Chase Evans Canary Wharf Sales, London E14

The following text is an extract from a longer editorial based on the expertise of Chase Evans Pan Peninsula's sales manager Wei Huang edited by Jon Massey of Wharf Life. The editorial features in the Wharf Life issue published on 4 July ’19.

"This year we’ve seen quite a bit of shift in terms of sales activity. The first three quarters of 2018 were very, very quiet. There were not many people looking to buy, but it did start to get a bit different in the last quarter. That has continued this year as well, so we have been doing well since September. We are seeing a good number of sales, and are steadily achieving good figures in the E14 market.

Part of the growth in activity is due to overseas investors looking to snap up property in London, but the money isn’t flowing from Asia. We are seeing more investment being poured into the area, but it is not from Chinese, it’s people from Europe. We are getting a lot of clients from Italy over the last two quarters, and we’re also getting quite a few people from France, Germany, Denmark and Spain as well. The attraction of London is that it is still the number one city in the world – not only in the finance services sector, but it is leading the planet with technological innovation and education. There is so much going on at the same time in the one city. And those with the cash to spend would do so well to look to the east, especially E14.

If you compare the markets, Canary Wharf is still good value for money. If we take Charing Cross station as the centre of London and we go the same distance ty Tube to the west as Canary Wharf, say, then we get to Earl’s Court where price are 20-25% greater. If we go north then we’re talking about Hampstead, West Hampstead and Maida Vale where prices are 30% greater. That’s why I say the property in east London has been undervalued for so many years. Yes we are seeing some new-builds that are starting to catch up with central and west London prices. But it’s certainly the case there is a lot of value to be had locally.

I always say to my clients, the best time to buy is the worst time to sell. It is human nature to try and get the best possible price.  I’m not saying that you’re going to get something dirt cheap at the moment but, at the same time, this is probably the first time in 10 years that sellers are so open to negotiation. This is perhaps the best opportunity within the last decade for people to get onto the property ladder, with support from the Government on stamp duty and its Help To Buy scheme".

Chase Evans’ approach to sales

"One of the reasons Chase Evans was performing well in the current climate was its approach to sales.

Think about the large rental portfolio that we hold. Many sellers don’t understand the strength of that, but a lot of the E14 properties are designed for first time buyers. They are renting, co they are our tenants. So what we do when we take on any instruction - not only do we go to public portals like Rightmove and Zoopla, we actually market within Chase Evans to start with. When a tenant moves into a Chase Evans flat, they receive a questionnaire that asks if they want to receive property sales information in the future and about 65% say they do. So we have a large captive audience.

Very often I say to the sellers that if their apartment is a one bedroom flat it’s ideal for people who work in Canary Wharf and who have started their careers here as they are natural first-time buyers. Also, those people working in the finance sector are too busy. They start at 7am and don’t finish until 8pm. They don’t really have time to do their research, so we bring the property to them. 

With many other companies, their sales and lettings departments are quite separate, but we believe that by working together we can achieve better results. It takes a lot of human resource to do it properly – we contact each tenant individually to make the approach more personalised.

If you are a medium-term investor – say seventh to10 years, then I would say Canary Wharf is still a good place to go. That’s because it produces a good mix of income and very good capital appreciation in that time frame- that’s how long a price cycle lasts. It’s likely to go up about 30-40% within that period. I think the Wharf is a fantastic place to be.

When asked why I thought people would want to come to Canary Wharf, my answer was that this is where the jobs are. When I talk to overseas investors I advise them to and look for the commercial sector and see what proportion has been rented our locally. Then they will know how this area is doing, because, wherever there is a job, people will go there and they will want a place to live there.

In some senses, dealing with property is not that difficult – it’s just looking at the fundamentals".

London E14 is covered with three Chase Evans sales offices:

Chase Evans Pan Peninsula, E14     +44 (0)20 7536 790        panpsales@chaseevans.co.uk     

Chase Evans Canary Wharf, E14     +44 (0)20 7510 1001      canarywharfsales@chaseevans.co.uk               

Chase Evans Docklands, E14          +44 (0)20 7510 8445      sales@chaseevans.co.uk

Read the full editorial HERE