Amanda Butler
With less than one week to go until Election Day in the UK, there is still time for public opinion to shift from what appeared to be a substantial Conservative majority to a lesser one.
Labour has apparently been steadily narrowing the gap due to their relatively popular manifesto, but continue to suffer from on-going accusations of anti-Semitism plaguing the party – and the fact that when it comes to drawing a cross in a box, the electorate just can’t fundamentally imagine Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister. What a shame no bright spark of light has come to the fore to give everyone good strong alternatives, paucity of choice – or even Sophie’s Choice – being a common theme to electorates in many other parts of the world one can think of.
On the upside for the British market, the pound has strengthened – perhaps upon the expectation of a Brexit deal through a Conservative victory with a safe majority to make it happen at the end of January – but will be unlikely to make enough of an impact to incentivise an increase from British buyers quite yet.
Exclusive Seller’s Agent
I reported last month about the drop in real estate sales for the year. Despite an upsurge in the October/November period reported by many colleagues in the industry, I haven’t seen official reports as yet but can’t imagine they will have made a particularly big impact.
For me personally, it has been a very interesting few months at the higher end of the market. I was fortunate enough to be given a rather special property in Old Bendinat as an exclusive sales listing at the end of the summer.
Many home owners would not make a choice of this sort – giving a property exclusively to a single agent in the Mallorca real estate market – when there are so many agents specializing in many differing markets. Nevertheless, if you don’t live here and want someone to be fully responsible for managing your property, and dealing with multiple agents and viewings, it does make sense.
So I initially set about first valuing the property. At 620m2, it is a substantial 7-bedroom home in one of the most prestigious residential districts in Mallorca. Immaculate in condition and beautifully presented, it is a very elegant property in classical style with sensational elevated sea views.
Having performed a market appraisal, I would have valued it last year somewhere in the region of €9m, with numerous other agents in agreement. However, there are a number of properties on the market at present in this price bracket, and more modern in design, which is the general market preference, which haven’t sold for some time. My owner is wishing to sell sooner rather than later, so we agreed to set it at a keen price of €7.7m, equating to €12.419 per square meter.
Having reported last month on the tendency of owners and estate agents in Mallorca setting values at fantasy elevated levels, we felt this would receive a warm reception particularly since, even in this market, there would be an opportunity to amplify the value of the investment. With a current market preference for more modern designs and for an investment of circa €1m for example, it could almost certainly be re-listed on the market in the region of €12m, equating to a currently realistic €19.354 per square meter, representing a substantial profit when sold.
I am pleased to report it has been well received, although there are inevitably the dealers and the opportunists who come in making ridiculous (and rejected) offers – we’ve had a few of those! But so far interest has been very healthy. Although no sensible offers as yet, we have numerous viewings scheduled prior to Christmas. With such a well valued property in such a desirable location, we are anticipating this will sell quite quickly but as always, this remains to be seen. For more information on this property, please see the MJC Associates advertisement of the month, property Ref 19021.
