Average earnings are slowing and we are probably worse off than our parents according to two recent reports. Average earnings in the UK have risen by less than the rate of inflation for the fifth year running, according to the ONS. In the year ending April 2013, pre-tax pay reached £27,000 a year, an increase of 2.1% over 2012. However, inflation over the same period, as measured by the CPI index, reached 2.4%. The median weekly income for full-time employees was £517, a rise of 2.2%.

Since the 1950s successive generations have enjoyed a better standard of living than their parents, but statistics produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies show that people born in the 1960s and 1970s will buck that trend. The think tank found people in their 40s and 50s are less likely to own a home than those 10 years older and their incomes are also no higher and their private pensions are smaller.

Interestingly in June, the same body showed that the incomes of those in their 60s and 70s have continued to rise since the recession. In contrast, median (middle) income among people in their

20s fell by 12% between 2007-8 and 2011-12, after adjusting for inflation- the largest fall of any age group.

Editorial The festive and Christmas spirit is alive and well in Marlborough. Many of you looking in the various High Street shop windows might have noticed a knitted set of nativity characters in the different premises. An initiative of St Mary’s Church, the holy family ‘travelled’ along the northern side of the street and the three kings ‘followed the star’ along the southern side of the street each day resting at a different shop and on Christmas Eve these figures will be welcomed at the Crib Service at 3pm at St Mary’s Church, so do join them if you can. Smiths Gore only had a small part to play in this scheme, but it was noticeable how even such limited contact brought the shops and other professional colleagues together in the spirit of Christmas. It would be great to see more such initiatives in the future.

Marlborough is a safe town with a High Street to be thankful for, but it is prosperous and that in itself can attract the wrong type of visitor to its wonderful community. Hence, CCTV is being

actively pursued by the Town Council and businesses in the town are being surveyed to ascertain the level of support for this security measure. There is no doubt that its very presence can deter crime and anti-social behaviour, on the other hand is it shades of George Orwell’s 1984? My view is that each business in the town should get together to continue to develop the High Street for the good of our customers. Smiths Gore has recently joined the Chamber of Commerce to engage in such initiatives and help to keep Marlborough a safe town. From everyone at Smiths Gore’s Marlborough office, have a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

smithsgore.co.uk

Marlborough NewsDecember 2013

The Autumn Statement.

Smiths Gore’s View• We welcome the proposals to

provide up to £1bn of loans to unblock stalled housing schemes and to raise council borrowing limits to boost council house building.

• The proposal to pilot a scheme to pass on the “benefits of development directly to individual households” sounds attractive, but we wait to see the detail.

• From April 2015, overseas house owners will have to pay tax on capital gains they make on selling property. With tax not the main driver in such transactions, we think this is unlikely to have a major impact on property prices and demand.

• Incremental steps to address business rates are welcome, but they do not tackle the problem of rates not being related to business levels.

Lighting Up the High Street

Soldiers from 45 Company, 4 Military Intelligence Battalion (4MI Bn), based in Bulford exercised their Freedom of Marlborough and marched through the High Street on the same day that the town’s Christmas lights were switched on. This gave us at Smiths Gore more reasons to celebrate our first year on the High Street, so we had a small drinks evening on 28th November. It was lovely to meet and greet so many familiar faces and some new ones too and at the same time a small collection raised £54.96 for Help the Heroes. Many thanks to everyone who helped make the evening so memorable.

Help to BuyEarly days of Help to Buy fail to halt usual pre-Christmas fall in new seller asking prices report Rightmove. New seller asking prices drop by 2.4% (£6,181) in line with the normal pre-Christmas trend.

It’s Christmas time and we’re all feeling poorer. Now the statistics prove it!

Strong Demand Pushes Sales Expectations

HigherWhat’s in store for the Property

Market in 2014?

The million dollar question, but the recent RICS residential market survey predicted that over the next 12 months, prices are expected to increase by around 3% nationally and by as much as 4.5% per year for the next fi ve years. That means a £100,000 house will be worth £103,000 next year and £107,635

in 2015 and so on. These are not the kind of increases that inspire vendors to sell without another reason coming into play, but they can make buyers want to buy – have you tried to save an extra £5,000 - £10,000 per year? High demand equals a buoyant property market.

Why Holly and Ivy? There are many stories surrounding your choice of decoration: bringing holly and ivy into the house in Celtic mythology might be considered saving the fertility of the earth over the harshness of winter so it would return in the spring. The Holly King was said to rule over the half of the year from the summer to the winter solstice, at which time the Oak King defeated the Holly King to rule for the time until the summer solstice again.

European mythology associated Holly trees with thunder gods such as Thor and Taranis so they were often planted near a house. Science now tells us that the spines on holly leaves can act as miniature lightning conductors, thereby protecting the tree and other nearby objects – the old wives’ tales do have a grain in truth of them after all!

Art Deco, Art Nouveau or Arts and Crafts

With the last in the Poirot series starring actor David Suchet, TV is losing one of the few productions set in the rapturous 1930s – a hey day of signature design and architecture.

“They had made a decision in the very early days that although the books run over nearly 60 years that they would still set everything in the mid-1930s,” says Jeff Tessler, production designer on Poirot from 2005.

A number of us get the terminology confused, so without looking it up, which style was prevalent in the 1930s? No prizes for knowing this one and answers can be found at the bottom of the page.

smithsgore.co.uk

Properties of the Month Around the UK with Smiths Gore

St Cadix, Lostwithiel,CornwallGeorgian country house, in a secret location, with some 78 acres of protected grounds and 1500 yards of water frontage. Five bedroomed Grade II Listed house and outbuildings. In all about 77.79 acres (31.48 hectares).

Gainford, Darlington, County Durham Delightful small country estate comprising a principal residence and 8 other signifi cant residential dwellings set in 65 acres of formal and informal gardens, woodland and pasture together with 2 miles of fi shing on the River Tees.

Laggan, Newtonmore, Inverness-shireSuperb Highland Sporting and farming estate including a magnifi cent and beautifully refurbished Grade A Listed, 19th century castle. In all about 10,143 acres (4,105 ha)

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We are more than just the largest rural

property managersAnswerArt Deco is the right term. It is marked by traditional craft motifs with machine age imagery and materials. The style is often characterized by rich colours, bold geometric shapes, and lavish ornamentation and dates in the UK from the 1930/40s although it originated after WW1 in France.Art Nouveau was considered to be more fluid and derive its inspiration from nature with curved lines predominating at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Arts and Crafts meant traditional craftsmanship using simple forms in the late 19th Century.

Quotes “Architects design houses. I live in a home.”

Peter Eisenman

“Whenever you go on a trip to visit foreign lands or distant places, remember that they are all

someone’s home and backyard.”

Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Guide price of £995,000