Personality clashes and the poisoned client: The inside story of Bell Pottinger’s collapse September 25, 2017 From the outside, the demise of iconic public relations firm Bell Pottinger appeared to unfold at a dramatic and surprising pace. On Monday 4 September, the company published the findings of a report by lawyers Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) concluding that the firm’s campaign for the Gupta family’s Oakbay Capital in South Africa “was potentially [...]
What Brexit, the General Election and foreign demand means for London’s commercial property market June 5, 2017 Martin Samworth practically lives on a plane. As the chief executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for one of the world’s largest property consultancies CBRE, he’s a busy man. In the last few weeks, he has travelled to Madrid, Colorado, Dusseldorf, Tel Aviv, Frankfurt, Lisbon, and New York. The property veteran, who joined [...]
Time to remortgage? The rates on two-year fixed deals are very low, but watch out for additional fees October 27, 2016 Brexit has been kind to mortgage holders. As the Bank of England’s interest rate has come down, banks have been able to borrow more cheaply, allowing competition to increase and mortgage rates to fall. Borrowers have been quick to take advantage of the deals on offer; in August, the number of people remortgaging hit a [...]
Here’s how far fixed rates have fallen in the last six years August 4, 2016 Fixed rate mortgages have fallen continuously for the past six years – with marked falls taking place before the Brexit vote. Rates have fallen by an average of 2.5 per cent since 2010, according to data released today from Legal & General. Read more: Experts are not impressed by HSBC's new 0.99 per cent fixed [...]
Calling first-time buyers to Telegraph Works, Greenwich: The historic transatlantic cable factory being turned into new homes July 9, 2015 A CGI of the building. Apartments from £300,000 A little-known factory that sits near the Greenwich Docks once played an instrumental role in US-UK relations. Now developers are hoping it’ll establish a new relationship between this neglected former industrial site and first-time buyers in London. Around £120m has been invested to build 272 [...]
Here’s why parts of London’s prime rental market have been boosted by Brexit vote August 3, 2016 Data released today suggests that there are sections of the prime rental market in central London that have benefited from Brexit. According to data from London estate agents Portico, rent prices for two-bed properties in Kensington and Chelsea have gone up by 0.4 per cent from May to July. The average rental price for a [...]
London is now one of the five cities with the lowest house price growth in the UK April 28, 2017 London is now one of the five cities with the lowest house price growth in the UK, and has been overtaken by a slew of regional cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Leicester. In March, house price growth in London was just 4.9 per cent, according to Hometrack. Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, the top [...]
Focus On Barking: Will Khan’s approval for ‘Barcelona-on-Thames’ change the landscape of east London? September 16, 2016 It’s not often Barking – an industrial suburb of east London – finds itself in the spotlight. But that’s exactly what happened this month when Mayor of London Sadiq Khan approved “one of the largest and most ambitious regeneration schemes in Europe” on the north bank of the Thames. Barking Riverside, as it’ll be known, [...]
Focus On Earl’s Court: Around 7,500 new homes and a brand new high street coming to west London by 2033 October 7, 2016 Best known for its (closed) Exhibition Centre, Earl’s Court is not the sort of place you’d expect to attract million-pound investment. But it’s currently undergoing its biggest upheaval in over a century and this west London outpost is set to be a very different place in a couple of decades. The last huge change in [...]
Focus On Holloway: How the area went from “no-go area” to a thriving hotspot for independent businesses October 17, 2016 Holloway may be one of the oldest neighbourhoods in north London, but it hasn’t always been popular. Londoners who weren’t Arsenal fans might only pass through to get on to the M1 and its infamous women’s prison on Parkhurst Road hardly does wonders for its reputation. For a long time, its only cultural claim to [...]