IS THIS THE LOWEST PRICED HOUSE IN BRISTOL?

Is there a house on the market in Bristol at a lower price than 21 Sylvan Way at Sea Mills?
If so, Mark Symonds, senior branch manager at Besley Hill Estate Agents’ Fishponds office, would like to know about it.
For this three-bedroom semi-detached local authority house is to be offered at Besley Hill’s auction sale on Thursday 1 December with a guide price of only £70,000-£90,000.
“I would be surprised if there is a house on the market in the city for less than this,” said Mark. “It is only being auctioned with such a low guide price because the vendor wants a quick sale for family reasons.”
Built to a Dorlonco steel frame non-traditional design, this home has been improved by the present owner and requires a further programme of modernisation and improvement.
“The property will appeal particularly to cash buyer builders, speculators and specialist contractors,” said Mark Symonds.
Situated close to The Portway, 21 Sylvan Way offers easy access to the city centre and the motorway network, with local shops and services available locally in Shirehampton.
Besley Hill auctioneer Nigel Freston said: "21 Sylvan Way forms part of the southernmost section of the original Garden Suburb within a designated Conservation Area. It was one of the first phase of Dorlonco houses built between 1920 and 1922. Number 21 was first occupied on the 9 August 1920. The Community Forest Path, a 46-mile recreational route around Bristol, passes along the north east side of Three Acre Covert before crossing Sylvan Way."
The spacious, well-proportioned accommodation of the house comprises a hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, rear lean to/conservatory, three bedrooms and a shower room (former bathroom).
The shower room incorporates a luxury suite of white shower enclosure with a built-in Dolphin shower unit above, low-level W.C. and pedestal wash basin.
The kitchen/breakfast room is fitted with a range of wall and floor storage cupboards and has a single drainer stainless steel sink unit and vinyl floor covering.
A further benefit is a generous rear garden with numerous paved patio surfaces, an ornamental pond, two greenhouses and two timber sheds/outbuildings.
The house is one of ten lots included in Besley Hill's 1 December auction sale, which is to be held at The Pavilion Lounge of BAWA, 589 Southmead Road, Filton, Bristol, BS34 7RG.
For further details of 21 Sylvan Way, contact Mark Symonds, Besley Hill Estate Agents, 764 Fishponds Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3UA, tel 0117 9653162, email fishponds@besleyhill.co.uk, or the auctioneer’s office, tel 0117 9701551, website www.besleyhillsurveyit.co.uk

BUY-TO-LET MORTGAGES BOOMING

Buy-to-let mortgages are shooting up with the number of new loans increasing by 16% in the third quarter of 2011, official figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show.
The data also reveals that the value of mortgages in this sector went up by 19%.
“We have access to the whole buy-to-let market for mortgages and this trend is in line with the deals negotiated for investors by the Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) representatives at our 15 offices throughout Bristol and Gloucestershire,” said Adam Offer, managing director of Besley Hill Estate Agents.
“We can confirm that landlords are reacting to high levels of tenant demand by using their own cash and short-term borrowing to purchase and renovate property, and then remortgaging using buy-to-let finance.”
In the three months to September, a total of 34,500 buy-to-let loans were advanced, up from 29,700 in the preceding quarter. The value of lending totalled £3.8bn, up from £3.2bn.
On both measures, buy-to-let lending was at its highest level since the final quarter of 2008.
Of the buy-to-let loans, 18,580 were for buy-to-let purchases – accounting for almost 12% of all house purchase loans.
As at the end of September, there were 1,378,700 buy-to-let loans outstanding, worth £157bn, up from 1,296,700 loans worth £150bn 12 months earlier.

UK HOUSE PRICES UP 1.2%

House prices in the UK increased by 1.2% in October compared with the previous month, reports the Halifax, part of the Lloyds Banking Group.
The lender said that the housing market had remained “highly resilient” despite weakness and a deteriorating outlook for the UK economy.
Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist, said: “The housing market has proved highly resilient in recent months, despite the weak economic recovery and the deterioration in the outlook for both the UK and global economies.
“The prospect of exceptionally low official interest rates over the foreseeable future is likely to continue to support the market in the face of a very difficult economic climate.
“Both prices and activity levels are expected to remain close the current levels over the coming few months.”
The housing market also saw an increase in activity last month as more surveyors reported that newly agreed sales were on the rise, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Completed sales rose to an average of 15 at each branch of surveyors over the past three months - the strongest level since April. New buyer enquiries - a good indicator of demand - edged up as well.
At the same time, the Countrywide group’s quarterly research into the private rental sector shows that tenant demand shot up by 10.8% in the third quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, and by 11.9% from the second quarter of this year.
“More people are entering the buy-to-let market as a result of this increased tenant demand and the comparably high rate of return from this kind of investment,” said Adam Offer, managing director of leading west estate agents, Besley Hill.
“Prices here have stabilised due to lack of supply and increased demand from buyers.”