City Moves for 6 January 2016 | Who’s switching jobs January 6, 2016 Victoria Michael Scott been appointed group finance director of Aim 50-listed floorcovering designers and manufacturers Victoria. Michael joins after eight years at Rothschild, where, as part of its global financial advisory business, he worked across a wide range of public and private company transactions, mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity-related fundraisings. He qualified as [...]
Top tips for choosing a mortgage broker and how to get the best out of them February 23, 2016 Graham Lock, CEO of House Network Research rates and reputable brokers In the digital age, you can gain access to a variety of comparison websites such as moneysupermarket.com or comparethemarket.com, without the need for extensive credit checks, which would damage your hard-earned credit rating. If you come across specialist terminology, check out some of the [...]
Retail sales run out of steam in February despite half-term and Valentine’s Day boost March 8, 2016 RETAIL sales slowed in February after a strong start to the year that was boosted by the January sales. Like-for-like sales rose by 0.1 per cent last month compared with February in 2015, when they had increased 0.2 per cent, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG’s monthly data released today. The February [...]
Landlords threaten to sell up 500,000 rental homes after stamp duty hike February 2, 2016 Landlords are so tired of being persecuted by the government, they're threatening to flog half a million rental properties in the next 12 months – meaning the UK's rental sector could be about to shrink dramatically. And as we have learned today – the UK needs more rental properties… Research by the National Landlords Associations [...]
CML warns of higher rents and a buy-to-let slowdown under Stamp Duty Land Tax proposals January 29, 2016 The new tax on second properties could lead to higher rents and a slowdown in the buy-to-let market, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Days before HM Treasury ends its consultation period on the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) proposals, the CML has publicly criticised the plans, claiming that they will have a [...]
City Moves for 10 February 2016 | Who’s switching jobs February 10, 2016 Peel Hunt Corporate broking, trading and advisory house Peel Hunt has appointed Amy Walker and Michal Cabadaj as equity research analysts in its healthcare and life sciences team. Amy has joined from Morgan Stanley where she worked for over five years, most recently as a director of EU pharmaceuticals research. Prior to this, she led [...]
Undercover landlords: One in six renters sublet their home but a third keep it under wraps February 24, 2016 Rents as well as house prices may be rising but tenants are not missing a trick, with more than one in six admitting to having sublet their home, new research today shows. Insurance provider Direct Line for Business said 17 per cent of tenants surveyed said they have rented out part or all of their property to someone [...]
EU referendum: Full text of letter signed by FTSE 100 bosses backing Prime Minister David Cameron’s reform efforts is leaked February 22, 2016 It was first reported over the weekend that up to half of Britain's biggest businesses will voice their support for Prime Minister David Cameron's campaign to keep the UK in the European Union by putting their names to an open letter backing the reforms Cameron secured in Brussels last week. Now it looks like the full text [...]
UK house prices: The UK needs a million more rental homes in the next five years February 2, 2016 The UK needs more than a million new rental homes by 2021, a new report has suggested. The government has a target to build 400,000 new affordable homes for sale over the course of this parliament – but that's ignoring the needs of renters, the research, by Savills, suggests. Sluggish economic recovery, low interest rates – [...]
Treasury is considering giving more powers to Bank of England over the buy-to-let market December 17, 2015 The Treasury is looking for feedback on giving the Bank of England more powers to control the housing market. Treasury officials announced today that they have opened a new consultation on the powers the Bank should have over the UK buy-to-let mortgage market in particular. The Bank's financial policy committee (FPC) is responsible for identifying, monitoring [...]