Strongest year-start since 2005: Brits fork out average of £255,556 on houses as prices soar February 1, 2022 Buyers are paying more than ever before for their homes with the average UK house costing 11.2 per cent more than it did last year.
Second home buyers dodge bullet of stamp duty rise for now October 28, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak may have taken a last minute decision not to increase the stamp duty surcharge paid by landlords and second home buyers. The government had planned to hike the three percentage point surcharge on additional property purchases to four percentage points, first reported by the Daily Telegraph. In the economic and fiscal outlook, [...]
Let’s face it: Profiteering is feeding the inflation beast, not just pay rises April 4, 2023 Inflation is a pernicious beast that is plainly bad for people and businesses. It can ease governments’ debt burdens by (artificially) boosting tax revenues, but that can lead to severe bouts of price rises that, often, lead to societal decay. So it’s easy to see why policymakers in the UK are sweating over the rate [...]
House prices: Property market slowdown good for long term stability July 14, 2021 Long-term stability in the housing market could be on the cards thanks to a gradual slowdown in house price growth and easing of government support, according to industry observers. Figures published by both Zoopla and Rightmove show that, although house prices are still outperforming the same period in 2019, growth compared with April and May [...]
Angry leaseholders protest against footing cladding bill outside Parliament April 20, 2022 Angry leaseholders and tenants have gathered outside Parliament to protest the Building Safety Bill which is being debated in the Commons today. The Bill aims to fix cladding on taller buildings which have been deemed a major fire risk, following the Grenfell disaster in 2017, but has handed leaseholders the responsibility to fund the fixes. [...]
UK at greater risk of mortgage default wave than international counterparts November 9, 2022 The UK is at greater risk of being jolted by an uptick in mortgage defaults during the global economic slowdown, a top Wall Street bank has warned. Goldman Sachs reckons the country will undergo a bigger unemployment surge compared to other English speaking countries, dealing a heavy blow to households’ capacity to pay off home [...]
General election 2024: Do the spending promises stack up? June 13, 2024 We've reviewed the three major parties' policy pitches to determine whether their spending promises stack up. The answer, on the whole, is no.
The Notebook: Andy Silvester on the City’s ecosystem, a cricket charity and ‘no bullsh*t’ books February 28, 2023 As a child, I was fascinated by trains – not necessarily how diesel engines worked, but how the various moving parts of a train system worked together. Alas, the space limits of a terraced house in south London meant that my dream to build an entire train set across the top floor were thwarted. The [...]
Shortfall of 225,000 properties as average house price jumps to £338,447 July 19, 2021 Across Britain, the average asking price for a home is now £21,389 higher than it was just six months ago. The average price tag has jumped to a new record high for the fourth month in a row, reaching £338,447 in July, according to property website Rightmove. The website said the first half of this [...]
Stamp duty cuts and a planning overhaul: Estate agents tell us their housing policy wish list September 14, 2022 With Simon Clarke announced as the new housing minister, we asked top estate agents for their housing policy wish lists Simon Tollit, Partner, Tedworth Property Operating in the luxury residential sector of Prime Central London, the last two years have seen a strong domestic market and more recently London has welcomed back international investors. However, [...]