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Dramatic views over Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

February 18, 2016 Property News 0

Court Vale House is a modernised home set well back from the road on high ground standing in about four acres of open landscape with dramatic views across Cranborne Chase, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Cool, neutral tones give added light to the bright interior with south facing French doors at the rear framing the wonderful view. The impact of the setting is instantaneous upon entering the house with a view through the reception hall to the sweeping gardens beyond. The sitting room and the extensive kitchen lie on either side of the hall; the sitting room with a wood burning stove and the kitchen opening into a superb dining/family area with a step down into a useful study. There is also a utility room and cloakroom.

Three attractive bedrooms and two bathrooms are arranged over the first floor.

A detached annexe provides additional accommodation and has its own private terrace and pathway. From the driveway there is a wide entrance veranda from where doors open to the ‘L’ shaped open plan living room with a kitchen fitted in one corner. This room together with the double bedroom and en suite shower room provide an ideal guest suite or even home office or studio.

Court Vale House is secluded from the road by a spinney and electrically operated gates open to a long gravel drive that circles the front lawn to arrive at the house and detached barn style double garage.

With almost four acres, it is likely that purchasers will be tempted to find residents for the triple stable block and make use of the post and rail enclosed paddocks. The gardens have recently been landscaped with wide sweeping lawns edged by herbaceous and shrub borders. Paved terraces are ideal for enjoying the best of the view and for entertaining. The land adjoining the garden and paddocks is bounded by mature parkland and countryside with acres to explore on this high ground above Damerham which is about three miles from Fordingbridge.

Jackson-Stops & Staff quotes a price guide of £835,000 and will be happy to provide further details on request. Call the office on 01962 844299…

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Close to Paradise

February 18, 2016 Property News 0

A wonderful conversion of a former grain store, built of brick and flint elevations under a slate roof, Granary House is an exquisite home in Hoe Road, close to the market town of Bishop’s Waltham. A full range of day to day amenities can be found in this lovely town, all within walking distance or an easy cycle ride.

Well presented throughout, the accommodation is incredibly light and spacious with large rooms and a fabulous airy feeling radiating from the double height entrance hall where tall windows flood this space with natural light. This theme is repeated in the fine sitting room where two sets of French doors open to the south west facing terrace and lawned garden. This room also has a wood burning stove and a door through to a useful study. The entrance hall opens to the dining room which has a flagstone floor.

The kitchen is a lovely room, fitted with hand crafted cabinets and granite work surfaces, a gas range hob, central island, and space for a breakfast table in front of the French doors which open to a second terrace area. A large utility room is a practical area and there is also a cloakroom.

On the first floor are three double bedrooms, all with high vaulted ceilings with exposed timbers, creating great character. The master suite is a generous space which features a dressing room and its own bathroom.

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Bedrooms two and three are both good sized double rooms, one with built in cupboards and there is also a family bathroom on this floor.

The sunny garden is an appealing feature of this property and provides a beautiful outdoor space, perfect for entertaining. The paved terraces accessed from the sitting room and kitchen overlook the formal gardens where the lawn is surrounded by well-stocked shrub and herbaceous borders and the entire garden is serviced by an automatic irrigation system. The garden is bordered by an established hedge which provides privacy and forms a lovely backdrop to show off the rose and lavender beds. There is also a raised kitchen garden and a summer house.

A gravel parking area sits alongside the house accessed via a five bar gate and there is also a double car port and a lockable store.

A short distance from the town centre of Bishop’s Waltham and easy driving distances from Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester, Granary House can be found on Hoe Road just after the turning to Paradise Lane.

Knight Frank in Winchester can arrange a personal inspection of this beautiful home and a guide price of £750,000 is quoted. Call the office on 01962 850333.…

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Incredibly Spacious Home Suits Extended Family

February 18, 2016 Property News 0

This incredibly spacious detached 1930s house is set in half an acre of gardens in a peaceful and private location. This wonderful home has all the comforts for modern family life and has versatile accommodation most suited to an extended family with a flexible completely self-contained annexe.

Immediately apparent on entering the house is the generous size of the rooms and several have lovely views over the gardens and surrounding countryside. Within the main house is a magnificent drawing room with exposed beams, a large fireplace and a triple aspect view with French doors on one side. The farmhouse style kitchen lies at the heart and has a walk in larder and plenty of space for casual suppers, although there is also a formal dining room nearby just oozing character. From the kitchen there is a rear lobby with a utility room and cloakroom and access to the garden. On the other side of the hall is a study with French doors.

Stairs from the hall rise to the naturally lit first floor landing which branches off to five good size bedrooms and a family bathroom. The emphasis is on the master suite which is a particularly fine room with a large bathroom with corner bath and double shower. The second floor contains a loft room, a bathroom and plenty of eaves storage.

There is access into the annexe from the main house although it does also have its own entrance. The accommodation again is very spacious with a large sitting room leading through to a kitchen which has access through to a dining room. There are also two double bedrooms, two bathrooms and a conservatory, all on the ground floor. There is a first floor element above the annexe with its own staircase and this provides excellent storage and perhaps a study area.

The house is well positioned in Littleton which is a popular village due to its proximity to Winchester and the train station, together with good local amenities including many sports clubs, tennis courts, and an excellent restaurant.

Further details are available by calling Winkworth in Winchester on 01962 866777. A price of £1,550,000 is quoted.…

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Victorian Coach House Conversion

February 18, 2016 Property News 0

This beautiful period building is perfectly positioned and has a protected south westerly aspect. The gardens are an intrinsic part of the property with several pairs of French doors opening to the sunny terrace where original stable dividers and mangers have been used to great effect to partially enclose the space and provide planters.

Wonderful character abounds with lovely rooms flowing around the ground floor including a vaulted drawing room which has ample space for formal dining when the farmhouse style kitchen just won’t do. This room has French doors to the terrace and a fine fireplace at one end with an open fire. The kitchen is well fitted with a range of units currently with an Aga and there is room for a dining table in the centre with additional space to relax. French doors from the kitchen and from the adjacent study lead out to the sunny garden and there is also a utility room, cloakroom and good storage in the hall.

The first floor has four good size bedrooms and three bathrooms.

The Coach House has been created from former stabling to a local hotel and public house and nestles comfortably in this lovely setting. Planning permission is in place to extend the property into the adjoining store which has the potential to increase the accommodation with a reception room on the ground floor and a bedroom suite above which would be ideal as part of the main house or perhaps an annexe or guest suite.

A gravelled parking area lies close to the house with further parking space at the top of the garden adjacent to the detached car barn.

The gardens are a delight with terraces, wide steps and lawns, interspersed with mature shrubs and trees.

This little hamlet of Brockbridge lies within the heart of the Meon Valley, close to Droxford where there are local amenities and lovely walks along the banks of the river.

Harringtons quotes a price of £899,000 and welcomes enquiries to the Wickham office on 01329 834835…

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Buy-to-let lending booms as landlords beat stamp duty hike

February 17, 2016 Property News 0

Wednesday, February 17, 2016. Ivan Radford @themovechannel

Buy-to-let lending has surged at the start of 2016, as landlords race to beat the stamp duty hike set to come into effect in April.

Today’s other Mortgage Desk news:
First-time buyer lending hits highest since 2007

Buy-to-let lending has surged at the start of 2016, as landlords race to beat the stamp duty hike set to come into effect in April.

The latest figures from e.surv highlight the buy-to-let boom, which has taken home lending to its highest peak in nine years.

January saw 85,432 house purchase approvals – up 20.6 per cent month-on-month from 70,837 in December 2015. The substantial monthly rise was fuelled primarily by investors looking to beat the upcoming legislative changes, which will see a surcharge of 3 per cent added to the stamp duty for any second home purchase, including those for buy-to-let purposes.

It meant January saw the highest number of monthly house purchase approvals since 87,594 in October 2007, nearly nine years ago.

The figures follow a drop in buy-to-let lending at the end of 2015. According to the CML, gross buy-to-let lending saw month-on-month decreases in December, down 3 per cent by volume and by value, although growth year-on-year continued. (First-time buyers, meanwhile, borrowed £4.5bn for home-owner house purchase, up 7 per cent on November and 18 per cent on December last year.)

Steve Bolton, Founder of Platinum Property Partners, predicts that lending will continue to pick up across the first quarter of 2016, as borrowers move quickly to snap up an investment property before the stamp duty surcharge comes into play.

In the longer-term, though, he cautions that a downward pattern may become more common, as tax changes threaten to push some landlords out of the sector.

“With relief on BTL mortgage interest gradually being phased out, some landlords will find their growing tax bill eats away at profits until their investment becomes financially unviable,” he comments. “It’s not just us predicting an outflow of landlords: half of RICS surveyors agree. An inevitable consequence of this is rising rents for tenants as supply of private rental homes shrinks. This is hardly an effective solution to first-time buyer affordability.”

“Of course, not all landlords will suffer,” he adds. “Despite proclaiming the changes will introduce a fairer playing field for buyers and investors alike, wealthy corporate landlords are excluded from the changes, giving them an unfair and competitive advantage. It is because of the unjust and unlawful nature of these changes that I am co-leading a judicial review against the Government’s senseless tax grab.”

For more information on the judicial review, click here or visit www.facebook.com/clause24

First-time buyer lending hits highest since 2007

Lending to first-time buyers in the UK hit its highest levels since 2007, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The latest CML figures show that first-time buyers borrowed £46.7bn for home-owner house purchase in 2015, which was up 4 per cent on 2014. This totalled 311,700 loans, unchanged from the previous year.

Home movers took out 365,800 loans, down 0.2 per cent on 2014, but the amount borrowed totalled £72.1bn was up 7% on 2014. Lending was also at its annual highest since 2007.

Home-owner remortgage activity was up 11 per cent by volume and 20 per cent by value compared to 2014. The value of remortgage lending was at its highest since 2008.

Gross buy-to-let also saw year-on-year increases, up 28 per cent by volume and 39 per cent by value.

Paul Smee, director general of the CML, comments: “Improving economic conditions, boosted by government schemes like Help to Buy,

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Moving gathers momentum in Scotland, but stalls south of the burder

February 17, 2016 Property News 0

Wednesday, February 17, 2016. Ivan Radford @themovechannel

The number of people moving home gathered momentum in Scotland last year, but stalled south of the border.

Today’s other Moving and Relocation news:
American expats flock to France – but prefer Paris

The number of people moving home gathered momentum in Scotland last year, but stalled south of the border.

The latest Bank of Scotland’s figures show that the introduction of the Scottish Government’s new land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT), which has provided a savings boost for many homemovers, combined with rising house prices, helped increase the number of house moves by 3 per cent in 2015, from 31,8001 in 2014 to an estimated 32,850.

Over the past five years, the average price paid by homemovers has grown by 18 per cent from £170,418 in 2010 to £201,4292 in 2015 – an increase of £31,010, equivalent to a monthly increase of £517. This rise in equity, combined with the new LBTT (replacing the UK Stamp Duty Land Txa) helped to make homeowners more financially mobile.

Under the previous arrangements, the average stamp duty paid by a Scottish homemover was £2,014 (based on an average house price of £201,429). Under the new system, this has fallen to £1,129.

In England, similar conditions put the market in favour of homeowners, with the Stamp Duty change saving an average of £4,530 on purchases, while rising house prices again boosted equity levels.

The number of movers, though, dropped from the previous year.

Figures from Lloyds Bank show that 365,0001 moved house in 2015, slightly behind the 366,400 who moved in 2014. Whilst the 2015 levels are 16 per cent higher than the 2009 market low of 315,800, they are just half of the 2006 peak level of 712,000.

Over the past five years, the average price paid by homemovers has grown by 30 per cent from £210,252 in 2010, to £273,4912 in 2015 – an increase of £63,239, equivalent to a monthly increase of £1,054. This was a marginally faster rise than the increase in average house prices across the whole market (29 per cent).

Andrew Mason, Lloyds Bank mortgages director, says: “The 2015 stamp duty changes, low mortgage rates and rising real pay growth, provided more favourable conditions for homemovers in 2015, although that hasn’t translated to any increase in numbers. We might have expected the change to the stamp duty structure to have resulted in a greater numbers. The ongoing increase in house prices throughout the year will have been especially welcomed by those who bought at the peak of house prices, who have been looking to rebuild their equity in order to make their next move.”

American expats flock to France – but prefer Paris

American expats continue to flock to France, according to the latest official statistics, but prefer life in Paris than in country’s rural regions.

Data from INSEE show that around 34,000 US expats now life in France, but that 16,500 live in Paris and the surrounding Ile de France region, rather than live elsewhere. Expat Forum cites the presence of international schools in the capital as a key factor in the population trend, while companies doing business in France tend to have headquarters in Paris, making the central city a more convenient place to both work and raise a family.

Author – Dan Johnson