UK house prices: Property transactions have fallen to their lowest since 2013 April 21, 2017 The number of homes bought in the UK fell to its lowest since 2013 last year, new figures have shown. Some 1.15m homes were bought between April last year and March this year, compared with 1.32m the year before, and 2m in 2014-15. The figures also showed the number of homes bought fell 40 per [...]
These are the 50 hottest fintech startups in Europe right now, as London fights to keep up with innovation June 20, 2018 Over half of the 2018 Fintech50 are based in London, as it fights to keep its crown amid increasing competition from startups in cities like Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam and Warsaw. The city has produced 27 out of Europe’s best ‘ones to watch’, selected from the list’s largest ever pool of over 1,800 fintechs across the [...]
Lloyds ban on credit card Bitcoin purchases is the right move February 6, 2018 On Monday, Lloyds Banking Group announced it has banned its credit cards from being used to buy Bitcoin. The decision includes Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA credit cards. It follows a similar move by US banks. It’s a hard decision to argue with. Regardless of the inherent volatility in the value of [...]
Here’s what the property sector is expecting in this week’s Budget – from stamp duty to landlords to luxury homes March 7, 2017 It’s that time of year again: the days are getting longer, the trees are blossoming, and the one-time-only Spring Budget is rapidly approaching – with homeowners and landlords alike steeling themselves for more punishment from the chancellor. The good news is it looks unlikely there will be much to punish homeowners or lower house prices [...]
City analysts say there’s more M&A activity on the horizon May 21, 2018 Equity markets nearing all-time record highs, interest rates still low and a weak pound have created a cauldron for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that analysts anticipate continuing while current market conditions persist. Two FTSE 100 companies have already been acquired this year, a third looks set to go and with two more facing bids, 2018 [...]
What needs to change about housing policy by UK property professionals ahead of party conference season September 15, 2017 Katherine McCullough, development director at Merchant Land “During the political party season, I would like to see some attention given to reviewing what Osborne’s stamp duty reforms have achieved and ideally, to have them reversed in order to help stimulate the housing market at the top end. It would also be encouraging to hear discussion [...]
nHouse founders Nick Fulford and Richard Hywel Evans on the need for modular housing in the UK May 2, 2018 While we all know what disruptive tech looks like, what does disruptive housing look like? By almost universal consent, three problems need to be addressed in the current market – affordability, sustainability and quality – and whoever conquers all three will seriously shake up the UK market. Yet architect Richard Hywel Evans thinks he, along [...]
I can’t help but worry about the potential for the mother of all house price crashes January 26, 2017 The year opened with alarming newspaper headlines in The Daily Telegraph on the risk of a global property price crash. How worried should we be in the UK? The ratio of house prices to incomes in the UK is close to the all-time high it reached before the financial crisis. If that ratio mean reverts over [...]
“House blocking” and the property standstill: We need a housing market that addresses the whole population’s needs, not just first-time buyers February 22, 2016 There is a ‘house-blocking’ issue in the UK that must be addressed if we are to free up vital space, ease resources and stop the property market grinding to a complete standstill. The latest English housing survey revealed that, during the past 10 years, the number of owner-occupiers aged over 65 who own their home [...]
James Brokenshire has no time to waste in fixing the capital’s housing crisis May 2, 2018 As James Brokenshire takes up his new role as housing secretary, his top priority must be to fix the capital’s broken housing market. It is no exaggeration to say that London is in the midst of a housing crisis. Demand far outstrips supply; while we have built 200,000 new homes over the last decade, London’s [...]