House sales fell in 85 per cent of London boroughs in 2018 January 11, 2019 House sales slumped in 85 per cent of London boroughs in 2018 amid a difficult time for the UK’s property market, new data revealed today. London fared worse than the rest of the country in terms of the number of transactions, with a 6.5 per cent overall year-on-year drop compared to a 4.9 per cent fall [...]
Property of the Week: Interior designer Elspeth Lynn sells her home in Bayswater that’s an homage to Gatsby glamour January 11, 2019 For some people, making a house a home is fun, but for others it’s a chore. Especially – as is the case in many of central London’s most desirable postcodes – if it’s not even your main residence. If you don’t have time for a fixer upper, simply buy an interior designer’s flat. As luck [...]
New homes: Our pick of the new builds going on sale in London this weekend January 11, 2019 New developments on the market this week Hampstead Manor, Hampstead From £740,000 A two bedroom show apartment is being unveiled this month on a huge restoration project in Hampstead, north London. Situated on Kidderpore Avenue, the interior design firm Johnson Ribolla has taken inspiration from authors who’ve lived in the local area to dress each [...]
Mifid II launched one year ago and financial brokers are embracing the opportunity January 10, 2019 A year ago, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, commonly referred to as Mifid II, came into force. Arguably the most ambitious and wide-sweeping regulatory reform of the financial services industry in the last decade, it was touted as the death knell of sell-side equity research. Mifid II’s aim was to enhance transparency and [...]
Debenhams’ Christmas sales slip as it continues talks with lenders over its future January 10, 2019 Sales at troubled department store chain Debenhams dived over Christmas, its latest trading update revealed today, sending its share price even lower. In the 18 weeks to 5 January like-for-like sales fell 5.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. Read more: These are the high street retailers that collapsed in 2018 The [...]
UK house prices get unexpected December boost but market remains subdued January 8, 2019 UK house prices rose 1.3 per cent in the three months to December compared to the same period last year, according to new figures from Halifax. The annual growth rate was up from the 0.3 per cent recorded in November, but house prices were 0.4 per cent lower than in the preceding three months. Read [...]
Financial markets 2018: the year in review January 7, 2019 After two years of steady growth in asset prices, 2018 proved more of a challenge for investors, particularly in the last three months of the year. US president Donald Trump’s tax cuts had provided an added boost for investors heading into 2018, and US GDP growth accelerated to 4.2 per cent on an annualised quarterly basis [...]
My House: Kristian Robson, the man behind Chelsea tailoring brand Oliver Brown tells us how he built his Notting Hill house on top of a duck pond January 7, 2019 The owner of men’s tailor Oliver Brown on his charming mews house in Notting Hill. As told to Melissa York. "When I first moved into my house, one of the neighbours told me it was built on top of a duck pond that was filled in with concrete in the 1960s. So that was interesting [...]
Hobbycraft benefits from Christmas boost as celebrities go big on homemade gifts January 7, 2019 The popularity of personalised gifts and decorations helped Hobbycraft deliver a strong Christmas boost with robust growth in both online and offline sales. The store pointed to celebrities leading the push for personal gifts as like-for-like in-store revenue grew 7.1 per cent, with a 28 per cent bump online. Read more: Debenhams share price plummets [...]
Sports carmaker McLaren achieves record-breaking year for global sales January 7, 2019 Global sales at British luxury sportscar brand McLaren reached record-breaking levels last year, thanks to growth in the UK, North American and Chinese markets. Global sales rose to 4,806 cars in 2018, up 43.9 per cent on 2017, another record for the company which has increased sales every year since its formation in 2010. McLaren's UK domestic market generated [...]