Welcome to your May edition of the Fish Need Water newsletter!

Here’s what we’ve got coming up:

  • Outdoor space: it’s worth more than you think!
  • All the latest need-to-know news.
  • Top tool: Receipt Bank.

That teeny terrace of yours? Pigeons aren’t the only ones who’ll like it!

Do you think of your minuscule balcony as nothing more than a dirt trap – or perhaps somewhere to hang the laundry when the weather’s playing ball?

Well, that little slice of outdoor space adds about 12%* to the price of a property in London (going up to as much as 25% in Chelsea) – which means you now have a reason to appreciate its existence!

“Outdoor space” can be a back garden, roof terrace, balcony, or anything else that isn’t under a roof. If you have access to a communal garden, that counts too – although it adds slightly less to the average price of a property: 11% rather than 12%.

We’ve also found that when properties have outdoor space, they sell much faster too.

All this means that if you want to sell quickly, and for the best possible price, you need to highlight this key attribute when listing your property.

On the listing, make sure there are a couple of really great photos of the outdoor space, and try to sell the benefits as best you can: “Enjoy weekend breakfasts listening to the birds”; “Read your book in the shaded nook by the trees”.

Property news

It’s been a busy ol’ month…

The 10 London boroughs where property demand is highest. Can you guess which ones make the list?

In London’s richest neighborhood, UK aristocrats are being replaced by overseas royalty as landlords. They include the Sultan of Brunei, Emir of Qatar, and Emir of Kuwait.

A Georgian townhouse in London’s Westminster – Porsche included. And let’s not forget the lift and pool…

Crossrail winners: 20 London first-time buyer hotspots with average house prices as low as £200k. It’ll no longer take forever to get to Central London from these areas.

Our useful tool of the month

Do you ever wonder how many more expenses you’d claim if only you could take better care of your receipts? You’re not alone.

Luckily, there’s a handy app called Receipt Bank, which gives you no more excuses. All you have to do is take a photo of the receipt on your phone, and the app will store it securely for you. There’s more! Receipt Bank will also extract all the key data, ready for automatic uploading to your cloud accounting software (Sage, Xero, etc.)

Get Receipt Bank here.

The end! (Until next month.)

Speak to you soon!

Anthony Sargent

*Research comes from Marsh & Parsons