London property focus on North Greenwich: Affordable homes by the riverside September 4, 2015 Fancy a night out in North Greenwich? No, not that one with the market, the chapels, the observatory and the ship. The other one with the O2 Arena and… not much else. It’s a hard sell, truth be told, so imagine how much harder it must be to convince someone to live there. Once a [...]
London drives frenzy of global property deals August 18, 2015 INVESTMENT activity in commercial property rose sharply in the first half of the year, new figures show, with cities, including London, New York and San Francisco, continuing to steal the spotlight. Global investment in commercial real estate reached $318bn (£204bn) at the end of June, 15 per cent higher than the same time last year, [...]
London house prices: Can stamp duty save the capital from a demand crisis? January 14, 2015 Demand for houses has been falling in the housing market for six months, or eight if you live in London. It doesn’t feel so long ago we were talking about booms and whispering of bubbles, but that's gone for now. The latest figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors reveals that 10 per cent [...]
Gaucho steak restaurant deal on the table amid flurry of sales in industry July 19, 2015 The Gaucho chain of steak restaurants, popular with hungry City workers, is up for sale. Bankers at Canaccord Genuity have been hired to work on the sale, with private equity firm ICG and Dutch entrepreneur Zeev Godik hoping to raise up to £150m. The industry has been ripe for deals in recent times, with brands [...]
McCarthy & Stone leads calls for support to help elderly homebuyers November 3, 2014 Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone yesterday called on ministers to focus on addressing housing issues for the elderly and not just first-time buyers. The company, founded in 1977, said housing for the over-65s must become a “priority” for the government. “Most household growth over the next 20 years will involve older people and policy makers [...]
First time buyer surge adds to market uplift December 11, 2013 THE NUMBER of first time buyers has surged by three quarters over the past year, as a surge of activity in the housing market pushes prices even higher, especially in London. Estate agents Haart reveal today that, the number of first time buyer registrations has risen 78.4 per cent in November 2013, compared to the [...]
Maximum excitement on the football July 30, 2015 TV VIEWERS should be in for a treat on Sunday – it has been seven years since the last goalless draw in the Community Shield. That came when Manchester United and Portsmouth met in the 2008 curtain-raiser. The previous nil-nil before that? When Tottenham and Arsenal clashed in 1991 and were the last teams to [...]
UK house price lull could be over as lending picks up December 11, 2014 The recent slowdown in house price growth may have already ended, a new set of data shows. House price growth accelerated to 11.3 per cent in November from 11 per cent in October, according to figures released today by LSL property services. The growth rates were lifted by London and the south east. “After a [...]
Retired workers should be allowed to sell their pensions to the highest bidder, says minister Steve Webb January 4, 2015 Retirees may soon get the right to sell off their savings for a lump sum, according to pensions minister Steve Webb. Liberal Democrat Webb said that he wanted to go further than the reforms outlined by George Osborne at the last budget, which, from this April, allow workers to trade their pension savings for [...]
Greek stocks dive on reopen August 4, 2015 GREEK shares plunged 16 per cent yesterday as the Athens stock exchange opened for the first time in five weeks. The rout was led by bank shares. The country’s four biggest lenders – the National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, Eurobank and Piraeus Bank – registered near-30 per cent losses. “People want to get out [...]