Property of the Week: Poet and critic Ezra Pound’s house in Kensington has doubled in price in three years May 19, 2016 A few times a week, a crowd of tourists gather outside this house on Kensington Church Walk to have their pictures taken with the English Heritage blue plaque outside. Set in a quiet cobbled courtyard, this Victorian townhouse was the home of ex-pat American poet and critic Ezra Pound between 1909 and 1914 and it [...]
Parking mad: London parking spaces sold for over £200,000 May 8, 2016 LONDON is one of the world’s most expensive places to pay for parking space. On Brewer Street in Soho, for example, you could spend over £50 on just three hours of parking. That may be why some mysterious buyers have forked out as much as much as half a million pounds to buy a parking [...]
Construction of new homes needs to rise “five-fold” to meet right to buy pledge warns National Audit Office March 16, 2016 The construction of new homes will need to increase "five-fold" to meet the government's one-for-one pledge through the right to buy scheme. The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned MPs in written evidence supplied to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the current proposals in the Housing and Planning Bill to give 1.3m housing association tenants the right to buy their [...]
It’s been a bumper year for stock markets – but how good was 2016 really? December 20, 2016 “Some investors have quipped that it took days for the markets to digest the UK referendum outcome, hours to come to terms with Donald Trump as President-Elect and minutes to assess Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation,” Mark Haefele, global chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, told clients last week. It has been a [...]
Soubry says any wrongdoing over sale of BHS will be “taken very seriously” as MPs blast Sir Philip Green for the failure of the store June 6, 2016 Anna Soubry, minister for small business, industry and enterprise spoke strongly today in the House of Commons over the sale of BHS, saying any wrongdoing on the part of the directors of the company over its sale will be "taken very seriously." In a statement to the House of Commons, Soubry said: "Any wrongdoing will be taken very [...]
UK property transactions down by 45 per cent in April as stamp duty changes hit May 24, 2016 The number of property transactions in the UK fell by 45 per cent between March and April, according to new data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The figures from HMRC show 94,370 properties were sold in April compared to 164,400 in March as landlords scrambled to snap-up homes before stamp duty changes came into effect, putting a [...]
A trainspotter’s paradise? This converted Great Northern railway station in Lincolnshire has gone on sale – and comes complete with a train and a section of track May 20, 2016 What do you buy the trainspotter who has everything? How about their own station? A converted Great Northern railway station in Rippingale, Lincolnshire, has been put up for sale by its owner. For £600,000, not only do you get a three-bedroom house and 1.2 acres of land – but you'll also get a section of track, and [...]
It’ll take young Londoners more than a decade to save for one of David Cameron’s starter homes May 27, 2016 The government's new starter homes initiative has come in for a lot of flack – but this may be its most damning criticism yet. Yep: new figures by property services giant JLL show if the average young couple in the capital started saving now, they wouldn't get their hands on a starter home until 2028. That's more than [...]
UK stocks in a post-Brexit world – industrials, healthcare and biotech can still do well, despite the weakening pound July 15, 2016 The UK’s decision to vote Leave sent share prices tumbling, and the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 has been left worst off. Mark Martin, manager of the Neptune UK Mid Cap fund, explains the areas he’s still finding attractive – and the ones he’s avoiding On the Friday after Brexit, the FTSE 250 mid-cap index had [...]
MPs and analysts issue fresh nuclear warnings over Hinkley Point project September 15, 2016 Fresh warnings have been triggered over the cost, security, and deliverability of Britain’s first new nuclear reactors for decades following yesterday’s green light for the £18bn build at Hinkley Point in Somerset. Hinkley Point C will be built by France’s EDF with £6bn of Chinese investment. It is effectively subsidised by the UK taxpayer under the [...]