A market built on investment – and struggling to sell
The scale of the problem is visible at street level. Endacott described a recently opened residential development in North Greenwich, pitched to buyers as both a residential and buy-to-let opportunity, where he had visited to collect management keys. The block had been open for nearly three months, had been selling off-plan for roughly a year, and was operating at 30% occupancy.
“That’s awful, and it’s not the only example,” he said. Down the road, he added, a development by Greenwich Millennium Village Limited had been sold off to the council for social housing after failing to find enough investment buyers.
Another building nearby, visible on property listing platform Rightmove, has been on the market for over a year with plots still unsold. Endacott said the pattern undercut a widely held assumption among some vendors – that brand-new properties command a premium.
“No one wants the brand-new sparkly stuff anymore, they want the best deal,” he said. “When you’ve got stuff on for £600,000, they could potentially go and grab something for £200,000 cheaper that’s only a few years older. They’re going to do that.”
Endacott works across a diverse landlord base – some with large portfolios, others with one or two properties – and both groups are feeling the pressure.