The global financial crisis 10 years on: six charts that tell the story July 31, 2017 It is hard to believe but it is 10 years since the start of the global financial crisis. Triggered by a collapse in the US housing market it caused the deepest recession in living memory and the near-collapse of the financial system. Banks failed, government institutions were bailed out, stockmarkets crashed and countries had to [...]
This scientist’s 3D map of UK house prices will make you weep into your morning coffee April 22, 2016 A physicist with a "morbid curiosity" about London house prices has literally added a new dimension to the horror of the capital's property boom. This fly-through 3D animation shows the house prices of all properties sold in England and Wales from 1995 onwards, averaged and adjusted for inflation. London sticks out as a huge red scar on [...]
In our rush to solve the housing crisis, we’re forgetting about one thing February 3, 2017 Greenwich Peninsula has never been thought of fondly. Once desolate marshland, by the turn of the 20th century it was best known for the difficult-to-love Blackwall Tunnel. A century later, the controversial Millennium Dome had joined it, along with the fiscally-questionable Emirates Air Line cable car. So yesterday’s high-profile launch of 600 shiny apartments on the [...]
Black Monday 30 years on: how big was the crash and how fast did markets recover? October 17, 2017 On 19 October 1987 global stock markets came crashing down amid worries about a slowing global economy and high stock valuations. The concerns were compounded by a computer glitch. In the space of 24 hours stock markets in Asia, Europe and the US suffered falls of up to 23%. It was the biggest crash in [...]
73 candid Hitler photos have been sold for £34,000 at an auction in Kent March 17, 2017 A series of candid photos of Adolf Hitler sold for £34,000 to an unidentified bidder in an auction held this week in Royal Tunbridge Wells. The photos belonged to Eva Braun, the dictator's long-time companion and briefly his wife. They were discovered in April 1945 in Hitler’s Berlin bunker among Braun’s other possessions. Read more: Ken [...]
Crest Nicholson’s profit soars – but it warns about cost pressures and falling house prices in central London January 24, 2017 Crest Nicholson's share price remained largely flat as the company reported a 27 per cent jump in profit. The builder said it was selling more homes at higher prices – but warned of pricing pressures in central London and cost inflation due to the Brexit vote. The figures The housebuilder's profit jumped 27 per cent in [...]
Holiday Homes: Finding a property investment at Courchevel 1850 on the slopes in the Rhone-Alpes that will pay off March 14, 2017 In the rarefied air of Courchevel 1850, known as France’s ski playground for the wealthy, the word “only” quickly takes on a new meaning. A burger, for example, is “only” €30 on the slopes, and a duplex apartment is “only” €9.65m. But in the Rhone-Alpes prime real estate hotspot, where high-end chalets up to 3000sqm [...]
Tony Pidgley on Berkeley Group’s demotion from FTSE 100, giving up his six-figure salary and solving London’s housing crisis March 15, 2017 Berkeley Homes bowed out of the FTSE 100 following the Brexit vote last year but founder and chairman Tony Pidgley CBE isn’t perturbed. “I don’t run Berkeley for whether it's in or out of the FTSE 100. I run Berkeley because Berkeley does what it does well,” Pidgley tells City A.M. “I couldn’t control Brexit [...]
New Builds: New homes are on sale in Finchley, Woolwich, Golders Green, Kew and Croydon January 27, 2017 Mantle Developments, Croydon From £430,000 and £875,000 (Help to Buy available) Buy a home and get a Michelin-starred meal cooked in it by chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. Buyers who snap up a property in one of two schemes in Croydon by the end of January through Countrywide will be able to take up the tasty offer. [...]
Rent-to-buy business Rentplus secures up to £70m funding as it aims to build 5,000 affordable homes by 2020 April 20, 2016 A new business aiming to build 5,000 affordable homes by 2020 has secured up to £70m in funding. Rentplus said the funds, from BAE Systems Pension Funds Investment Management, will be used to help deliver its first 580 homes. BAE has approved an initial £35m private placing of an inflation-linked bond for the company with a [...]