Time is money: Why are watches so expensive? December 3, 2014 There’s a very good reason top quality watches can set you back six figures. Let us start with a description of two dramatically different approaches to highend mechanical watchmaking. Bear with me. Firstly: “At certain moments you might leave the drawing and let the metal guide you… I really value the fact that I can [...]
More UK home buyers are using cash to seal deal June 3, 2015 A RECORD high proportion of homes were sold without the need for a mortgage during the first three months of year, a major mortgage provider said yesterday. The share of cash purchases in the housing market reached an all-time high of 38 per cent in the first three months of the year, according to Nationwide. [...]
Wages left far behind as house prices rocket February 10, 2014 THE AVERAGE salary in England would have grown by £29,000 in the past decade and a half if wages kept up with house price inflation, according to shocking new figures. Research by housing charity Shelter shows that average earnings would have been over £55,000, rather than just below £26,000, if pay had risen at the [...]
Foxtons’ share price is getting hammered, despite 57pc profit rise August 27, 2014 Foxtons has reported a 57.1 per cent rise in pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 June. The increase to £23.1m from £14.7m in 2013 was driven by strong sales and mortgage broking growth, according to its interim report. It announced it will pay out £12.8m of this in interim and special [...]
Go all the way with Beaujolais November 5, 2014 My least favourite date in the entire wine calendar is 19 November. It is, of course, Beaujolais Nouveau Day, the time when marketing men and desperate wine bar owners flood the Square Mile with cheap, nasty, pink plonk and try to kid us that it is something special. If I haven’t made myself clear, Beaujolais [...]
Cost of a London home climbs to over £400,000 January 29, 2014 THE AVERAGE price of a London home broke through the £400,000 mark at the end of last year according to official figures published yesterday, while prices across the country continued to grow this month. Two separate surveys – released by the Land Registry and Nationwide – told a familiar story for the residential property market, with [...]
Countrywide predicts rosier full-year profit January 14, 2014 COUNTRYWIDE Holdings, Britain’s largest estate agent by revenue, has said it expects to deliver a full-year profit at the top end of expectations after revenues rose by a quarter in the fourth quarter of the year. The group yesterday reported an income of £171m in the quarter to 31 December and £584.8m for the full-year, [...]
Soaring mortgage numbers renew fears of bubbly housing market January 15, 2014 (Laura Lean/City A.M.) The latest housing data is enough to fuel concerns that a "new housing bubble could develop in 2014", says IHS Global Insight's Howard Archer. Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures show mortgage numbers rising by 14.9 per cent in the year to November. There's a more troubling surge among first-time buyers. They [...]
London house market shows sign of cooling June 16, 2014 HOUSE prices in London dropped for the first time this year between May and June, dipping 0.5 per cent as buyers’ ability to pay rapidly accelerating asking prices wanes. The average price dropped to £589,776 on the month, according to Rightmove’s latest price index. However, asking prices are still up by more than £70,000 from [...]
Getting property back in business April 24, 2014 As residential prices soar, developers are turning commercial spaces into homes THE DARK dark satanic mills of William Blake’s Jerusalem were once a dominant fixture in the bustling life of industrial London. It wasn’t that long ago that the city produced condiments like sugar, honey, jam and vinegar, while warehouses stored valuable goods that were [...]