City backs plans to boost housebuilding September 11, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT is right to try to boost housebuilding but local communities should get more of a say when it comes to new developments, according to the City A.M. / PoliticsHome.com Voice of the City Panel. Almost two thirds of panellists (61 per cent) said they approved of government plans to more than double the [...]
Housing boom would create 200k new jobs September 4, 2011 AS the government’s proposed planning rules are debated by environmentalists and concerned “nimbys”, a report out today claims a housing boom could create 201,000 jobs. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates that policies which free up the housing market supply to match the level of demand would create a housing explosion. In [...]
Fitness First pulls £1.2bn Singapore IPO October 2, 2011 GYM chain Fitness First has pulled its Singapore flotation as global market turmoil shows little sign of easing. Private equity owner BC Partners was expected to raise around £500m in a listing which would have valued Fitness First at between £1bn and £1.2bn. It has postponed the initial public offering (IPO), however, because of the [...]
Fitness First pulls £1.2bn Singapore IPO October 2, 2011 GYM chain Fitness First has pulled its Singapore flotation as global market turmoil shows little sign of easing. Private equity owner BC Partners was expected to raise around £500m in a listing which would have valued Fitness First at between £1bn and £1.2bn. It has postponed the initial public offering (IPO), however, because of the [...]
PROPERTY NEWS September 29, 2011 BUYING NOW CHEAPER THAN RENTING Falling house prices and increasing rental demand has made it cheaper to buy than rent in 45 of the 50 largest towns across Britain. The cost of renting is now 13 per cent higher on average than the cost of owning, according to the latest research from property website Zoopla.co.uk. [...]
EXPANDED MAREX SPECTRON CALLS ON BORIS FOR BISHOPSGATE MOVE November 16, 2011 WE ARE positive about the outlook for our business, said broker Marex Spectron when it unveiled its 83 per cent boost in operating profits on Tuesday night. No charitable donations were paid out during the year to 31 March – just dividends to shareholders of £5.3m – but all that changed as of yesterday, when [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL CONFIDENCE BOUNCE BACK SOON? September 25, 2011 SAMUEL TOMBS | CAPITAL ECON “No – conditions may be deteriorating further. We expect figures from surveys like the CBI’s Distributive Trades Survey, which comes out in the UK tomorrow, to maintain the gloomy tone. And while August’s household borrowing figures, released this Thursday, may reveal a rise in mortgage approvals, we predict a fall [...]
CHINA FACING WALL IN HUNT FOR GROWTH October 17, 2011 INVESTORS have placed considerable faith in China over the past few years. Many remain convinced that the country’s growing middle class (estimated to be around 300m people) is ready to step in and take up the slack as US and European economies slow. But while China’s economic growth is likely to continue to outstrip that [...]
Sterling looks weak but not as frail as the euro and dollar May 10, 2011 STERLING has had a tough year. An underwhelming recovery and loose monetary policy from the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) have had their impact, neither of which looks to be imminently reversed. But bad as things are, the monetary authorities in the US appear to be wedded to keeping interest rates lower for longer than the [...]
House prices drop throughout London August 14, 2011 LONDON’S house prices have collapsed in August, yet a leading analyst has said that global financial worries will not impact the housing market across the UK. Asking prices were down in all 32 London boroughs this month, plummeting 3.4 per cent across the capital, according to the Rightmove index released this morning. Prices in London [...]