Quote [Property boom]

THE FOLLOWING IS PART OF THE INTRODUCTION TO A CIRCULAR ADVERTISING THE LONDON PROPERTY LETTER, SENT TO PROPERTY COMPANIES AND LANDLORDS IN OCTOBER THIS YEAR. THE LPL IS PUBLISHED BY STONEHART [!] PUBLICATIONS LTD., 2 JARROW ROAD, ROMFORD, ESSEX, AT AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION OF £9. THE EDITOR IS ROBERT TROOP, PROPERTY CORRESPONDENT OF THE “SUNDAY TIMES”.

For the first time since the early sixties it’s possible to make real money out of property. Both for the expert developer and for the small man who wants to get in now and produce a useful private income for himself.

Since the Tories returned to power:

1. House prices have boomed as never before, giving dealers a rising market to profit from. What’s more, loans for once are readily forthcoming.

2. Office development restrictions have been shot away. Birmingham has become a capital place to operate in. (Rents have gone up from £1 to £1.25 per s.f. in a year). And Leeds and Bristol are following fast.

3. Landlords have started to cash in on the new bedsitter boom.

4. Converting properties of every type to flats for sale has become a big business. The Government is exceedingly generous with improvement grants, which makes this operation very profitable.

5. Many other factors are benefiting property, not least inflation, which is making bricks-and-mortar a safer hedge than ever for the investor. And the biggest bonanza of all may well be our entry into Europe. Already British developers are active in Brussels and Paris, and there will be equal scope in catering for Continental firms needing office and industrial accommodation in the U.K.

Someone is going to make a killing out of all this, and it might as well be you. Thousands of investors did so in the last property boom — most of them were armed with the shrewd inside information provided by the London Property Letter.