What the autumn statement means for property players December 20, 2012 Chancellor OF the exchequer George Osborne’s autumn statement, released last month, included a £5.5bn infrastructure package, bringing infrastructure investment to £33bn a year. The funding includes support for long-term private investment in new roads, science, free schools and academies. Osborne also opted to keep property taxes and the rate of stamp duty unchanged, something some [...]
Work placements for the unemployed make a lot of sense February 12, 2013 UNEMPLOYMENT remains obscenely high in today’s stagnant Britain, and far too many people – young and old – have been on the dole or on other out of work benefits for far too long. Anything that allows them to break out of their present predicament should be welcome. The government should be able to ask [...]
Rio Tinto scraps aluminium sale as earnings fall August 8, 2013 RIO TINTO’S chief executive yesterday said that China’s economy is unlikely to recover significantly this year but he does not expect “a hard landing”, as falling commodity prices led to a 71 per cent drop in first-half net profits. “China is best described as ‘steady as it goes’,” chief executive Sam Walsh told City [...]
Northampton to go well again this year as London Double Header gets the season off to a flier September 5, 2013 AS THE summer draws to its conclusion, the start of the Aviva Premiership is almost upon us following on from an unforgettable British and Irish Lions Tour. Last term Leicester Tigers once again saved their best rugby until last to secure their first title in three years. Richard Cockerill’s side are 15/8 favourites to repeat [...]
It’s time we ended the pretence that planning rules come without a price September 6, 2013 MOST agree that the UK housing market has long been stuck in an affordability crisis. Despite a fall in prices since 2007, Nationwide recently calculated that the typical house now costs 5.1 times average earnings, up from 3.9 a quarter of a century ago. In London, the ratio has risen from 5.7 to 7.7. And [...]
The range of premium mixers produced to raise gin’s spirits October 21, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks luck, liquor and a lightbulb moment with Charles Rolls, co-founder of drinks label Fever-Tree WHILE gin may not be the most popular global spirit (that prestigious title goes to Korean rice wine brand Jinro), the world consumes 440m litres of it each year. But back in 2000, Charles Rolls, co-founder of the [...]
It’s time we ended the pretence that planning rules come without a price September 2, 2013 MOST agree that the UK housing market has long been stuck in an affordability crisis. Despite a fall in prices since 2007, Nationwide recently calculated that the typical house now costs 5.1 times average earnings, up from 3.9 a quarter of a century ago. In London, the ratio has risen from 5.7 to 7.7. And [...]
First-timers to be kept locked out of 2013 mortgage market December 17, 2012 MORTGAGE lenders will focus their attention on the safer, low loan-to-value (LTV) end of the credit market during 2013, research showed yesterday. Lenders will conserve their precious capital and boost their lending in the remortgage market, which will grow a quarter from around 310,000 transactions this year to almost 400,000 next year, according to data [...]
Why UK recovery could rescue the great British banking sector sell-off September 2, 2013 ROLL up, roll up. Britain’s banks are up for sale. This month and next, the Lloyds privatisation will compete for attention with Barclays’s £5.8bn rights issue. Then there’s the initial public offering triplets: Williams & Glyn, Virgin Money and TSB – all set to hit the market with aplomb. And that’s before RBS has turned [...]
FIRST TIME BUYERS HURRY TO BEAT STAMP DUTY DEADLINE February 13, 2012 THE HOUSING market saw a jump in activity in December and January as first-time buyers snapped up houses before the stamp duty exemption runs out next month, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed yesterday, and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) today. Loans to first-time buyers were up 14 per cent on [...]