UK house prices: Supply of properties for sale crashes to 11-year low as National Association of Estate Agents warns “We’re reaching crisis point” September 25, 2015 The supply of houses for sale has slumped its lowest level for 11 years, exacerbating fears that housing affordability is set to continue declining. The number of properties available to buy per estate agent branch dropped to 38 in August, according to figures released today by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) – a [...]
London pricing out first-time home buyers February 25, 2015 THE LONDON housing market is cooling, according to figures yesterday released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Loans to first-time buyers totalled 12,000 in number and £2.9bn in value in the three months to 31 December. It marks a drop of 11 per cent in number and seven per cent in value on the three [...]
Mortgage lending rises sharply in September for the fourth month in a row October 22, 2015 The amount of mortgage lending to UK homebuyers jumped by 12 per cent in the year to September as rising employment and earnings growth helped keep confidence levels high. Gross mortgage lending reached £20bn in September, up from £17.8bn the same time last year and two per cent higher than August’s lending total of £19.7bn, [...]
Buy-to-let tax change: Why is business-friendly George Osborne punishing landlords and renting business? September 25, 2015 The majority of landlords put their faith in the Conservative Party in May believing the Tories had a better understanding of private renting than the other parties. So when the chancellor announced restrictions on the tax relief on buy to let mortgages, it came as a shock, with many feeling betrayed. The government claims the [...]
Yes, Selfridges has just opened its Christmas shop and this is what it looks like August 1, 2016 Is that a little bit of Scrooge spirit we sense spreading across the capital? That would be because Selfridges became the world's first department store to open its Christmas shop. Bah, humbug. The retailer has put 50,000 decorations on display, with plans to expand the store later this year to accommodate another 70,000 decorations. When the [...]
Focus on Notting Hill property: Prices may have fallen, but is it all down to stamp duty reform? May 19, 2016 Notting Hill hasn’t been having the best of weeks, if truth be told. On Tuesday, a report from estate agent Stirling Ackroyd revealed that average house prices had fallen in several prime central London locations. In W11, they’ve gone down by 10 per cent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of [...]
Veri-hoo? The $4.83bn Verizon Yahoo deal is go – here’s what you need to know July 25, 2016 It's official: the US telecoms firm Verizon has snapped up the messy internet business of Yahoo in a deal worth $4.83bn (£3.7bn). That includes such things as Yahoo's online search, Yahoo Mail and instant messaging, and – perhaps most importantly – its ad business. Yahoo first announced it was on the chopping block earlier this year several firms [...]
Why Donald Trump should be closely watching the Mexican peso October 17, 2016 As the odds of a Donald Trump victory lengthened last week, few will have welcomed the news as much as Mexico. The Mexican peso, which fell by 12 per cent in the first nine months of this year, has bounced back as market fears of a Trump win calmed. “The peso has become a bellwether [...]
Shared Ownership Week: So what is it anyway? October 5, 2015 Like the sound of Shared Ownership, but not sure how it works? Katie Bond, director of housing association Notting Hill Home Ownership (NHHO), is here to set the record straight for Shared Ownership Week (5-11 October). What is a Shared Ownership scheme and who is it meant to help? Shared Ownership is where you [...]
Suburbs lag behind inner London boroughs in housebuilding drive November 13, 2015 Inner London boroughs are granting planning permission for more new homes than the all of the surrounding outer boroughs put together, according to a new report that warns of a growing prosperity divide within the capital. Stirling Ackroyd’s latest New Homes Monitor showed London’s thirteen Inner boroughs approved a total of 11,970 new homes throughout [...]