The Bank of England is playing with fire by keeping rates so low May 14, 2014 INTEREST rates won’t be going up any time soon, even though the economy is now booming. The reason is simple: the Bank of England is deadly serious about using other tools to calm down the housing market if it feels that it is overheating; interest rates, or at least the Bank base rate, are now [...]
Foxtons returns to market at £649m as stocks gear towards housing recovery September 20, 2013 London estate agents Foxtons has floated on the London Stock Exchange at 230p a share. (Release) Market capitalisation for the company is about £649m with gross proceeds raised of £390m. Our deputy editor David Hellier writes: STRONG demand for shares in Foxtons, the London-focused estate agency chain, was last night expected to push the group’s [...]
Most London homebuyers pay stamp duty of more than £7,500 August 5, 2013 TWO THIRDS of London home sales attract stamp duty of more than £7,500, according to research based on Land Registry data out today from the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA). Figures from the Nationwide show the average price of a London house hit £318,214 in July, meaning potential purchasers must be able to pay £9,500 in cash to the [...]
Latis Homes founders Robert Luck and Krishan Pattni talk dream designs and planning nightmares August 10, 2014 Without the regulatory constraints imposed on our housing market, between 1974 and 2008, average house prices would have risen from £79,000 to £147,000, rather than to £226,000. That’s according to a new report by Christian Hilber of the LSE and Wouter Vermeulen of UV University that looks at the impact of supply constraints on house [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 06 May 2014 May 6, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Loopholes for Cameron on EU treaty David Cameron’s demands to renegotiate British membership of the EU would not necessarily require a treaty change, according to the top Brussels lawyer who helped to draft every EU treaty from Maastricht to Lisbon. Jean-Claude Piris, former legal counsel of the European Council and the Council of [...]
Gross new lending hits record high as Help to Buy kicks in September 10, 2013 Figures published today by the Bank of England (BoE) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) show new high for gross new lending and interest rates on gross new lending for the second quarter, since the start of the series in 2007. Mortgage lenders and administrator statistics show record levels; at 1.6 percentage points higher than [...]
Bottom Line: Price wars can come and go but real estate is permanent March 10, 2014 FOUR pints of milk and a warehouse near Stockton-on-Tees, please. Morrisons’ latest special offers will be welcomed by shoppers and property buyers alike, though the latter have a bit longer to enjoy the spoils of the investment. Cutting the price of everyday groceries doesn’t look like a sustainable strategy on its own for Morrisons, with [...]
Housebuilders urged to sell to Londoners first March 11, 2014 BORIS Johnson has urged housebuilders and developers to sign up to a new deal to stop giving buyers living abroad the first chance to buy London homes sold before they’re built, in a bid to get more Londoners onto the housing ladder. Speaking at Mipim, the property industry’s annual conference in Cannes yesterday, the London [...]
Our guide to the best investments November 7, 2013 London property prices are sky-rocketing, so what better time to invest with the rest? RIGHT now, investing in a London home looks like a pretty smart move. Asking prices saw a 10 per cent increase last month and, with low-deposit schemes like the government’s Help to Buy initiative, more people are looking to invest in [...]
Generation Wealth: Brands are overlooking the most lucrative demographic April 14, 2014 @LiamWardProud COURTING millennials is something of an obsession among media types. With brands chasing the digital trendsetters born between 1980 and 2000, marketing campaigns seem increasingly driven by Twitter hashtags, Facebook follows and all manner of social media buzzwords. This could be a huge mistake. The UK’s population is ageing – quickly. In 2015, over-40s [...]