If you can’t afford your mortgage: What the FCA’s lender guidance means for borrowers March 10, 2023 Successive interest rate rises are increasing mortgage costs for millions of borrowers, according to both regulators, lenders and advisers. One of the main City watchdog shas estimated an extra 356,000 mortgage borrowers could face payment difficulties by the end of June 2024, in addition to those who are already behind. The Financial Conduct Authority has issued final [...]
Housebuilder Berkeley on track to post £600m profits despite Truss’ mini-budget shocks March 10, 2023 Housebuilder Berkeley said it was on track to post a boost in pre-tax profits for the full year despite demand failing to fully recover from the shocks which came in the wake of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget. In a trading update this morning, the FTSE 100 firm said it expects to deliver a pretax profit [...]
High rents are driving young people out of London and depriving businesses of talent, industry warns March 7, 2023 Fears that young talent could be driven out of London due to soaring rents and a lack of affordable accommodation is “bad news” for London’s businesses and the economy, industry bodies warn. Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at Centre for Cities’, told City A.M the capital has already seen a “squeeze” on the [...]
Fall out from mini budget STILL being felt by Foxtons, as estate agent reduces sales pipeline March 7, 2023 Foxtons has said that it is still feeling the effects of the mini budget as the listed estate agent is forced to reduce its sales pipeline for the year. The London-listed group warned the effects will be felt for the “majority” of 2023, after October’s mini budget led to a sharp drop in house buying [...]
London house prices fall but still almost double national average according to Halifax property index March 7, 2023 London house prices have fallen by almost one per cent from January, but property in the capital still costs £240,000 more than the national average. Halifax’s latest house price index for February showed the rate of annual national growth slowed across the UK, with the average property now sitting at £285,476. In the capital however, [...]
Home REIT rent troubles deepen as two major tenants go bankrupt March 6, 2023 Beleaguered social housing investor Home REIT revealed that two of its tenants had gone into administration this morning, effectively shutting off another 18 per cent of its annual rent roll.
Exclusive: Home REIT and property vendor urged tenants to ‘corroborate’ sustainability claims as part of ESG ‘box ticking’ March 6, 2023 Home REIT and a property dealmaker urged the firm’s tenants to “corroborate” dubious sustainability claims as part of an environmental, social and governance (ESG) “box ticking exercise”, City A.M. can reveal. Gareth Jones, a partner at the beleaguered social housing firm’s former investment adviser Alvarium, told property vendor Christopher Downing in August to ensure that [...]
Why housebuilders’ share prices are sinking – despite healthy industry profits March 5, 2023 If you quickly skim over the financial results of any major residential home builder you would presume that business, for the most part, is doing quite well. Just last week a flurry of housebuilding companies revealed their earnings for 2022 with major players in the market such as Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey seeing profits of [...]
Nottingham Building Society says soaring lending ‘aided by higher interest income’ boosted profits March 3, 2023 The historic Nottingham Building Society reported strong pre-tax profits driven by a surge in mortgage lending last year. Founded in 1849, the building society this morning announced group pre-tax profits of £18.9m, with underlying pre-tax profit of £15.2m. Despite the downturn in the housing market in wake of the disastrous mini budget, it said in [...]
‘Google of the property market’ Rightmove shrugs off housing fears to post £241m profit March 3, 2023 Rightmove, the UK’s largest property portal, saw its operating profits rise seven per cent to £241m as the group revealed it was “not materially affected” by the difficult property market. The London-listed company, which lists homes for rent and sale, also saw revenues increase 9 per cent to £332.6m up from £304.9m the prior year. [...]