Ignorantbliss

I see they've decided to put Kingswells house up for sale via auction, guide price £475k - link. Also noticed more emails appearing from ASPC etc in the last week, things slowly opening up again. Some interesting reductions in price as well, especially in houses in the Alford area. Here's one example.

Never a truer word said. Had a flat in a Ferryhill tenement in the early 2000's (the block had 8 flats in total). Half were owner-occupied, the rest rented. We paid for a property manager, which in theory should make the organization and completion of communal repairs easier. In reality, they had a hellish job getting mutual agreement for communal repairs from a couple of the landlords of the rented properties. In one case (perished lead on roof leading to major leak) we eventually had to get the council to intervene as it was cheaper than going to court. Just cannot understand the mindset of people like that, you bought the asset, look after it. In terms of hassle, much better to own your house if that is possible. Ferryhill is an excellent location if you're single - within easy staggering distance of the main nightclubs. Interestingly the council seems to have more power nowadays to pro-actively intervene and force repairs, wonder how often they actually use them (link). The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 website is also useful in deciding which areas are worth investigating further - link.

I see Aberdeenshire council have started the consultation process for the new Local Development Plan Link 1 - Newsletter Link 2 - LDP Website As expected they are bullish regarding future housing requirements though leaving it up to builders to provide it. LDP Introduction PDF

DoubleTree Hotel staff in Aberdeen to be made redundant Another hotel closure, wonder how long before they redevelop the site for more flats. Looks like employment lawyers are going to be busy in Aberdeen for the foreseeable through the redundancy consultations. Companies certainly seem to be screwing down hard on the cost of these. Heard of one case where the individual with 23 years service is getting the statutory minimum (in 2015 the same company in the redundancies then offered the equivalent of about 2 years salary for the same length of service). Another case is the redundancy payment is being based on the employees salary after salary sacrifice - this is leading to a payout £1000's lower than if it was based on the real salary. Still better than statutory redundancy though.

What is going to be fascinating to see after Covid is (ever?) controlled is how much home-working will be retained - and thus dictating how much office space is actually needed. Companies have put in a lot of resources getting things to work remotely, will they now decide that its actually cheaper and more productive to get people to work from home? Or has the productivity slumped without the big bad boss looking over the shoulder? I suspect this whole episode is going to drive O&G even quicker down the road of automation and remote monitoring (and thus lower headcount).

And another office block getting demolished in Wellington Circle - Evening Express Plans to demolish an Aberdeen office building have been approved. A building warrant was approved by Aberdeen City Council to knock down the KMD Business & Conference Centre on Wellington Circle on Thursday. The proposals were submitted by Lawrie Demolition on behalf of Leiths Scotland Ltd. At this rate, Altens is going to be one big demolition site! Some might call that an improvement.

Well, if Aberdeen house prices don't respond to this type of news, there is the making of a great PhD research project to find out why... EnQuest to cut 530 positions OGUK warns of up to 30000 job losses

More grim reading about the local economy. What does the COVID-19 crisis mean for the economies of British cities and large towns?

Well, at least one of the local builders considers it business as usual for the foreseeable future.... Bancon Homes lodge plans for 200 new homes at Maidencraig South in the west of Aberdeen Bancon lodges plan for 103 homes at Lochside of Leys in Banchory And more flats to come in Aberdeen.... Plans submitted to build 86 flats on former University of Aberdeen building Going forward, surely the only way prices are going to go round here is down thanks to the copious supply of new houses combined with a reduction in employment opportunities with the oil downturn. Mind you, still a bit of a drop needed to get down to the average Scottish house price. I imagine though that country residences in the shire with good internet connection and a decent sized garden will command a premium in the local market as people learn to appreciate that extra space is a benefit in times of a lock down.

Petrofac joins the downsizing trend - Petrofac laying off 20% and reducing salaries

Ah, lovely company to work for... 'Shocking leaked video shows service company ceo discuss 200 job losses in Aberdeen'

To be clear as the optics of that sentence was not good! Unfortunate in the sense that the work is not likely to come back thanks to the oil price crash...

I see the optics of that decision caused a swift turnaround thanks to the "free" money from the government. I suspect there are going to be a lot of these furloughs to come though unfortunately it is just delaying the inevitable considering the broader issues with the oil price. https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/231778/bilfinger-salamis-praised-for-halting-job-lossesbis/

General consensus seems to be that the oil price will crash further later this year - Oil Price may fall to $10; Oil Price Rebound won't last This is going to make 2015 look like a minor bump in the road. Meanwhile, good houses are still selling quickly - one we had an eye on out at Durris sold end last week after only being on the market for just over two weeks.

This virus is going to change many things; not the time to be buying property in this area when you see stories like this - 200+ Oilfield Services Firms Could Go Bust

I do wonder if a lot of the new developments are being allowed due to the planning gain money the councils get in exchange. This may explain why a lot of the new developments are so incredibly dense - win win for the council and builders as more money for both. Loser is Joe Public as they get offered doll houses with minimal garden and parking space. As for the oil price, today has been painful and the mood in the office was dire as its inevitable that layoffs will be on the horizon shortly.

Amusing comment I saw today on this website regarding the Coronavirus and the North Sea "It’s having some interesting effects on the oil platforms where I work. When you check in for your helicopter flights, you must declare that you have not been to certain countries. Several of which are popular far-east holiday destinations favoured by young men with money in their pocket and up to 8 months off a year. If you have been to these destinations the company will pay you to sit at home for 2 weeks. Several of my more gung-ho co-workers are currently booking holidays to these destinations (where flights and holidays are currently cheap) in order to get 2 weeks off work on full pay. Should somebody test positive offshore then the regular helicopter company is refusing to fly them back to the beach. The coastguard will step up instead with one of their choppers. However, anybody onboard at the time of the positive test will be forced to stay offshore until 14 days after the last confirmed case has been evacuated." Of more pressing concern for the area has to be the way the oil price is crashing and the free-for all there will be for oil production come next month. The more you read up about it, the more you realise how disastrous this virus is going to be economically.

Fascinating the number of flats that are being proposed to be built near the centre of Aberdeen considering the number on the market already. As ever, seems demolishing and building afresh is the preferred option. All to the good, the more supply the merrier. --------------- Development firm Cater Group has unveiled plans for new apartments on the site of a former bakery in Aberdeen "With signs of the property market in Aberdeen picking up, we are excited for our upcoming developments throughout the city" -------------- Plans have been lodged to build 140 new homes in Aberdeen city centre ------------- Development of new apartments on Union Street in Aberdeen

A eye-catching and eye-watering drop in value over the last few years

Great plan, privatise when the asset price is depressed - meanwhile, you don't spend the money that is available.... Less than 10% of funds to revitalise Union Street in Aberdeen spent Aberdeen City Council must be one of the most incompetent in the UK, and boy is their plenty competition for that title. Makes you wonder where all the money that they are borrowing is going.

Thanks Shortbread for the excellent summary. Currently viewing houses at the moment in the shire and both my solicitor and the viewing agents I've been dealing with are of the opinion the worst is over with definitely more viewings being requested compared to the same period in the last few years. A lesson we've learnt is that you don't use ASPC alone. Some of the best houses we've viewed so far are not listed on ASPC at all, which makes you wonder just how many houses are actually out there for sale in total. Still a lot of unrealistic pricing though. Interesting to see that in Aberdeenshire at least the number of new-build houses has never actually been that high as a percentage of sales per month - link. What continues to amaze me is how bad the new-build housing stock is, visited one site out at Dunecht and the gardens are non-existent with barely room to fit a estate-car in the driveway. But astonishingly they are selling, one agent commented to me that a lot of this is driven by the generous part-exchange deals the builders are offering.

Hmm, what is going on in the shire at the moment. That is the second house this week on my ASPC wishlist that has been updated with a new, higher, asking price! It seems properties along Royal Deeside are back in favour, must be a Boris bounce effect ?..

Prices certainly seem to have stabilised in West Aberdeenshire going by the 4+ bedroom houses I have been tracking this year. Those that were sold in late spring sold for the "offers over" price going by the ROS website. Will be interesting to see if that trend continues once the summer sales appear on ROS. For sure, good properties with a decent sized garden and little maintenance needs are selling within a couple of months. New builds with limited garden space/parking are definitely taking longer to shift (if at all). Meanwhile, how about a nine bedroom property out at Rhynie for £400k - link

Quite a clear out on ASPC the last few days. Down from 7100 at the start of the week to 6263 properties now.