Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered Labour’s first Budget in 14 years, announcing £40bn of tax rises, Central London Alliance comments
London mayoral hopeful Tessa Jowell: City workers would be better off commuting from Madrid July 28, 2015 London mayoral hopeful Tessa Jowell’s team has been crunching numbers – and it turns out capital dwellers might be better off commuting to the City from Madrid rather than living in London. You read that right. Based on the average cost of commuting from a one-bedroom flat in north London to a job in the [...]
London house prices: Both buyers and renters suffer brunt of affordability crisis July 28, 2015 London house prices were 9.2 per cent higher in June than the same month last year, according to figures published by the Land Registry today. The capital outpaced the rest of England and Wales, where price growth averaged 5.4 per cent. Renters are not faring much better either. Average rents in London climbed to £699 [...]
Herzog & de Meuron’s Canary Wharf tower given go-ahead July 28, 2015 Fancy living in a cylindrical waterfront tower? Soon homebuyers will be able to do just that after Canary Wharf Group secured detailed planning permission for its second residential scheme on the former Wood Wharf site. The 57-storey building, which is yet to be named, owes its quirky design to Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, [...]
London rental prices: Renters on living wage priced out of every postcode in the capital July 27, 2015 Exorbitant room rents are pricing low-paid workers out of all parts of London, as new data shows that there is no longer a single postcode in the capital where you can afford to live on the London living wage. On average, renters earning a living wage put more than half of their salary, 56 per [...]
First homes inside former BBC Television Centre go on sale next month – starting at £500,000 July 27, 2015 Homebuyers will be soon able to own a slice of television history, with the first 450 homes inside the former BBC Television centre set to go up for sale next month. The scenery block at the former BBC Television centre in London’s White City is eerily quiet. For over 50 years the cavernous space used [...]
London house prices: The north-south divide emerging in the capital’s property sector July 27, 2015 One interesting factor in new figures published today (more on that here) is a sign growth in house prices is slowing in parts of London. In fact, it looks like there's a north-south divide emerging – and in this case it's grim down south. The figures, by Haart estate agent, showed while prices across the [...]
Great Scotland Yard snapped up by Indian billionaire Yusuffali Kader’s Lulu Group for luxury hotel July 26, 2015 Indian billionaire Yusuffali Kader has snapped up the historic home of London's Metropolitan police and will turn Great Scotland Yard into a luxury hotel. Kader's Abu Dhabi headquartered Lulu Group has bought up the Edwardian building in Whitehall in a £110m deal with Galliard Homes, and will work with the Steigenberger Hotel Group to run the [...]
London house prices are being driven up by foreign criminals laundering money July 25, 2015 Foreign criminals who launder money through the purchase of high-end London properties are pushing up house prices, according to the National Crime Agency. "I believe the London property market has been skewed by laundered money," Donald Toon, the agency's director of economic crime command, told the Times. "Prices are being artificially driven up by overseas [...]
Which banks will offer the Help to Buy Isa? Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander and Virgin Money July 25, 2015 Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, Natwest, Santander and Virgin Money are among the banks and building societies which will offer the government's widely anticipated Help to Buy Isa. Help to Buy Isas, unveiled by chancellor George Osborne in his Spring budget, aim to give first-time buyers a much needed helping hand onto the property ladder. [...]
From Cadbury’s reducing its variety boxes to everyone leaving London: Here’s what got us talking this week July 24, 2015 There was a (sexual) revelation. There was a time capsule. And somewhere in a field near Bath, there was a really big emoji. Here's what got us talking this week 1. The mysterious case of the shrinking Roses We were up in arms when we learned Cadbury's dastardly plans to cut the size of [...]