”

Above: a four-bedroom property in Boroughbridge, seven miles

from Ripon, is on the market for £799,000 with Carter Jonas

B

eing chain free and

cash ready used to

get you a VIP pass

to the best property

viewings ahead of

the mortgaged

hordes. In today’s

hot sellers’ market,

though, it is the minimum entry

requirement for buyers.

“We’re chain-free buyers with a

large [50 per cent] deposit and

mortgage in principle. I’d imagined

we’d be very attractive, but that

those facts aren’t compelling

enough to win us a viewing

suggests we’re far from unusual.

We are finding being chain free is

becoming almost a minimum

requirement,” says Siobhan Maher,

36, a jewellery copywriter. “We’re

stuck in limbo.”

In the first three months of this

year a record 73 per cent of buyers

were chain free, according to

research by Hamptons estate

agency. Meanwhile 40 per cent of

homebuyers in the year to April

have been cash buyers — an

increase of 48 per cent on 2020 —

who have pumped £181 billion into

the property market in the past

year, which is more than was

spent by first-time buyers and

home-movers using mortgaged

debt put together, according to

Savills estate agency.

“In a market that is particularly

short on supply, where the ability

to act quickly is crucial, cash

buyers have a strong competitive

advantage over those at the

mercy of a mortgage market in a

state of flux. Even so, the

competition between cash buyers

means this doesn’t guarantee

getting to the front of the queue in

many cases,” says Lucian Cook,

the head of residential research

for Savills.

Maher and her husband, Tom,

38, a teacher, sold their home six

months ago and are living in rental

accommodation. So far in their

search for “a three-bedroom

character property with parking

and a garden” for about

£400,000 near Stourbridge, in

the West Midlands, they

have viewed fewer than ten

properties. “I look on

Rightmove after work

and call the next

morning to find the

open day is

already fully

booked. I tell

them we’re chain

free and it

doesn’t make

any difference,”

she says.

One

anonymous

buyer, 56, is also

finding that being

chain free and cash rich is not the

calling card it once was. He is

looking to buy a three-bedroom

detached home on the Kent coast

for about £400,000. “I sold my

place a few months ago. I’m a cash

buyer but that doesn’t seem to

hold much clout with the agents.

I don’t have anywhere to live —

I’m staying with friends and in

Airbnbs — and I’m left wondering,

will prices go up, down or what?

There are too many cash buyers

out there apparently — they’ve

just flooded the market and it’s

problematic,” he says.

He has viewed 25 properties in

three months and put offers on

about five, although he has yet to

secure a new home. “Buying a

house should be a happy, exciting

experience but it’s not — it is

awkward. The estate agents tell

you someone else is interested or

has made an offer and some refuse

to put offers through if they are

below the asking price.”

Jennie Hancock, the director

of the buying agency Property

Acquisitions, says: “About 90

per cent of my clients are

pure cash, with many in

rental accommodation

waiting to buy.” In a

recent bidding war for

a house, she says all

five bidders were

cash buyers, which

meant it came down

to the best offer on

the table.

Laura Conduit,

a residential

property lawyer

and partner at

Farrer & Co, has had

several recent cases

of clients with cash

who can move

quickly but are

up against others

Why flashing the cash

doesn’t cut it any more

Being a cash buyer doesn’t have the clout it used to — ask

these people still trying to find a home. By Carol Lewis

Siobhan Maher is

struggling to

find a property

We expect the

current level of price

growth in Yorkshire to

ease through the rest

of the year

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COVER STORY

On the cover: a three-bedroom penthouse in Cashmere House in

Aldgate, east London, is on sale for £4.5 million with Knight Frank