Let the good times roll: EY Item Club forecasts strong growth for UK financial services February 15, 2016 The financial services industry can expect decent growth over the next few years, a group of forecasters have said today. Mortgage lending, business borrowing and consumer credit are all set to grow at healthy rates over the coming years, as the UK economy shrugs off recent severe stock market declines. However, the EY Item Club said [...]
UK house prices: Babies born today will pay £3.4m for their first home April 21, 2015 If the current generation of first-time buyers thought they had it bad, spare a thought for the children born today, who will have to pay several million pounds for their first home, research has revealed. A study by online estate agent Emoov found that, given house price inflation – which has averaged out at 8.6 [...]
It’s time for radical solutions to address London’s housing crisis December 17, 2015 As MP since 2001 for the most central London constituency, I cannot recall a time when housing issues have not dominated my postbag. No surprise, perhaps, when UK buyers compete for a limited supply of homes with a global citizenry seeking its own slice of prime London. But I have also witnessed how the polarisation [...]
UK house prices: Buyers and sellers care about completely different things when assessing the value of a property November 12, 2015 What would you care most about when buying a house? That it smells of fresh-baked bread or what the local crime figures are like? You might think that buyers and sellers would place value on similar things, especially considering that most people in the process of buying one house are also simultaneously selling another, and [...]
General Election 2015: Housing soars as one of top issues for voters March 21, 2015 Housing is racing up the voters' list of concerns as we head toward the General Election, according to pollster Ipsos Mori. A few years ago, rapidly rising house prices and getting on the property ladder were mainly seen as issues concerning London and the South East. However, as prices rise across the country housing is [...]
Budget 2015 summary: Here are all the personal finance pledges George Osborne made today March 18, 2015 There were the usual tears and tantrums as chancellor George Osborne stepped up to the despatch box earlier today, to deliver a Budget speech geared largely towards savers, pensioners and first-time buyers. In the end, it was the "savings revolution" that made the headlines – with new rules on Isas and savings among a raft [...]
Focus on Wimbledon property: A game of two halves in SW19 June 25, 2015 The world’s eyes will make their annual pilgrimage to Wimbledon on Monday, where they’ll spend several hours swivelling backwards and forwards watching the greatest tennis tournament on earth. While this leafy corner of south west London is primarily known for racquet sports, the rest of the year it’s one of the fastest-growing local property markets [...]
Was George Osborne’s last Budget before the General Election a winner for British savers? March 18, 2015 Iain McCluskey, tax director at PwC, says Yes This was a Budget for those who choose to, in George speak, fix their roof. With returns on savings sitting at miserable lows for most people, the chancellor had to innovate to try and encourage the country to save. He did this by using the Budget to [...]
Mortgage loan slowdown may be at an end as house prices predicted to rise March 17, 2015 Mortgage lending dropped again in January, industry data showed yesterday, as the market continued to plateau. But economists think this weak spell could be at an end, with lending set to pick up across the rest of 2015. The month saw 22,400 home movers take out mortgages, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), down [...]
Focus On Shadwell: Good transport and pubs mean promising times ahead in East London February 23, 2016 St Chad – after whom east London’s Chadwelle, now known as Shadwell, is named – is jokingly referred to as the patron saint of botched elections. This modern nickname was applied after the 2000 US election, when irregular “chads” (punched holes) may have defaced enough ballots cost Al Gore the 2000 US election. Chad is [...]