‘Never has writing such a large cheque given me so much pleasure,’ a client testimonial reads, praising the skills with which Andrew Macpherson and his team at CKD completed a transaction.
Property Advisers 2019
Mark McAndrew
‘This has got nothing to do with Brexit – this is about stamp duty,’ says Mark McAndrew, cutting through the hype and the headlines. Strutt & Parker’s Mayfair-based senior director for national estates tells Spear’s the property market is feeling the ‘hard hit’ of George Osborne’s 2014 tax reforms.
Stuart Cole
Spear’s speaks to Stuart Cole fresh from what seemed a rather alarming holiday doing the Cresta Run. ‘I’ve got bruises all over my body and I can’t raise my right arm – but I feel invigorated,’ he says. Less invigorating is the property market. ‘Our viewings are up 60 per cent on the previous year and yet our trades are down. We have buyers interested, circling, watching… There’s the possibility of doing 12 months’ business in six months,’ he says. But Cole – who is also Knight Frank’s ambassador to China – reserves his main fire for stamp duty. ‘I sold a large house to a Russian and the stamp duty bothered him. He said, “I can afford it but I just don’t want to!”
Philip Eddell
Philip Eddell is a linchpin in the rural market. Formerly of Knight Frank in Hungerford, he has forged an impressive career from his ability to assist HNWs with running their mansions. The pivotal moment in Eddell’s career was acting for Madonna and Guy Ritchie during their (mainly successful) attempt to have the right to roam restricted on their estate. ‘That was a good watershed moment to identify ourselves more specifically with the mansion house,’ he recalls. The rural market has been resilient. ‘We’ve seen good progress in the country with significant new instructions in Surrey, Sussex and Shropshire,’ says the likeable Eddell. ‘The outlook for 2019 is good.’