UK House prices: Generation rent downbeat on buying outlook April 6, 2015 A generation of Britons still fear that they will never be able to buy a home despite the number of first-time buyers reaching a seven-year high in 2014, a survey reveals today. Some 79 per cent of 20- to 45-year-olds believe banks do not want to lend to first-time buyers, while 21 per cent think [...]
Is this the future of property? Rob Ellice on why you should let your home online June 25, 2015 We ask Rob Ellice, CEO of easyProperty why it's a good idea to rent your home online. What would you say is the core business ethos behind easyProperty? easyProperty wants to make selling and letting properties as affordable, convenient and transparent as possible. We help landlords list their properties on the big online property portals [...]
UK’s economic weak spot: IMF says build more homes April 14, 2015 BRITAIN is growing faster than any other major European economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday, but needs to build more homes to address the supply crisis in the sector. GDP is set to grow by 2.7 per cent this year and 2.3 per cent next year, well ahead of the 1.5 per cent [...]
Becoming Mr Matchmaker: Venntro founder Ross Williams talks going mobile, nature v nurture, and ginger dating August 16, 2015 A week today, Ross Williams will be a married man. “Oh, I’m not stressed, nervous, anxious, oh no,” he laughs. But Williams shouldn’t worry – after all, he’s got a wife and mother-in-law-to-be who are “absolutely fantastic” organisers, and his relationship was founded on a very firm footing: he and his fiancée met on an [...]
Thousands of City jobs saved as UK wins battle with ECB over clearing houses March 4, 2015 The government has won an important legal challenge to a European Central Bank (ECB) decision, safeguarding thousands of jobs in clearing houses across the City of London. The EU General Court in Luxembourg ruled today that the ECB could not require clearing houses handling significant euro-denominated assets to be based in the Eurozone. “The ECB lacks [...]
Slump in home loans expected to be temporary March 10, 2015 Agents and brokers are expecting a pick up in mortgage lending this year after a sluggish end to 2014. Meanwhile, one of the UK’s most-watched house price indicators has changed hands. Gross mortgage lending was 8.1 per cent lower in the final three months of 2014 than in the three months to September, according to [...]
Bank of England says world risks could hurt City March 26, 2015 GLOBAL risks, from the slowdown in China to the chance of Greece leaving the Eurozone could trigger panic in financial markets, leading to severe pain in London, the Bank of England warned yesterday. The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) told firms like asset managers that they should be prepared to withstand rapid outflows of funds. “Any of these [...]
Exploring Oman, the wild west of the east September 7, 2015 Camping always evokes familiar memories: pitching tents at night, muddy fields, the taste of a stodgy pasta meal cooked over a gas stove in the rain, and a chorus of sheep baa-ing at dawn like a congregation of tone-deaf pensioners at a Sunday service. At least it did for me until earlier this year when [...]
HSBC provides bounce as FTSE hits new highs – London Report April 27, 2015 THE FTSE rose to another record high yesterday as reports suggesting HSBC will spin off its British retail bank in a £20bn ($30bn) deal boosted stocks. The banking giant was up 3.1 per cent and has already said it is reviewing whether to keep its headquarters in London, given increased regulation and the possibility of [...]
House of Fraser to open three Chinese stores from next year March 24, 2015 House of Fraser is to try and crack the Chinese market next year, with the launch of a trio of stores beginning next year. The department store business, which last autumn was bought out by Chinese conglomerate Sanpower, is planning to open three branches in second-tier cities Nanjing, Xuzhou and Chongqing. They might [...]