How Osborne’s budget affects the housing market June 24, 2010 THERE are not many ways to make a 10 per cent tax hike look business-friendly, but Chancellor George Osborne pulled off a neat trick this week by doing just that. Expectations of a massive capital gains tax (CGT) rise had been building since the Liberal Democrats, who had promised to raise CGT to close to [...]
Q&A: BUYING February 4, 2010 Q.Dear Camilla, I am thinking about selling my home this year. But is it the right time given that there is both economic and political uncertainty at the moment? A.There has been a lot of positive press about property prices in recent weeks, which should support the UK housing market. For example, mortgage lender Nationwide [...]
Grainger says its future is as safe as houses May 20, 2010 PROPERTY giant Grainger will use a dramatic swing back to black as a springboard to grow its residential portfolio. The firm turned a yawning £143m loss last year into a slender £3.5m profit. It reported operating profits of £48.0m, a 16 per cent hike from the £41.3m reported in 2009. Its residential sales shot up [...]
The ascent of prime London’s new hotspot July 15, 2010 FITZROVIA, the area around the BT Tower, bordered by Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road, Great Portland Street and Euston Road, should be Londoners’ idea of property heaven. The West End is on your doorstep, as is Regent’s Park. The ever-more exciting restaurant and bar scene of Goodge and Charlotte Streets, and the more established prettiness [...]
Lettings showing signs of recovery as rents increase May 26, 2010 ALMOST a third more landlords saw home rental rates rise in the past three months than those who reported falls, signalling a sharp recovery in the residential lettings market, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). RICS said 30 per cent more of its UK members reported increasing rents in the three months [...]
Morgan Stanley continues down the road to recovery July 21, 2010 WALL Street lapped up a solid set of second-quarter results from Morgan Stanley yesterday, buoying market sentiment after a disappointing performance over the same period from some of the bank’s peers, notably Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley beat analyst expectations with post-tax profit of $1.4bn (£921m) for the three months to June, swinging back into the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 16, 2010 Greencore The convenience foods group has appointed business grandee Eric Nicoli, the chairman of cinema operator Vue Entertainment, as a non-executive director. In addition to his role at Vue, Nicoli is also currently senior partner at fund of hedge funds Sunningdale Capital. He was previously chief executive of United Biscuits and chairman and chief executive [...]
Look beyond bricks and mortar and invest in the new generation of property funds December 3, 2009 IF YOU don’t want to blow your whole bonus in one go, or you don’t have the appetite for owning a buy-to-let, then there is an alternative: investing in a property fund. A number of new funds have recently launched, designed to capitalise on the steep losses seen across the board in residential and commercial [...]
Belle Epoque style enters the 21 century May 27, 2010 AT the turn of the last century a visit to the imposing Mont Pelerine Palace in the Swiss Alps was a favourite pastime among wealthy travellers. They arrived by train to the quiet commune of Chardonne before ascending by funicular to the elegant hotel, enjoying the famous local Charennes wine and mingling with New York [...]
Stylish, affordable new homes for a brave green world May 20, 2010 THE UK is committed to ensuring that all new homes meet an ambitious zero-carbon standard by 2016. And with only a smattering of them in the country to date, there’s a long way to go. Indeed, Barry Morgan, of Morgan Restoration, an ardent eco-developer who has just installed solar panels on The Boatyard development overlooking [...]