Suburbs lag behind inner London boroughs in housebuilding drive November 13, 2015 Inner London boroughs are granting planning permission for more new homes than the all of the surrounding outer boroughs put together, according to a new report that warns of a growing prosperity divide within the capital. Stirling Ackroyd’s latest New Homes Monitor showed London’s thirteen Inner boroughs approved a total of 11,970 new homes throughout [...]
Derwent sells Covent Garden’s Davidson Building for £66m as third quarter lettings soar November 12, 2015 Derwent London's Davidson Building in Covent Garden has been snapped up by US real estate firm Cornerstone for £66.2m, the developer said yesterday, as it reported a surge in third quarter lettings. The company bought the office building and redeveloped it in 2003, keeping the Edwardian façade on Southampton Street. It was named the Davidson [...]
Number of new homes built in England at highest level in 28 years November 12, 2015 The number of new homes in England has risen by a quarter over the past year, the highest annual increase in 28 years, official figures show. A total of 170,690 residential properties were created in 2014/15, a 25 per cent increase on the previous year when the number of homes increased by 10 per cent, according data [...]
Asda’s ToYou teams up with online retailers for launch of parcel collection service in UK stores November 12, 2015 Shoppers will be able to pick-up goods in Asda supermarkets that they have ordered from other online retailers as part of a new service launched today by the Walmart-owned chain to boost footfall in its stores. The retailer said the new service, called ToYou, allows customers to collect and return orders placed with third parties at any one of [...]
House purchase lending jumps to seven-year for October November 12, 2015 Mortgage lending reached its highest level for the month of October in seven years, new data released today shows, as low inflation rates and rising wages helped keep consumer confidence levels high. Overall house purchase lending approvals reached 72,409 in October, up by 5.1 per cent on the previous month and 21.9 per cent ahead [...]
Great Portland’s first half results boosted by mammoth Facebook letting November 11, 2015 Great Portland Estates posted record beating results in the first half of the year after Facebook agreed to take all of its office space at Rathbone Square near Tottenham Court Road, in one of its biggest lettings deals to date. The West End developer made 29 new lettings in the six months to 30 September [...]
First-time buyers fuel rise in mortgage lending in September November 11, 2015 Mortgage lending rose year-on-year in September, new data shows, driven by a jump in first time buyers taking out new loans. The month saw 28,600 first-time buyers take out mortgages, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which was up four per cent on the previous month and by 8.7 per cent year-on-year. By value, [...]
Barratt Developments shares fall despite 20 per cent jump in sales November 11, 2015 Shares in Barratt Developments fell this morning despite Britain’s biggest housebuilder reporting a strong start to the autumn selling season thanks to “high levels of consumer demand” across all regions. Forward sales (including joint ventures) jumped by 20.7 per cent to £2.5bn across 11,033 plots in the 19 weeks to 8 November compared with £2.07bn [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: John Lewis and Sainsbury’s leaders meet with Treasury ministers over £8bn business rates burden November 10, 2015 The leaders of two of Britain’s biggest retailers have held talks with the government to demand for urgent reforms to the burdensome business rates regime ahead of the chancellor’s Autumn Statement. Sir Charlie Mayfield, the chairman of John Lewis Partnership, Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe, and Helen Dickinson, the director general of the British Retail Consortium [...]
Pandora sales sparkle as Danish jeweller charms UK shoppers November 10, 2015 Danish jewellery brand Pandora has posted a 50.5 per cent jump in UK sales in the third quarter, after its rings, necklaces and charm bracelets flew off the shelves. The listed company, which has opened 179 stores in the UK over the last seven years, said like-for-like sales increased by 17.5 per cent compared to [...]