Nick Luntley, Author at Property Market News

76.8% of Coventry Properties Were Bought With a Mortgage in the Last Ten Years

Could the high levels of mortgages that Coventry people take out cause another property crash?

Many Coventry homeowners and landlords have been contacting me recently and asking what will happen to the Coventry (and the UK) property market? More specifically, will we have a repeat of the 2008/9 Credit Crunch property crash?

High mortgage payments were one of the critical catalysts to Coventry house prices dropping by between 16% and 19% (depending on the type of property) in just over one year in Coventry.

To answer that question, let me look at the mortgage numbers locally to see where we stand in the Coventry area.

2,674 of the 42,569 property sales in the last decade in Coventry were made with a mortgage

76.8% of our local authority area house purchases have been made with a mortgage (meaning 23.2% are made with 100% cash).

Interesting, when compared with the national average of 67.4% of house purchases with a mortgage over the last decade.

However, what is thought-provoking is the number of house purchasers buying with a mortgage has steadily been increasing over the last decade.

Between 2012 and 2017, the percentage of people buying with a mortgage was 74.9%, yet over the last five years in Coventry, that has risen to 80.3%

Initially, this doesn’t sound good. Yet, as always with my articles on the Coventry property market, the devil is in the detail.

The issue is that most people need a mortgage to buy their home.

However, it’s not the amount of mortgage that is the issue, more the level of monthly payments. So, if you fix your mortgage rate, then your payments are fixed (a good idea especially as interest rates are on the rise).

In the last quarter, just under nineteen out of twenty (94.35%) of new borrowers that took out a mortgage had a fixed-rate mortgage at an average interest rate of 1.84%

That’s good news for recent buyers as most of their payments won’t rise even though Bank of England interest rates have risen over the last few months. Yet it’s essential to see what existing homeowners with mortgages have done with their mortgage rates (i.e. fixed or not) as they form the bulk of the property market.

This is because in 2008/9 (the last crash), many people were unable to afford their high monthly mortgage payments when they were made redundant because interest rates were much higher. This meant many Coventry homeowners ‘dumped’ their houses onto the market, all in one go in 2008, because they couldn’t afford their high mortgage payments.

Also, the banks could not lend money for mortgages as easily because of the Credit Crunch, meaning fewer people could get a mortgage, so the demand for Coventry houses dropped as well.

In a nutshell, the number of Coventry properties on the market almost doubled overnight in 2008, yet demand plummeted as mortgages were hard to come by. High supply and low demand meant Coventry house prices nosedived in 2008/9

Going into the Credit Crunch, one in six (60.4%) homeowners with a mortgage had a fixed rate at an average rate of 5.76%. By 2013, this had dropped to one in three people (33.29%) having a fixed-rate mortgage at an average of 3.34%.

Yet today, just under 17 out of 20 homeowners with a mortgage have a fixed rate at an average of 1.97%

Whilst the country might owe collectively £1,630.5 billion in mortgages, irrespective of increasing rates, most homeowners have protected themselves with a low fixed interest rate.

Also, the overall ratio of mortgage debt in the UK, compared to the value of the homes the mortgages are lent on, is also low compared to the year before the last property crash. This ratio is called the Loan to Value ratio (LTV). The higher the LTV, the less equity the homeowner has in the property.

In 2007 (the year before the crash), only 49.4% of people had a mortgage less than 75% of the house’s value (i.e. they had an LTV of less than 75%). Today that stands at 60.9%, which means more people have more equity in their property.

Another thought on why the country is in a better position is only 4.22% of mortgages have a 90% or higher LTV (compared to 16.28% just before the crash in 2007).

1 in 6 people were vulnerable to negative equity in the last property crash, whilst today that would only be 1 in 25.

This means if we do have another property market correction for any other reason … the number of people in negative equity will be much smaller, so it won’t affect the property market as much.

So, in conclusion, as we have fewer people with high LTV mortgages and fixed rates that are a third of what they were in the Credit Crunch, we are, as a country, in a better position to weather any storm.

If you would like any advice or opinion on the Coventry property market, be it buying or selling or anything to do with investing in the Coventry buy-to-let property market, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

27.3% of Coventry Property Sellers Reduce Their Asking Prices as the Property Market Starts to Return to Equilibrium

27.3% of Coventry Property Sellers Reduce Their Asking Prices as the Property Market Starts to Return to Equilibrium

419 of the 1,536 properties on the market in the Coventry area have had a price reduction in the last 3 months.
The average reduction has been 5.6% of the original asking price.
This is great news for Coventry home buyers and Coventry buy-to-let landlords, strangely Coventry house sellers as well.

The last couple of years of the Coventry property market has seen some amazing prices being achieved with multiple offers and many properties selling for way over the asking price.

Yet, as I have been writing about the Coventry property market over the last few weeks, the tide is beginning to turn, and the pendulum swing more towards a balanced Coventry property market as more homeowners in the Coventry area (CV1 – CV7) have been reducing their asking prices.

Of the 1,536 properties for sale in the Coventry area,

419 have been reduced in price in the last 3 months.

This can be broken down as follows…

Price Range of the Coventry Property	Number of Price Reductions in Last 3 Months
£0-£50k	1
£50k-£100k	13
£100k-£150k	46
£150k-£200k	61
£200k-£250k	72
£250k-£300k	76
£300k-£350k	44
£350k-£400k	38
£400k-£500k	32
£500k-£600k	13
£600k-£750k	12
£750k-£1m	6
£1m-£2m	5

So why is this important and why is this good news, even for Coventry house sellers?

Property industry statistics show that 5 out of 6 house sellers will buy another property and over 80% of those sellers will move up the property ladder.

When you move up the property ladder, that normally means you pay more for the one you want to move to (that’s why it’s called the property ladder).

So, whilst you won’t be getting as much for yours as you might have done earlier in the year, you won’t have to pay as much for the one you want to buy (and the price difference between the two properties will be smaller – meaning you will end up saving money because of these reductions).

Therefore, what is the level of reduction being seen in the Coventry property market?

The average percentage of the price reduction in the

Coventry area has been 5.6%.

I must stress house prices/values in Coventry haven’t dropped 5.6%, just the asking prices of some of the properties on the market.

This is good news for Coventry first-time buyers and landlords, as they will be more likely to buy a property at a more reasonable price. Whilst, as I explained above, this is also good news for sellers as most of them will end up paying less for the higher priced property they end up buying after selling theirs.

So, what should Coventry homeowners be aware of if they are selling their home now or in the future?

For me, it is important that I inform all Coventry property owners of the real story. This enables them to judge for themselves where they stand in the current Coventry property market, thus enabling them to make better informed decisions.

You see some Coventry estate agents will deliberately over inflate the suggested initial asking price to the house seller, because it gives them a bigger chance to secure the property on that agent’s book, as opposed to a competitor.

This practice is called overvaluing.

Now of course, each Coventry homeowner wants to get the most for their Coventry home, yet some estate agents know this and prey on those Coventry house sellers.

You might ask, what is the problem with that?

Well, you only get one opportunity at hitting the Coventry property market as a new property. Everybody has access to the internet, social media and the four main property portals (Rightmove, Boomin, On The Market, Zoopla), and your potential buyers will know the property market like the back of their hand.

If you have a 2-bed Coventry semi that is on the market for a 3-bed Coventry semi-detached house price … those Coventry buyers will ignore you.

Your Coventry property will stick on the market as your potential buyers keep seeing your property on the portals each week.

These buyers will then start to believe there is something wrong with your property and dismiss it even further. That is until you, as the house seller, reduce your asking price. The issue is that sometimes these buyers will think something is wrong with your home and could bid you down even further, meaning you will get less even though you asked for more! (This was backed up by some research done by Which?).

Now according to research by Denton House, the average British house buyer only views around six properties before buying – so please don’t assume viewers will come round your optimistically priced (i.e. overvalued) Coventry home, thinking they will knock you down – quite the opposite – they just won’t view your home in the first place.

And you know that because I bet you have done the same

yourself when searching for property.

So, all I suggest is this … be realistic with your asking price to start with.

Do that and you will sell your Coventry property at a decent price to a decent buyer … first time, every time – enabling you to move onto the next chapter of your life.

If you know of anyone currently selling their home in the Coventry area and finding things difficult, please share this article with them as it could be of interest.

The Shifting Coventry Property Market

The Coventry property market is on the verge of a ‘tipping point’.
The rate of house price growth has started to ease with a reduction in the number of properties that will sell in Coventry in the coming 12 to 18 months.
Yet, rising interest rates and the cost-of-living issues won’t knock everybody out of the property market and there shouldn’t be a housing bubble for two vital reasons.

The Coventry property market is on the cusp of a tipping point. It’s a tipping point that will influence Coventry house prices, the number of properties available to buy, demand for those Coventry properties and the lives of every homeowner and the property-owning buy-to-let landlords in Coventry. This shift in the Coventry property market is a big deal so let me explain.

What are the two vital reasons for this shift in the Coventry property market?

First, the easy-going Coventry property market goldmine of the past couple of years will end.

The bonanza of the Coventry property market for house sellers, which was primarily fuelled by cheap money, is receding and the scales are starting to tip somewhat more in favour toward Coventry buyers (which is not a bad thing – more of that later).

Secondly, and more significantly, this shift in the Coventry property market is not a collapse.

Let me enlighten you as to why this is.

One of the key influencing factors of the property market is what people pay on their mortgages. The higher the mortgage interest rate, the higher the mortgage payments.

Mortgage rates are usually 1% to 2% higher than the Bank of England base rate. Therefore, mortgage rates are increasing on the back of higher Bank of England interest rates.

So, whilst we have seen rates rise four times in the last year, the Bank of England base rate stands at only 1%. Compare that with Bank of England base rates in the 1980s (when the average base rate was 12.63%), 1990s (when the average base rate was 8.8%) and the 2000s (when the average base rate was 4.7%). These high base rates (together with high unemployment) contributed to the woes of the UK property market crashes of the early 1990s and 2008.

From the gloomiest economist, the worst-case scenario doesn’t see Bank of England base rates rising past 3%.

This means the prospect of a housing crash is minimal because of the comparatively low unemployment and base rates still at all-time lows.

What are the signs of the shift in the Coventry property market?

The statistics show a slight shift in the scales between it being a 100% seller’s market for the last two years to more an 80% sellers and 20% buyer’s market and here are the reasons why:-

The number of houses for sale has grown by 17% in six months.

Nationally, the number of properties available to buy has increased by 17.07% in the last six months, rising from 389,558 in January to 456,048 by the end of May. This rise in the number of properties on the market is a crucial component of the housing market puzzle. Let me explain why.

Before Covid, house buyers having more choice of properties to buy in the summer months would have been thought unremarkable. Yet the stark shortage of properties to buy in the last couple of years has caused national house prices to grow by 19.66%. Any growth or reduction in the number of properties for sale is significant (hence a key bellwether).

This means that buyers will have more choice of properties to buy this summer.

The number of properties sold in the UK has dropped 11.4% year to date 2022 vs 2021

When I say sold in this context, I mean the month the house sale price is agreed, and the sold board goes up (not on completion when the keys are handed over).

Looking at the national number of properties sold on a month-by-month basis, things have started to shift since March.

In February 2021, 111,648 houses sold (STC) in the UK compared to 117,734 for the same month in 2022. So almost identical.

Yet, March 2022 saw 15.3% fewer houses sell in the UK than in March 2021 (129,655 in March 2022 compared to 153,023 in March 2021).

April 2022 saw 20.6% fewer houses sold than April 2021 (117,737 compared to 148,228).

So, all doom and gloom? No! Not at all.

The spring months (March and April) of 2021 saw the rush for houses to be sold to beat the Stamp Duty Holiday ending in June 2021, so of course, March and April’s 2022 figures would be lower.

The panic buying of March and April 2021 returned to normal levels in May 2021, meaning the number of houses sold in May 2022 was only 4.3% lower than in 2021 (131,941 in May 2022 vs 137,800 in May 2021).

The number of house price changes has increased by 69% since January.

In January 2022, the number of house price changes was 27,063 and has been increasing steadily each month to 45,792 in May 2022, an increase of 69%. This means Coventry house sellers have to be more realistic with their pricing to get their properties sold.

Take all these things together and you can see that there are signs that the Coventry property market has started shifting more into buyers’ territory yet is a long way from the traditional idea of a ‘buyer’s market’.

These points can be backed up with the house price data for Coventry.

In June 2021, Coventry house prices increased by 1.9% in one month.

Yet last month, for example, Coventry house prices only rose 0.6%, and a few months earlier only rose 1.0%. Not all doom and gloom when you consider…

Coventry house prices are still 9.3% higher than a year ago.

We have been in fifth gear for the last two years with extra rockets attached. We are certainly not going into reverse gear, more a drop down the gears to fourth!

I know many aspiring Coventry homeowners are waiting for house prices to fall, however, I do not foresee any large Coventry house price drops in the next few years. In essence, whilst I do believe the rate of house price growth will slow down, that does not mean it will go into reverse.

Some would ask what increasing interest rates and inflation will do to the Coventry property market?

As I’ve already discussed in several recent articles on my property blog, if interest rates don’t go above 3.5-4%, this will not be a game-changing issue for the Coventry property market. Most homeowners are on a reasonably long-term fixed-rate mortgage (typically 5+ years) and will be able to transfer them across to the new house purchase if they want to move.

Now, of course, that won’t help first-time buyers. I agree there will be fewer Coventry first-time buyers, yet these will be replaced by landlords re-entering the Coventry property market (as I discussed in a previous article a few weeks ago).

Coventry house prices will also be further protected by the effect of inflation on house prices (again discussed in a separate article about a month ago).

As the number of properties coming to market has increased, the choice of properties to buy has expanded. This will encourage those potential cash home buyers who have also been waiting on the sidelines (alongside the landlords) to start viewing and making offers. They, too, have not wished to get into a bidding war but patiently waited for the market to ease.

It’s Coming Home!

What a few weeks it has been, with Southgate’s men providing a welcome distraction from the ongoing nightmare that is Covid 19. Whether you are a football fan or not, it’s hard not to be inspired by the England football team and their excellent run of form in the Euros, with reported viewing figures of 20m plus for the Ukraine match it really seems to have caught the nation’s attention. The Germany game was a particular highlight for me not only for the incredible result but seeing the atmosphere in stadium, with actual fans in attendance!

Whilst Gareth’s men have been performing on the pitch It’s been a very busy period for the property sector at home. At the end of June we saw the close of the stamp duty holiday from £250,000 up to £500,000. As a result, there was a rush of completions as pressure mounted to keep chains together and ensure sales went through. This was a stressful time for everyone concerned. I wanted to say a big thank you to all our clients who we manged to help negotiate through this particularly tricky period. Also, a big thank you is due to all our friends in the conveyancing world – I expect many of you will be booking well deserved holidays very soon! Remember There is still a stamp duty holiday up to £250,000 until the 1/10/21 when we then return to the pre-pandemic rate of band of 0 Stamp Duty up to £125,000.

We have experienced a record number of transactions this year and the selling conditions even post the Stamp Duty holiday appear to be very good, this is largely due to a shortage of properties on the market. So, we are hopeful that although for most people stamp duty has returned, the market is showing no signs of slowing down.

Something that grabbed our attention this week was a post on social media sharing an appeal from Thorns Primary School to raise money to repair their swimming pool. Having learnt to swim there myself (a long time ago), we just wanted to wish them the very best of luck with their fundraising, we have shared the link to the on our social media pages.

Finally, by the time this article is published we will have played our semi final against Denmark and I hope we will find ourselves looking forward to a final on Sunday. Surely, it’s coming home.

Merry Christmas!

Whether you can believe it or not some of the most recent statistics released from Rightmove have revealed some really surprising and unusual activities over our Christmas holiday’s! I’m not talking about “Pie Face” or “Charades” here, I’m simply talking about online property views.

Rightmove reports show a whopping increase of over 20% activity levels between Christmas and the New Year.

The last published statistics revealed that on On Christmas Day there were nearly 14 million page views and over 10,000 people took time out from the festivities to send emails to agents.

On Boxing Day it gets traditionally busier, with page views jumping to over 25 million.

Views peak on New Year’s Day, with an average of over 38 million page views (This is no doubt due to many being unable to even step out of their armchairs!).

What does this really tell us? Well, unarguably it shows that when we have time, we use it. Christmas and more specifically the New Year, with the hopes and ambitions it promises (who can’t fail to at least have hopes and ambitions for the year ahead whether realised or not!), is time for prediction and planning. Physical viewings are not so common, but planning ahead and looking at what’s available, can be the spark that lights the fire. Having your property on the market over the Christmas period doesn’t mean that Mr and Mrs Smith are going to disrupt your Figgie Pudding and Brandy Snaps. It means simply that they will likely plan to visit your house after Christmas.

Seeing your home for sale may persuade them to sell their own property and enable them to move forwards. Yours could be the property that instigates those decisions. And more importantly, yours could be the property they buy as well.

Lastly, we just wanted to wish all our customers past, present and future a very Merry Christmas. 2020 has been such a testing year for everyone and we wish you all a happy, healthy and hopefully successful 2021!

Autumn Market Update

The UK housing market starts autumn with momentum following a post-lockdown mini-boom, making summer 2020 busier than usual. Buyer demand has soared, up 34% on a year ago according to Zoopla, while supply to the marketplace is at its highest level since March 2008, according to Rightmove. Over 81,000 property sales were recorded in August, which is up 15.6% on July, with competition in the market leading to one in eight properties selling at or above asking price. Larger properties and those with gardens are proving immensely popular, with the impact of COVID-19 set to have a lasting change on our home and work lifestyles. Price growth is strongest across the East Midlands and the North West, but across all regions the trajectory is positive.

Both the economy and consumer confidence have both shown signs of improvement throughout the summer. The economy grew by 6.6% in July (ONS), however it remains over 11% lower than pre-lockdown, while consumer sentiment continues to rise, albeit slowly. Recovery remains cautious as the government grapples with balancing the economy and public health. Stamp duty holidays across the nations offer a saving for many buyers, however, while interest rates remain low, a reduction in high loan-to-value lending products is impacting first-time buyers.

In the lettings market, as with the sales sector, demand for rental property increased over the summer, although new instructions remain muted, a continuation of the pre-lockdown trend. Average rental values across the UK rose by 1.5% in the year up to August, and yields remain attractive. Increased demand and a shortage of supply in many areas should help underpin rental values over the coming months. Just 13% of tenancies expire during the final quarter of the year but landlords will be keen to avoid unnecessary void periods.

Properties are selling quicker than they did a year ago, and latest mortgage approvals suggest the market is returning to more ‘normal’ levels. However, the forced pause in the housing market means 2020 sales levels will no doubt end below those of 2019. UK house price growth is at its highest level in over two years and revised forecasts anticipate property prices will end the year 2% higher, a significant reversal to the negative expectations anticipated as the market reopened. Interest rates are predicted to be held at 0.1% until 2022 offering hope of favourable buying and selling conditions for the foreseeable future.

THE KENILWORTH MARKET IS RUNNING WELL!

Brrrr it’s starting to feel like winter! As my daily alarm goes off its pitch-black outside, cold, wet and hardly the most inviting time to go out on a run. I’ve set myself a target of 4 miles a day, I thought this would be a realistic target to try and get myself back into running. Last year I ran two marathons and have had lots of niggling injuries since and a little loss of motivation. What a few weeks it has been for professional running though, seeing Eliud Kipchoge run a marathon in under two hours was just incredible and so inspirational! It’s certainly given me encouragement to get back out on the pavements again!

In Kenilworth over the last full month of October, the market indicators were very positive with the total number of homes sold above year on year data for the second month in a row. We have been very busy improving our offering with a great balance of modern and traditional marketing methods which have, without doubt, contributed to our recent success.

One of the things we are very excited about is the recent launch of our ‘5-step Strategy to Sell Your Home’. A proactive guide that has been designed to remove all obstacles that can get in the way of a successful sale. This will soon be available to download form our website with the aim of being a genuinely helpful guide to anyone marketing their home.

As the chosen agent for the Guild of Property Professionals for the Kenilworth Area, we have access to the London Property market via our associated office on Park Lane. This has proven invaluable particularly to the upper end of the market as we have an interactive window display in the heart of Mayfair!

We’re all really hoping for a great end to the year and if anyone out there has any questions or would like any help or advice be sure to get in touch at nick@elizabethdavenport.co.uk. For any keen runners out there, feel free to connect with me on Strava!

Nick Luntley MNAEA – Director Elizabeth Davenport.

Remember, Remember The SECOND of November!

What a fantastic time of year Autumn is; the Football and Rugby seasons are in full flow; the housing market is busy and yes Bonfire night looms on the horizon!

October has been a surprising busy month for property transactions in the Kenilworth Area, I for one predicted a slow down as the much-debated Brexit deadline came ever closer. In actual fact the opposite has happened. Although or data sample is by no means representative of the whole region, our data shows an annual increase in buying activity from last year. Could it be the case that people are ‘getting on with it’ and taking advantage of continued low interest rates and stable market conditions? Who knows but one thing is for certain it is becoming harder to predict which way the market will go next. Soon we will be into November, one of my favourite months of year mainly due to bonfire night!

We are very lucky in Kenilworth to have one of the best annual Bonfire Firework displays in the country. What a backdrop, the castle beautifully illuminated, the warmth from the bonfire drifting across the field! I have a huge personal affection for this special night, I have been a regular attender for almost thirty years! I was first taken by my grandparents as a toddler and I now help run the show in my thirties as part of Kenilworth Round Table. I have literally grown up with this magical community event. If anyone reading this hasn’t made that trip down Castle Road on a chilly November evening, I would strongly recommend it! The benefits of doing so are two-fold; being part of such a great community event is one thing but by doing so you are actively donating money that is put to excellent use. All of the money raised goes directly to local charities and worthy people living in the Kenilworth area.

Now I am involved with the organising I fully appreciate how lucky we are as a town to have such great local people who give up a huge amount of their spare time for free to help make this event truly special for children and adults alike. The display is held on Saturday 2^nd November with tickets available online and in a number of local businesses in the town.

If anyone reading this is attending be sure to say hello, I’m on the road closures around Castle Hill but I’m hoping to make it into the castle just in time for when the show starts!

World Cup Dream is Over – But What a Ride!

Elizabeth Davenport attended Kenilworth School’s career’s fair at Castle Sixth Form last Tuesday. World Cup fever was in the air and the team at Elizabeth Davenport decided to have a bit of fun and run a World Cup competition for the students. The prize at stake was a brand-new England home shirt, all the students had to do was answer one simple question…

The question was; how many properties were currently available to buy in Kenilworth?

More than 30 students took part with guesses ranging from 105 to 4,438!

The winning guess was made by lucky student Louis Perry who guessed 178 which was only 8 properties away from the actual figure of 186!*

Nick Luntley, a Director & Branch Manager at Elizabeth Davenport, who was also a former pupil of Kenilworth School said “we were delighted to meet so many keen and enthusiastic students and only hope we were able to offer some genuine insight into how small business and the property industry works. It was a slightly surreal experience for me as the last time I was in this hall I was sitting my final A-level exam nearly 14 years ago! The England shirt competition was just a bit of fun that hopefully gave students a small incentive to come and speak with us!”

“It’s a shame the football didn’t quite work out how we all wanted but I’m sure Louis will still be wearing his new shirt with pride. I’d also like to extend a special thank you to Marie Brennan at Kenilworth School who organised a fantastic day for all the students”.

Elizabeth Davenport regularly support students and school leavers by offering work experience places throughout the year. If this is something that would be of interest please email either Nick (nick@elizabethdavenport.co.uk) or Mark (mark@elizabethdavenport.co.uk).

*Figure provided by Rightmove.co.uk on the day of the competition.

London Marathon 2018!

Elizabeth Davenport Director Nick Luntley is running the London Marathon later this year in order to raise money for the very well known national charity Scope. Nick who is a keen runner has never ran a marathon before but is looking forward to the challenge of distance runnings greatest test!

Nick who runs for Massey Furgusson Running Club, is looking to raise £2,000 and his efforts were given a massive boost with the very generous donation made by Band Hatton Button Solicitors who have put forward £1,000.

Nick Button who is a partner at Band Hatton Button said “we are absolutely delighted to support Nick in his marathon effort for such a worthy charity in Scope. All I can say to Nick in regard to the marathon itself is, rather you than me!” Nick who works out of both the Kenilworth and Coventry branches at Elizabeth Davenport said “I’m absolutely delighted with the support shown from Band Hatton Button when I approached them for some support I was absolutely delighted they said yes without a moments hesitation. Scope is a fantastic charity that I’m proud to support. I know once this is all over I will be able to look back with great pride about the amount of money raised and the lives we will have been able to improve.”

The annual capital marathon event is ran from Greenwich in south London and finishes in on The Mall right outside Buckingham Palace. This year there is a fantastic field of elite athletes including the famous Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge and Great Britain’s Olympic hero Sir Mo Farah.

The London Marathon is on Sunday 22nd April and there is still time to support Nick by making a donation to his just giving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nick-luntley