London to face biggest changes from buy-to-let lending clampdown: As landlords brace for tougher mortgage checks, experts say investing in buy-to-let will be tougher in the capital March 29, 2016 Landlords are facing tougher rules on mortgage borrowing following an announcement from the Bank of England – and the biggest impact will felt in London, experts say. Buy-to-let has grown massively and now there are concerns about a “bubble emerging in this market,” Chancellor George Osborne said. The Bank believes overly indebted landlords pose a risk [...]
City Moves for 7 December 2016 | Who’s switching jobs December 7, 2016 Lee Baron Lee Baron, a specialist in property management, has promoted Mark Fitzgerald to head of property management. Having joined the firm in 2015 as a director in the property management department, Mark takes the reins from Ian Jones, who after 10 years in the role, will now be concentrating on his position as chief [...]
Budget 2016: A tax on house purchase is a tax on house building too – which will not help the UK’s housing crisis March 16, 2016 A tax on house purchase is a tax on house building too and could perversely worsen the housing crisis in the long term. Raising taxes is a tried and tested way to discourage activity that the government thinks is bad for us and right now it seems the target is buy to let. Unfortunately the [...]
Prime central London house prices are being outpaced by outer boroughs, says Savills March 30, 2016 Prices of prime London residential properties dipped in the first quarter of the year, as uncertainty around the economic outlook and the EU referendum largely offset any investor or second home buyer rush to beat the buy-to-let stamp duty hike deadline. Values across the whole of prime London slipped by an average of 0.3 per cent in [...]
House prices at the top end of the London market are down 5.4 per cent November 18, 2016 House prices at the top end of the market are faltering due to stamp duty reforms – and estate agents are calling for the government to reverse the trend for the sake of the wider property market. Prices in the top quarter of the London market dropped 5.4 per cent between the second quarter of [...]
Bag a bargain: Here’s how much high-end London house prices fell last year January 5, 2017 Got a couple of million going spare? You could bag a bargain in the capital, after new research suggested top-end house prices fell 6.9 per cent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2016. Research by Savills suggested house prices in so-called prime central London, high-end areas including Mayfair, Belgravia and Chelsea, fell 2.2 per cent during [...]
Stamp duty charges: The UK housing market needs more homes not more taxes April 1, 2016 Anyone waking up today who is planning or close to purchasing a second home may well feel as if an April fool's trick has been played on them. Whether helping a son or daughter get onto the housing ladder, investing in a buy-to-let property or buying a holiday residence, from today an additional three per [...]
Countrywide says slowdown in sales volumes will continue next year January 13, 2017 Countrywide's share price climbed three per cent in morning trading despite a drop in the estate agency group's income in the fourth quarter. The figures In a trading update for its performance in 2016, Countrywide said its revenue edged up to £737m from £734m the year before, but that the estate agency's income fell slightly in the [...]
New Scotland Yard’s Middle Eastern owners win approval to replace it with £1bn luxury scheme February 24, 2016 The owners of the New Scotland Yard, the former London home of the Metropolitan police, have won planning permission to turn the 1.7 acre site into a £1bn luxury residential scheme. The Westminster building, which has been home to the Met since 1967, was sold to Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) for £370m in December 2014 as part of a strategy [...]
Mapped: Experts analysed 120 years of housing data to show how 14 of London’s boroughs have changed December 9, 2016 Each of London's 32 boroughs has its own unique history, and now you can see how housing changed for 14 of them over the past century. Property consultancy Knight Frank today launched an interactive report that uses 120 years of London housing to study how the areas have changed over time. The case studies detail the history of each [...]