Knight Frank’s Nick Thomlinson says the housing market is nearing the end of its recession
Roger Baird, CityAM.com – 6th July 2009
The airy offices of Knight Frank chairman Nick Thomlinson are as good a place as any to survey the wreckage of the property market over the last two years. So it can only be good news that the head of the UK’s largest privately-owned property business shows no sign of panic as he holds court on the sixth floor of the Baker Street building his firm moved into last June.
The upmarket property agency spent around £6m to refurbish part of Marks & Spencer’s old headquarters, and the sprightly 56-year-old chartered surveyor seems pleased with the results. A silver-haired Thomlinson says: “We wanted to get a cross between a management consultancy and an advertising agency.”
CITY OFFICE PRICES DOWN 30 PER CENT
He seems to have got his wish. The modern, stylish offices – which hold 750 – have a relaxed feel and are full of beautiful people sauntering down its wide corridors.
However, there is nothing beautiful about the global property market that in the UK has seen residential prices plummet around 20 per cent since their peak in the summer of 2007. City office rents have fallen 30 per cent.
As Thomlinson says: “Commercial buildings are being erected without tenants lined up and oversupply could push down rents even further.”
This came on the back of house prices and commercial rents that rose steadily for a decade, and helped fuel a horrendous bubble in the economy.
Thomlinson adds: “The last two years have not been what I would call a normal market. There was over-exuberance, prices were pushed up and properties became overvalued as a result.”
He continues: “Forget the last two years. It was great fun, but we won’t see those prices back again for a while. But today’s market is clearly not normal either. A normal market is where prices are steady.”
