London house prices on the up after six months of flatlining March 24, 2015 London’s house prices are picking up again after stalling since August, official data showed yesterday. The average home in the capital cost £510,000 in January – up 1.6 per cent from £502,000 in December, and back up towards the £514,000 peak seen in August 2014. Nationally, prices rose £1,000 to an average of £273,000. Over [...]
EU referendum details emerge as David Cameron begins European tour to win reform support May 27, 2015 New details about the in/out referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union have emerged today, as Prime Minister David Cameron sets off on a whistle-stop tour to meet with his European counterparts. The EU referendum bill, which the government will introduce in parliament today, includes the exact text that the electorate will be [...]
Travis Perkins plans 400 new stores as housing market grows March 19, 2015 Travis Perkins has announced plans to create 4,000 jobs by opening 400 new branches across the UK over the next four years. The majority of the positions will be outside London and the south east and consist of apprenticeships for younger people, branch managers, assistant managers, skilled IT professionals and supply chain specialists. The builders’ [...]
Investec Comment: Two major implications of the Tory victory May 17, 2015 TO SAY that the General Election result was a surprise barely does it justice. The markets reacted positively to the news that the Conservatives had gained an overall majority, with sterling surging and the FTSE 250 reaching all-time highs. There were three reasons for this. First, stocks in sectors that would have faced tougher regulation [...]
London house prices: As rents keep rising, here’s how the Monopoly board looks in 2015 June 11, 2015 Click to see table in a new window There has been a shake-up in the London property price hierarchy, and the most profitable places to be a landlord have moved dramatically. That well-established measure of London property values – the humble Monopoly board – has been shaken and stirred by fluctuations in the market, and [...]
Why Crossrail risks being London’s last major infrastructure project May 5, 2015 It is difficult to believe that it was half a decade ago that Liam Byrne – a Treasury minister in Gordon Brown’s government – left that infamous note for his successor. It apparently read, “Dear chief secretary, I’m afraid there is no money left… Good luck.” Of course, Byrne was only half right. Since 2010, [...]
London house prices no longer the UK’s fastest growing as General Election looms April 14, 2015 House price growth is slowing in the run up to the election, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown, with London slipping down the list of fastest growing regions. In January London was top of the pile with 13 per cent year-on-year growth, but it’s been knocked back as its growth [...]
London leads national house price growth March 12, 2015 London and the south east are leading national house price growth despite slowing substantially, new figures show today. Average UK house prices were 6.8 per cent higher in February than they were in the same month last year, according to figures released by property services firm LSL today. If London and the south east are [...]
City set for a decade of job growth as finance and technology hiring to soar in London June 2, 2015 Booming finance and technology hiring will help create 145,000 new jobs in central London over the next decade in a sustained bounce-back from the financial crisis, according to a study out today from the City of London Corporation. The Square Mile can expect an additional 39,000 workers, with the remainder created across the other central [...]
London rents more than double UK average as high property prices lift sector demand March 29, 2015 Rents in London rose by eight per cent in February compared with the same month last year, as high property prices forced more people into the rented sector. For the UK as a whole, average rents increased by seven per cent in February compared with last year, figures released by estate agents Barnard Marcus show [...]