London house prices: Kensington and Chelsea is now growing more slowly than Bristol April 24, 2015 London has lost its housing crown: for the first time since 2005, central London price growth is being outpaced by cities across the UK. According to data from HomeTrack, the triple-threat of electoral uncertainty, mansion tax fears and affordability issues have conspired to slow growth in the country’s most-valuable areas. Boroughs such as Chelsea and [...]
London barometer: Home buyers and sellers shrug off General Election uncertainty April 23, 2015 It appears that buyers and sellers are getting bored of political uncertainty and this is reflected in the consistent flow of properties coming to the market. Perhaps this will come as a surprise to many people, but the number of offers being agreed is what we’d usually expect at this time of the year. [...]
London house prices: Could the General Election outcome send the wealthy packing? April 23, 2015 London has a unique property market. Prime and emerging-prime areas of London are driven by people who move to larger and “better” located properties not because they really need to, but because they want to. Nothing soothes a burgeoning ego more than an SW3 postcode. Political rhetoric aimed at plundering this – apparently under-taxed – [...]
Your Move: London rental prices have soared 27pc under David Cameron April 22, 2015 Residential rents in London have far outstripped the rate of inflation under the current government, according to a new report out today. Rent in the capital increased by 27.4 per cent since the last General Election, according to the latest Buy-to-Let index from estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains. Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) increased [...]
In pictures: Flats at Canary Wharf’s Wood Wharf and Newfoundland neighbourhood open for registration today April 22, 2015 Fed up with your daily commute? Canary Wharf has a solution: it's just put 3,200 homes on sale, around the corner from its office development. Alright, so they're not actually built yet – but good things come to those who wait…. The flats are part of Canary Wharf's first expansion since the beginning of the [...]
London house prices: Havering, Croydon and Bromley are London’s Help to Buy hotspots April 22, 2015 This month is the second anniversary of the launch of Help to Buy, the scheme which allows cash-strapped house buyers to borrow 95 per cent mortgages. The scheme may be one of the government's most controversial policies, but it has also been one of its most popular. In fact, new research suggests that, as of [...]
UK house prices: Babies born today will pay £3.4m for their first home April 21, 2015 If the current generation of first-time buyers thought they had it bad, spare a thought for the children born today, who will have to pay several million pounds for their first home, research has revealed. A study by online estate agent Emoov found that, given house price inflation – which has averaged out at 8.6 [...]
UK property prices: Half of parents worried their children will never own a house without inheritance April 21, 2015 Even with house price growth more muted than it was, first-time buyers are still finding it hard to climb the first rung on the property ladder. Now research has shown that parents are so worried about their offspring's inability to buy a house that they think the only way they will be able to buy [...]
Revealed: How the mansion tax could cost taxpayers £175m April 20, 2015 More than 120,000 households could face a bill of up to £4,800 each to have their property revalued thanks to Ed Miliband's mansion tax. The total cost to homeowners of revaluing their properties would come to around £110m, according to upmarket estate agent Savills. But it's not only owners of high-end property who are in [...]
London house prices: Capital homes increasingly unaffordable April 19, 2015 Homes in London have become drastically less affordable under the current government, according to a new report published today. A consumer’s capacity to buy a home in the capital is now 77 per cent worse than it was in 2010, according to the latest Ability to Buy index from the estate agent Hamptons International. London [...]