Stamp duty woes: selling up and a renovations business April 26, 2012 DIRECTOR, KAY & CO Q My property is currently on the market at £2.15m. I had accepted an offer of £2.05m but unfortunately the recent stamp duty increase caused the sale to fall through and I have not had much interest since. I have found somewhere else that I want to buy and do not [...]
A vision of the future: how the rental sector can reward investors March 29, 2012 Institutional investors, such as pension funds and investment funds, have been debating whether to dip their toe in the residential property market for years. Such investment is the lifeblood of the UK’s commercial sector, but despite much talk, institutions have very little exposure to residential property. This fact has often been blamed on factors such [...]
Loopholes on home sale fee slammed shut March 21, 2012 AN AGGRESSIVE crackdown against stamp duty avoidance on high-end properties will begin today, as the government slaps a punitive tax on the sales of expensive homes that wealthy people put into companies’ names. Sales of properties worth £2m or more that are “enveloped” in a bid to avoid the tax, will now be hit with [...]
PROPERTY NEWS March 29, 2012 Savills selling historic Provencal mas Savills is selling Mas de l’Hospitalet, a historic Provencal mas where Oscar winning actor, Jean Dujardin held his wedding ceremony in 2009. The property dates back to the 12th century and was built by Templar Knights on the order of the King of France. Currently, the property is a boutique [...]
Not for flower girls these days: Covent Garden’s luxury new flats March 29, 2012 Less than a mile up the road in Mayfair, property sells for at least £2,000 per square foot. Covent Garden, arguably a more vibrant area of central London, is still roughly half as expensive – homes can be had at prices from £1,000 per square foot. Perhaps not for long, though: one of the reasons [...]
St Modwen buoyed by £2bn Nine Elms win April 4, 2012 ST MODWEN said in a trading update yesterday that profits remained in line with expectations, as it flagged its appointment to redevelop New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms as “a significant contract win” for the firm. The government revealed last week that the developer and French group Vinci had been picked as the preferred [...]
Irish Life & Permanent losses widen April 2, 2012 Irish Life & Permanent’s banking arm reported a wider full-year loss due to soaring impairment charges ahead of a split from the group’s life division and a government decision on whether it can remain as a standalone lender. Once lauded as the only Irish lender to avoid a state bailout due to its lack of [...]
London boost for Berkeley March 19, 2012 HOUSEBUILDER Berkeley says it has hit over £1bn in forward sales, up from £813m last May, driven by strong demand for residential property in London and the south east. The firm used a trading update to announce that it had acquired seven sites for a total of £80m since November, including a former Royal Mail [...]
The Budget sent mixed messages on tax certainty March 22, 2012 WE’VE had good news, bad news, and surprising news from the Budget. The UK looks attractive, partly due to financial tension in Europe. The question is whether the Budget added to or reduced the UK’s appeal as a place to do business. The answer, unsurprisingly, is mixed. The reduction of additional rate income tax from [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 15, 2012 Irwin Mitchell The UK solicitor firm has appointed Denny Payton as partner in its motor team. Payton has been a solicitor for over nineteen years and has extensive experience working for major insurers, corporate fleets and brokers. Her focus is on delivering outsourcing services to international clients. DLA Piper Prakash Paran has joined the law [...]