China’s small cities barred from reaching for the stars with sky scraping vanity projects October 28, 2021 China has put limits on smaller cities, restricting their ability to build “super high-rise buildings”, for fear of indulging in too many vanity projects. The country, home to the largest number of tall buildings in the world, has already banned buildings taller than 500 metres – which joins another ban on “ugly architecture” from earlier [...]
Second home buyers dodge bullet of stamp duty rise for now October 28, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak may have taken a last minute decision not to increase the stamp duty surcharge paid by landlords and second home buyers. The government had planned to hike the three percentage point surcharge on additional property purchases to four percentage points, first reported by the Daily Telegraph. In the economic and fiscal outlook, [...]
Foxtons reports strong results as renters return in droves to London October 28, 2021 Estate agent Foxtons has reported strong third quarter results, driven by sales transactions at their highest level in five years and rental tenants returning to their pre-Covid living arrangements in the City. The sales and lettings agency reported sales revenue of £38.3m, up 114 per cent from £17.9m in the third quarter last year, and [...]
Budget 2021: Levy for property developers to fund removal of unsafe cladding October 27, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has reiterated plans for a levy for property developers to help create a fund to remove unsafe cladding. Speaking at the Budget, Sunak said property developers with profits over £25m will face a levy at a rate of 4 per cent. This will be used to help create a £5bn fund to [...]
Calls for at least £15bn funding for remediation works to tackle cladding crisis October 26, 2021 The government has been called on to announce more funding to tackle the cladding crisis at tomorrow’s Budget. Law firm Irwin Mitchell also called for measures including giving leaseholders up-front government funding for remediation works, with no repayment obligation. While the government has announced £5bn to address the issue so far, the sum required is [...]
Ikea snaps up former Topshop Oxford St flagship for £378m October 26, 2021 IKEA has bought the former Topshop flagship store for £378m on Oxford St. The 214 Oxford St store was formerly owned by Arcadia, before the demise of fashion brands Topshop and Topman. Now, the Swedish-origin furniture giant is set to open up in autumn 2023, after the site was bought by Ingka Investments, the investment [...]
Home sales set to hit highest level since 2007 October 26, 2021 The housing market is set to hit the highest level of sales since 2007, with 1.5m sales forecast for 2021. According to the Zoopla September House Price Index (HPI), combined market activity is set to amount to £473bn in transaction values this year. This is a £95bn hike on 2020. House price growth is currently [...]
Budget: Regeneration of brownfield sites could deliver 160,000 new homes October 25, 2021 A cash injection of £1.8bn, set to be announced in the Budget this week, should help brownfield sites covering the equivalent of 2,000 football pitches to be turned into plots for new homes. It is hoped hundreds of thousands of homes could be built on regenerated land across the country, while England’s planning system will [...]
Rogue landlords: Calls mount for national registration scheme October 24, 2021 The government is facing calls for a national registration scheme to aid councils in tackling rogue landlords in England. A white paper is expected to be published in the coming months that will look at the idea, according to the Guardian. Councils that require rental homes to be registered under local licensing schemes are more [...]
Lending platform calls on Treasury to privatise land registry October 24, 2021 Lending platform Brydg has urged the Chancellor to consider the privatisation of the HM Land Registry. The registry’s digitisation plans are “lagging”, according to the firm, which wrote to Rishi Sunak ahead of the Budget on October 27. Brydg called for a funding boost for the service as well as for ministers to consider privatising [...]