The London property market
Dexters are understandably proud to have just won two industry accolades, “Best London Estate Agency” and the “UK’s Leading Letting Agency.” Andy Shepherd explains that “Our colleagues deserve these awards for their brilliant work throughout the pandemic and last year in particular. We are especially grateful to all of our loyal customers from London and around the world.”
Market update
Dexters have an impressive fan club, submitting some 40,000 Google reviews which sing both their praises and rate them at 4.9 out of 5 stars. “A large proportion of our business comes from word-of-mouth recommendation,” Andy says, “Reflecting that we are completely focused on consistently achieving our high standards and great service. When Dexters was born 29 years ago, we set out to do things differently and to challenge the common perception of Estate Agents. We are still on that mission!”
There are now over 70 Dexters offices in the capital including 12 in prime central London. Every office has a locally based team with the in-depth knowledge and contacts needed to advise customers and deliver great results. What brings them all together is the Dexters Academy in Pimlico. Andy explains that “Winning awards is great recognition for the many years of investment we have made into our brilliant colleagues. It all comes from our famous Academy.
Dexters is one of London’s only major residential estate agencies that is a firm of Chartered Surveyors, regulated by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Having set out to create new standards in the industry, last year, Dexters became the UK’s first estate agency employer provider to be regulated by OFSTED and accredited by the Government’s Educational and Skills Funding Agency. Dexters training academy successfully delivers a series of nationally recognised apprenticeship programmes in estate agency, customer service and business administration.
“We assist our Managers and Directors in gaining recognised professional accreditations,” explains Andy. “We want our people to spend their career with us and we go the extra mile to help them do this through continuous learning. This gives clients and customers the reassurance of working with property professionals who adhere to the highest standards of regulation and ethical behaviour.”
Dexters are expecting the busy sales and lettings market to continue into the New Year. “Two things in particular that came out of the pandemic were a greater focus on home-life balance and more people wanting to be in London than to leave for the country,” says Andy. “The appetite for property remains strong, and we are handling the highest volumes of enquiries we have ever seen with over 140,000 people currently looking for a new London home. We have been carrying out some 45,000 viewing appointments every month, equivalent to showing a property every 15 seconds during our working week.
We’re also particularly pleased to see a sharp rise in international buyers and tenants and our 12 prime central London offices have been breaking all records. Our Corporate Lettings and International Relocation team receive over 200 enquiries a week. Many of these are from major global companies and institutions who now deal with Dexters exclusively when relocating employees to London.”
In Mayfair, Dexters work closely with the area’s leading agent, Wetherell. This exclusive partnership enables them to provide Sellers and Landlords in prime central London with additional marketing power, either through a full, international promotional campaign or discreetly ‘off-market’.
Andy says, “We are very proud of our recent successes which have included the sale of The Royal Naval Club in Mayfair, an iconic building listed at £35 million. It is great to see that London has reclaimed its reputation as the best city in the world to invest in.”
“Our lettings teams are extremely busy” Andy continues, “Working in partnership with the 30,000 Landlords who trust us to look after their property investments. We have seen a 36 per cent increase in homes let by us year on year. We have also seen rents increasing, and we think 2022 will be no different.”
“We know that Landlords are staying invested in the capital, reassured by both increased rents and the prospect of long term capital gain. Most Landlords are taking advantage of Dexters’ dedicated Property Management service, particularly as corporate tenants prefer to live in ‘fully managed’ properties. We have over 200 property managers who work across our London offices caring for both individual houses and flats, as well as whole blocks, estates and portfolios. Our property managers are all located within 15 minutes of the properties they look after, which ensures a rapid response to any issue that may arise,” says Andy.
“At the end of the day, all of our successes and activity comes from our people. We invest in long term relationships, which means colleagues stay with us throughout their careers. In fact, 90 per cent of our managers have grown up in the company starting as trainees.”
Dexters is looking ahead with great optimism and has every confidence in the future of the London property market.
If you are considering selling or letting your property or would like an update on your local market, we would be delighted to assist. Please click the link to make contact with your local Dexters office.