From price inflation and Brexit rows to Evergrande and Biden v Putin: Here are the market risks to watch this year January 4, 2022 The world is a pretty turbulent and unpredictable place at the moment, with Covid variants not making life easier. From tensions between Russia and the US over Ukraine’s NATO membership to Brexit conflicts and China’s Evergrande property scandal, 2022 is set to become everything but dull. So what developments and issues could disrupt or disturb [...]
Mortgage approvals flatline in wake of stamp duty holiday January 4, 2022 The number of mortgages approved in November last year exceeded expectations, despite dropping slightly compared to the previous month. Some 66,964 mortgages were approved in November 2021, according to fresh data published by the Bank of England this morning. Although November was down on October’s figure of 67,103 the number of approvals exceeded real estate [...]
London’s billionaire home buyers market doubled last year January 4, 2022 The London market for multi-millionaire and billionaire home buyers doubled during 2021, with Russian and Chinese buyers set to inject new energy into the market this year. According to a survey from Beauchamp Estates, in 2021 there were 32 sales for London homes with price tags topping £15m, compared to 17 sales in 2020. Over [...]
The top colours to paint your home in 2022 January 3, 2022 Every autumn household paint brands announce their “colour of the year”. The home improvement equivalent to groundhog day, it has become a much-awaited ritual, and the brands’ respective decision-making processes are rather opaque: some determine their colour through surveys, others via mysterious searches into the ether. But what this year’s colours bring is a sense [...]
First-time buyers to borrow more and for longer this year as wage growth will fail to keep pace January 1, 2022 First-time buyers face the biggest financial hurdle to homeownership causing them to borrow more in 2022. However, it is existing homebuyers that are now more stretched when it comes to their earnings and the amount they are required to borrow. Analysing 2021 data from the Office for National Statistics, shared with City A.M. by estate [...]
Explosion in ‘London leavers’ buying up properties in the countryside with St Albans top destination for first-time buyers December 31, 2021 More properties outside the city were purchased by London-based home buyers this year than in any year since 2007. First-time buyers made up nearly a quarter (24 of Londoners buying outside the capital in 2021, according to the calculations from Hamptons. The estate agent estimates that, in total, buyers based in London purchased more than [...]
Capital raising in the City picks up despite ongoing Covid disruption as listed firms pull in close to £25bn this year December 29, 2021 UK listed companies have raised more than £12bn in new capital from investors in the second half of the year, bringing the total so far for 2021 between January and November to £24.7bn, according to data shared with City A.M. This represents the second highest total since 2009, following on from 2020 when £34.4bn was [...]
Prime properties outside London surge at strongest pace in a decade with house prices in Cotswolds leading the pack December 28, 2021 New research shows this morning that prices of prime properties outside London have surged at the strongest pace in a decade during 2021. As house hunters looked for more space and made lifestyle changes, price growth across the prime housing markets outside London averaged 9.3 per cent over 2021, marking the strongest annual growth since [...]
’50 storeys of joy, hope and love’ as City skyscraper is lit up for NHS Christmas staff December 23, 2021 Concord London and Brookfield told City A.M. this evening they are lighting up the 50-storey Principal Tower which borders the City and Shoreditch, with a show of hearts for the many thousands of NHS workers who will be working and not with loved ones during this festive period. ’50 storeys of joy, hope and love’ will take place [...]
The property developers building community through Gaia’s Garden December 23, 2021 Continuing my series of conversations on culture and commerce, I am diving deep into the social value of a project that sits in the heart of London: Gaia’s Garden. This “accessible and free community garden” on the edge of Smithfield Market and off the Holborn Viaduct is built by property developer Dominvs Group, who say [...]