Author Archives: Trevor Abrahmsohn

Revisited: What impact will the Referendum have on the Residential Property Market?

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If we remain ‘In Europe,’ needless to say, nothing will really change and I predict that the market for property up to £1million will carry on its relentless path with growth of circa 2-4%.  This sector was excited by the government’s Stamp Duty ‘bribes’ before the Election in the Autumn Statement of 2014.  After the watershed of the Stamp Duty increases on Buy-to-Let investments in April 2016, activity in property, in this price bracket, has been subdued with far fewer transactions and a general shortage of stock.

Activity in the middle market and the super-prime sectors will continue to be dampened by the aggregated affect of Stamp Duty ‘hikes’, fiscal changes to Non Doms, ATEDs, oil price drop, the gyrations of world stock markets and the general slow down of the world economies. In this sector, illiquidity is a major problem where the numbers of transactions are down by up to 50% or more in London.  Underlying prices will continue to ease by about 10% per annum as the number of properties available overwhelm the dwindling pool of ‘real’ cash buyers around at any one time. I estimate that from the peak in May 2014 values have dropped by 30% in this sector. Continue reading →

Help! Look Out! Mr. ‘Barmy Carney’ Is Giving Us Another One Of His Meaningless Predictions

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From the man who has now made five previous bad predictions on the UK Interest Rates, Inflation and the output for the Economy, the Governor of the Bank of England, seems to be ‘at it’ again and all this from a man who doesn’t seem to have a job, since UK Interest Rates have been put ‘on hold’ for the last seven years.  As can be seen from the list below, he has been so unreliable to-date, that his comments are now of only comedic value and for a salary paid by the taxpayer of £ 874,000, is this not poor value for money?

His ‘gaffe’ list is as follows: Continue reading →

Everything You Need To Know About ‘Brexit’ but was afraid to ask

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Q: Why does it appear as though the Prime Minister and Chancellor are ‘fighting for their lives’ and seem to be going to ludicrous measures to ‘drum home’ the Remain case, even as far as bringing up the spectre of a ‘European War’ if Brexit wins?

A: Their jobs and reputations rest squarely on winning the Referendum. They would both suffer a premature and ignominious end to their illustrious careers if the result goes against them, since they have been planning this campaign for more than a year or so and it is now more to do with this, than whether the UK will be better off inside the EU.

Q:  The Prime Minister and Chancellor are now extolling the imaginary horrors of Brexit, but not four months ago – whilst they were negotiating the terms with Brussels, they seemed ambivalent about the matter.  What has changed in the interim? Continue reading →