London home registrations at highest point since records began January 31, 2014 2013 saw the number of homes registered in London boom to the highest level since electronic records began 26 years ago, according to the National House Building Council (NHBC). Last year, the number of new homes registered in London rose to 26,230 an increase of 60 per cent on the previous year. However, growth in [...]
Stop bashing the super rich: You’ll make us all poorer October 2, 2014 FOR ALL their wealth, ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals are a tiny minority, with little clout at the ballot box. Labour’s proposed mansion tax on homes worth over £2m is just the latest assault on the super rich, who have become an easy target for politicians; the top 1 per cent of earners already [...]
The hour-long lunch break: Is it worth taking? December 15, 2014 Even well-known executives aren’t afraid to take some “me time”. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have been known to take them together. The French often take twice as long as the rest of us (and the Italians longer still), while 20 per cent of Brits claim not to take one at all, according to [...]
London house prices to finally cool down as homeowners rush to sell properties August 11, 2014 The frothy London housing market is likely to come off the boil in the months ahead, with owners rushing to sell their properties following the recent surge in prices and buyers increasingly reticent to match the escalating valuations. The number of people looking to sell homes in the capital has climbed by nearly a third, [...]
Ashtead thanks recovering construction markets for record profits September 3, 2014 As the housebuilders surf the wave of rising house prices, so too does Ashstead, supplier of construction tools. The company, which rents plant machinery and other tools to the construction industry, released its first quarter results today, showing record rises in pre-tax profits and revenue, enough to encourage an upward adjustment of expected full-year results. Profit [...]
The Supper Club founder Duncan Cheatle talks cowboys, venture capital and safe spaces January 25, 2015 If you ask Duncan Cheatle, founder of members-only entrepreneur networking group The Supper Club, to describe his formative entrepreneurial experience, you’re instantly transported. “Like lots of entrepreneurs, the first early thing I did was to sell tuck,” he tells me. “I guess there’s a limit to what you can do as a kid to show [...]
Save money when buying overseas October 31, 2014 Whether it’s a villa in the sun-kissed Côte d'Azur, a chalet in the Alps or a pied-à-terre in Paris, France has long been a favourite destination for second home owners. And that desire shows no sign of abating, as trends in the French capital are showing: “In Paris, foreign buyers are now accounting for nearly [...]
No more bubble? UK house price growth falls to 10.2 per cent August 19, 2014 House price hysteria has calmed slightly with prices rising by a marginally more modest 10.2 per cent in the year to June, compared with 10.4 per cent in May, official figures showed today. According to the Office for National Statistics' House Price Index, London and the South East continued to drive growth, with prices [...]
UK’s surge in renminbi trading cements European hub status August 26, 2014 The UK is fast become the dominant European hub for renminbi trading, with payments in the Chinese currency more than doubling in size over the last year. Data from currency trackers Swift show that renminbi trading in the UK has surged, rising by 123.6 per cent in the year to July. Activity in Germany has [...]
Bovis Homes benefits from housing boom, with profit up 166pc August 18, 2014 UK housebuilder Bovis Homes has experienced a 166 per cent rise in profit following a strong demand for new homes. In results released this morning for the six months to 30 June, the FTSE 250 company reported a 54 per cent increase in the number of new homes built compared to the same period [...]