Second homeowners who flipped holiday home set to pocket £191m despite upcoming crackdown January 17, 2022 About £191m of new pandemic grants from the Government is coming to second homeowners’ pockets, for those who flipped their holiday homes into letting businesses. The revelations come despite a new crackdown, announced at the end of last week. Councils across England have started distributing £635m in grants to businesses affected by the Government’s Plan [...]
Exclusive: Most commercial landlords are struggling to find tenants for their office buildings January 16, 2022 More than three fifths of the UK’s commercial landlords are struggling to attract tenants to traditional offices as businesses’ workspace demands have changed rapidly during the pandemic, according to new research that was exclusively shared with City A.M. today. In fact, more than six in ten commercial landlords are currently struggling to attract prospective tenants [...]
Crackdown launched on second home owners who pretend to let properties out to holidaymakers to save tax January 15, 2022 The government is proposing strict new measures to crack down on second home owners who pretend to let their properties out to holidaymakers to save on taxes as they will be forced to pay more under the proposals. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is moving to close a loophole in the [...]
Tower Hamlets campaigners welcome u-turn on proposed skyscraper with single fire escape January 13, 2022 Developer Ballymore has decided to delay plans for a 51-storey skyscraper with just one fire escape, after concerns from the London Fire Brigade. Campaigners had expressed outrage at the plans, which were due to go before the Tower Hamlets’ planning committee on Thursday. The Cuba Street tower was set to have 655 rooms and tower [...]
Trouble in paradise: Countryside Properties shares collapse as trade slips and CEO steps down January 13, 2022 Countryside Properties had its share price collapse more than 20 per cent today after trading slipped below the board’s expectations and its boss confirmed his exit. The London-listed housebuilder’s adjusted revenue came in at £249.8m, around £114m less than in the first quarter last year. While adjusted operating profit more than halved, falling from £36.6m [...]
ESG performance crucial for financial performance of assets in future, warns industry heavyweight January 13, 2022 ESG performance is increasingly fundamental for the financial performance of assets within the UK commercial real estate sector, particularly in the near future, according to a leading industry figure. Katie Whipp, who heads financial advisory Deepki UK, which specialises in implementing ESG strategies in the commercial property sector, said that 66 per cent of UK [...]
London home to £41bn empty properties despite soaring buyer demand January 13, 2022 Some £41bn worth of empty homes are sitting vacant across the London market despite increased buyer demand. An estimated £200bn worth of homes are vacant across Britain, a 2.1 per cent increase on the previous alone. Estate agents Barrows and Forrester analysed government data to reveal that London is home to 80,295 empty properties with [...]
London beats Cornwall to be most desired location for buyers January 12, 2022 London was 2021’s most searched for destination by potential buyers, property site Rightmove has shared. The capital beat Cornwall, which had piqued buyers’ interests earlier in the year. However, a desire to escape to the countryside was clear in the difference in total number of searches between London and Cornwall. The difference was just three [...]
Renters rush back to capital as available properties drop off market January 11, 2022 Prime London boroughs have seen huge reductions in available rental stock as pandemic uncertainty subsidies for renters. In the final quarter of 2021, London rental stock had fallen to its lowest level since the end of 2019, just before the pandemic hit, according to data from central London estate agency, Bective. It comes as renters [...]
Exclusive: ‘Omicron is a reminder the world is only as good as the weakest link in the vaccination chain,’ says abrdn exec January 11, 2022 Ongoing inflationary shocks, questions around interest rates and the emergence of the new Omicron Covid variant are all making navigating uncertainty more challenging. Nonetheless, when we look beyond the headlines, there remain some reasons for optimism going into 2022, according to Richard Dunbar, head of multi-asset research at global investment giant abrdn. Square Mile-based Dunbar [...]