Business minister Matthew Hancock’s fury over Airbnb crackdown by Westminster council November 20, 2014 Business minister Matthew Hancock accused Westminster council last night of “over-zealously” clamping down on holiday rental sites, after it emerged that the Tory authority has been tracking down Airbnb users in the borough and taking enforcement action against them. The discovery comes as the government prepares plans to sweep away the legislation that bans [...]
London Barometer November 13, 2014 George Franks SALES DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS & GORDON New business was up over 100 per cent from August to October, demonstrating that politics hasn’t completely stymied the market. Applicants increased by 10 per cent while offers received increased by almost 30 per cent, indicating that buyers will commit to a purchase if they feel the price [...]
UK rental prices: Is it time to stop buying? August 3, 2014 House prices have been on a surge in the last 12 months and despite a recent slowing of the market many first time buyers are finding themselves priced out of the market. The ONS released figures on rental prices this week that make for interesting reading and imply that an answer to high house prices could be [...]
Rent or buy? First-time buyers in London save £1,000 a year compared to renting as mortgage rates remain low August 23, 2014 Londoners managing to jump on the property ladder are saving £984 a year by making mortgage repayments instead of paying rent as a result of low rates and rising rental prices. New home owners in the capital are pocketing more money than any other region along with first-time buyers in the West Midlands, saving £984 [...]
Six charts showing why the UK needs to build more homes September 22, 2014 The housing market is hotly watched recently with prices rising and demand under constant observation. There were 21.9 per cent fewer house completions in England during 2013/14 than there were in 2003/4, while demand for house in London has driven the average price north of £500,000. These are just some of the results of analysis [...]
Travelport value put at $2.1bn on market debut September 25, 2014 Shares in Travelport soared by as much as 10.6 per cent on debut yesterday, valuing the UK travel business backed by private equity group Blackstone at $2.13bn (£1.3bn). The company is benefiting from the recovery in business and leisure travel as the global economy improves. Travelport raised about $480m after its offering of 30m shares [...]
London rent prices: Surge pushes capital to twice rest of UK for first time July 27, 2014 The cost of renting in London is rising at nearly twice the pace of the UK, reaching more than double the average for the rest of the country for the first time. New figures released today by Homelet indicate that the rents on new tenancies in London are rising much more rapidly than official [...]
Unleash the potential of small developers to help resolve the housing crisis September 30, 2014 JUST as with small business lending, the house-building market in Britain is deeply dysfunctional. Development is being suffocated, helping to inflate house prices and stoke the red-hot rental market. In some parts of the country, the situation is particularly grim. In the East Midlands, housing starts are barely at a third of their peak levels [...]
UK house prices soar as lack of homes fuels cost of living crisis September 22, 2014 House building in the UK has been in a continual state of decline since the 1970s, making it harder to own a home and to pay rent, according to a report released yesterday. In the several years preceding the financial crisis, just under 200,000 houses were completed per year – half the number that [...]
2014 City A.M. awards: Legal & General CEO Nigel Wilson is the insurance boss with big ideas November 13, 2014 The Legal & General chief exec, City A.M.’s Business Personality of the Year. His hero is Aneurin Bevan, the firebrand post-war Labour minister and architect of the NHS. His career was inspired by a quotation from political theorist Sir Isaiah Berlin on the importance of searching after the common good. And when I meet [...]