City workers fuel Midtown housing boom May 12, 2014 HOUSE prices in the area dubbed Midtown have outpaced the greater London market in the first three months of the year due to a surge in demand from buyers working in the capital’s financial sector, new research out yesterday shows. According to property consultants CBRE, the price of a property in Midtown – between the [...]
Buying overseas? Speak to the currency experts first July 21, 2014 Spanish property continues to be popular for Brits looking to buy abroad, with nearly half of all property enquiries for Spain sitting in the £50,000 to £150,000 bracket according to figures from Kyero.com. The Costa Blanca remains the favoured region, accounting for more than a third of Spanish property enquiries on the portal, and with [...]
How rich are Help to Buy users? May 29, 2014 Today the Treasury released their figures on the use of the controversial Help to Buy scheme – specifically for the second (mortgage guarantee) part of the policy. It has been used 7,313 times so far – but Berenberg’s Rob Wood notes that the figures lean heavily towards more recent months. Only 818 mortgages were [...]
In graphs: London house prices no longer the fastest growing in the UK July 28, 2014 The Land Registry has released new data on house prices in England and Wales and the figures show the market is cooling. The average across England and Wales shows that prices are stagnant – showing no change at all. The average selling price for a house in England and Wales during June was £172,011: a zero per [...]
In graphs: Mortgage approvals rise in June even as London house prices drop July 29, 2014 The discussion around the UK property market was given an added element of confusion today as mortgage lending statistics for June beat expectations. In its Money and Credit report, the Bank of England shows that the number of mortgages approved for house purchases was up to 67,196 in June, above the 62,007 seen in May [...]
Chinese Hony Capital eats up Pizza Express July 14, 2014 PIZZA Express became the latest UK brand to be snapped up by a Chinese buyer after it was announced that the restaurant chain would be sold to Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital for around £900m. The sale of Pizza Express is part of a recent trend that has seen Chinese buyers take ownership of [...]
UK house sales at their highest since 2007, but seasonally adjusted figures show drop July 22, 2014 There was another sign that the UK property market may be cooling, after the HMRC released figures showing that the number of properties sold in the month of June had dropped – when the numbers are adjusted by season. Although the raw number of sales for June, 109,580, is the highest since November 2007 (and [...]
Help to Buy lifts Persimmon new sales past 3,000 November 6, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon said yesterday it has sold over 3,000 homes under the government sponsored Help to Buy scheme, in yet another sign of rising confidence in the housing market. Chief executive Jeff Fairburn said that while 90 per cent of sales were to first-time buyers, growing market confidence was prompting more second and third-time buyers [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 02 June 2014 June 2, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Tony Blair to call for Europe reform Tony Blair will today call for Europe to reform itself in the wake of victories for anti-EU parties across the continent last week. In his first big speech on the subject since the European election results last weekend, the former prime minister will tell leaders in [...]
Help to Buy assists 155 per cent boost in Nationwide profits November 15, 2013 British building society Nationwide has reported a whopping underlying profit increase of 155 per cent, for the six months to the end of September. Underlying profit was £332m compared to £130m during the same period in 2012. Nationwide attributed the dramatic growth to increased lending and a burst of new customers switching to the building [...]