New Nobu Hotel in Shoreditch says there’s nothing fishy about Brexit, is hungry for global tourists October 11, 2016 The team behind the upcoming Nobu Hotel in Shoreditch hope to capitalise on Britain’s tumbling pound by luring wealthy foreign visitors. The five-storey, 150-room hotel on Willow Street in Hackney – originally slated to launch in 2014 but delayed by “construction issues” – will finally open its doors in spring 2017, just in time for [...]
Official statisticians reveal what Britons think will make them the most money for later years October 11, 2016 Britons think the best way to save for retirement is to invest in property rather than a pension scheme, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Although respondents to the ONS survey admitted that an employer pension scheme was a safer way to save, nearly half felt that investing in bricks and mortar was best way to [...]
Hipster hammering: City Fringe offices landed with huge business rate increases October 11, 2016 London's hipster office hubs will be under intense pressure when the new business rates come in next year, as new figures highlight the extent of the tax increases that are set to burden the City Fringe. The government has published its first business rate re-evaluation for seven years. The new tax for each property is based [...]
The average price for a detached family home in London has hit £1m October 11, 2016 The average price for a detached family home in London has hit £1m. According to research by Hamptons International, families looking for a detached home in London now pay an average £1,028,376, up from £963,510 last year – an annual price increase of 6.7 per cent. The disparity between the price of detached family properties [...]
McCarthy & Stone’s share price climbs on positive outlook October 11, 2016 Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone's share price climbed seven per cent in morning trading on the back of a strong trading update. The company suffered following the Brexit vote; sales slowed and cancellation rates on the purchase of its properties increased. This hit McCarthy & Stone's forward sales order book, which dropped to £114m on 2 [...]
Is £2bn enough to fix the housing market? October 11, 2016 Last week the government announced plans for a £2bn accelerated construction fund that will be used to guarantee housing schemes, including deals to purchase homes that do not sell. The guarantee, which will be achieved by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) directly selling any ‘government purchased homes’ on the market, to the private rented [...]
Housebuilders and domestically-focused stocks hit by fears of hard Brexit October 10, 2016 The aftershocks of sterling's flash crash last week are still being felt in the City with domestic stocks suffering in trading today. When markets opened in Asia on Friday, the pound fell six per cent in two minutes, a plunge thought to have been caused by automatic trading systems responding to comments by French President Francois [...]
Here’s what the Monopoly board of 2016 looks like October 10, 2016 When Monopoly was created in 1935, the price tag for a Mayfair property was just £400 – but house prices have changed a lot since then. So if the Monopoly board was drawn up now, what would it look like? The cheapest parts of the board are still the same, but the average price on [...]
Help solve the housing crisis by leaving your house to your grandchildren, urges housing minister October 10, 2016 Housing minister Gavin Barwell has said parents should leave their property and money to their grandchildren instead of their children. Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference, Barwell said his mother will be leaving her £700,000 Croydon home to her grandchildren rather than him and his brother. Barwell said such generosity from grandparents [...]
Knight Frank reports 20 per cent drop in exchanges since the EU referendum October 10, 2016 Estate agent Knight Frank said today it experienced a 20 per cent fall in the number of exchanges on its high-end UK houses since the EU referendum. In its results for the year, Knight Frank reported profit before tax fell by 4.7 per cent, from £160.1m last year to £152.6m this year. Turnover increased four per cent [...]