Shopping centre put up for auction for £1 as retail sector looks to a challenging 2019 January 18, 2019 Worries on the high street were compounded this morning as a Scottish shopping centre was put up for sale for a solitary pound. The Postings Shopping Centre in Fife boasts a pharmacy, a bakery and a cafe over 80,618 sq ft. Read more: Retail sales fall as 'suffocating' Brexit uncertainty envelopes UK high streets However it [...]
DEBATE: Are falling house prices in London a good thing? January 18, 2019 Are falling house prices in London a good thing? Daniel Hegarty, founder and chief executive of digital mortgage broker Habito, says YES. Provided it stops at a pricing correction and doesn’t go further, the drop in house prices is good news. London’s sky-high prices have left the average 34-year-old first-time buyer needing to borrow 13 times [...]
November rise in first-time buyers getting on the housing ladder January 17, 2019 First-Time buyers bolstered the UK mortgage market in November, as competitive deals and schemes such as Help to Buy boosted the number of young homeowners in the run-up to Christmas. There were 36,200 new first-time buyer mortgages completed in November, rising 5.8 per cent from the same month in the previous year, according to UK [...]
London housing market faces negative outlook for start of 2019, warn surveyors January 17, 2019 Fresh fears for the future of London’s subdued property market were brought to light this morning, with forecasts for growth in the capital hitting their lowest levels in two decades. As uncertainty bites both buyers and sellers, a record number of surveyors are predicting that activity in the capital will remain negative over the next [...]
Berkeley Group chairman Tony Pidgley on Brexit, buildings and bonus backlashes January 16, 2019 Tony Pidgley is a staunch defender of his trade, as you would expect Britain’s best-known housebuilder to be. So it comes as something of a surprise when, asked about the huge row that hit his sector last year when fellow housing boss Jeff Fairburn took a £75m bonus, he does not come down on Fairburn’s [...]
Bovis shrugs off Brexit concerns as it eyes full-year profits ahead of expectations January 16, 2019 Housebuilder Bovis today said it expects profits to beat market consensus thanks to an increase in new homes and a wider margin. The number of new homes delivered rose three per cent on last year to 3,759, which the company said was in line with expectations. Read more: Persimmon boss picked pub for first big purchase [...]
London house prices fall as UK homes grow in value January 16, 2019 London house prices fell 1.2 per cent month-on-month in November, official data revealed today. Homes in the capital also experienced the greatest annual fall as they dove 0.7 per cent year on year in November, according to HM Land Registry figures. The drop left the average London home priced at £472,901. Read more: Falling fuel [...]
Billionaire Reuben Brothers check out of hotel group Belmond in $300m deal January 16, 2019 The billionaire Reuben Brothers have sold their shares in New York-listed hotel company Belmond in a deal that could net them more than $300m (£236m). Belmond was acquired last month by Paris-based LVMH, which owns luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, in a $3.2bn deal, seeing off competition from private equity buyers. [...]
Industrial and logistics take-up soars to record high in 2018 January 15, 2019 Fresh evidence of the UK’s industrial property boom was brought to light today, with new figures showing that take-up in the sector during 2018 hit a record high. Online retail giants such as Amazon have largely driven the rise in demand, as an increasing number of consumers turn to e-commerce for shopping. Total take-for big [...]
Savills: On target for 2018 but 2019 prospects overshadowed by uncertainty January 15, 2019 Property giant Savills delivered mixed messages to the City this morning after warning of future uncertainty despite maintaining expectations for its 2018 performance. Shares dipped two per cent in late-morning trading after it said its 2019 outlook was clouded by macro-economic and political volatility. The group said that it was forecasting to see transaction volumes [...]